TLC – The Teachings of Lord Caitanya—Part 07 VIHE

Giriraj Swami: That is the uttamā-bhakta.

TEXT

īśvare tad-adhīneṣu
bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca
prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā
yaḥ karoti sa madhyamaḥ        [Cc Madhya-līlā 22.73]

“‘An intermediate, second-class devotee shows love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is friendly to all devotees, and is very merciful to neophytes and ignorant people. The intermediate devotee neglects those who are envious of devotional service.’”

TEXT 74

arcāyām eva haraye

pūjāṁ yaḥ śraddhayehate

na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu

sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ

 “‘A prākṛta-bhakta, or materialistic devotee, does not purposefully study the śāstra and try to understand the actual standard of pure devotional service. Consequently, he does not show proper respect to advanced devotees. He may, however, follow the regulative principles learned from his spiritual master or from his family who worships the Deity. He is to be considered on the material platform, although he is trying to advance in devotional service. Such a person is a bhakta-prāya [neophyte devotee], or bhaktābhāsa, for he is a little enlightened by Vaiṣṇava philosophy.’”

COMMENT

So Srila Prabhupada wanted us to act on the platform of madhyamādhikārī. If actually we are on the platform of kaniṣṭhādhikārī, we are in a weak position. So we should come to the platform of madhyamādhikārī and if we are acting on the platform of madhyamādhikārī, we have to be able to make distinctions.

According to the verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam quoted here in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta and therefore Rupa Gosvami has explained in Upadeśāmṛta how we deal differently with different classes of devotees because we won’t deal in exactly the same way with all types of devotees. There should be some discrimination.

Earlier in the Madhya-līlā when Lord Chaitanya was asked by Satyarāja Khan what he should do especially as a householder, but what he should do to make advancement in devotional service, Lord Chaitanya replied that he should chant the holy name of Krishna and serve the Vaishnavas. And each year he asked Lord Chaitanya the same question, and each year Lord Chaitanya gave the same answer. So the first year after Lord Chaitanya answered that you should chant the holy name and serve the Vaishnavas, he inquired, “How do I recognize the Vaishnava?”

Because in Lord Chaitanya’s instructions here also, we are finding so much importance of associating with Vaishnavas and rendering service to Vaishnavas. So how do we recognize a Vaishnava? So the first year Lord Chaitanya replied that:

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Satyarāja.

Prabhu kahe, — “yāṅra mukhe śuni eka-bāra
kṛṣṇa-nāma, sei pūjya, — śreṣṭha sabākāra” [Cc Madhya-līlā 15.106]

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “Whoever chants the holy name of Kṛṣṇa just once is worshipable and is the topmost human being.”

COMMENT

So I’ll read the purport and we can discuss it and similarly this purport replies of Lord Chaitanya’s to the same question in the following years.

PURPORT

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that a person who simply chants the holy name of Kṛṣṇa once becomes perfect and should be regarded as a Vaiṣṇava. With such faith in the holy name one may begin a life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But an ordinary person cannot chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa with such faith.

The basis of this faith is the understanding that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and there is no difference between the Lord and the holy name of the Lord and if one chants the holy name without offense, he can attain all perfection.

COMMENT

So one [who] has such faith he himself can begin the process of chanting, and he also can properly respect other Vaishnavas, even neophytes who are just beginning to chant. You see it’s implicit in the direction to serve the Vaishnavas that one should not offend the Vaishnavas. So to chant the holy name without offense especially means without vaiṣṇava-aparādha which is a very serious offense. So you have to be able to distinguish between a Vaishnava and a non-Vaishnava. So if someone surrenders to Krishna, he is considered a Vaishnava. If someone begins the process of devotional service. . .

Now there are devotees who chant the holy name but who do not follow the regulative principles properly. Like there are many groups of such devotees in India, they chant the holy name but they may not follow the regulative principles. They may indulge in sinful activities and at the same time chant Hare Krishna.

So therefore Rupa Gosvami advises in Upadeśāmṛta – kṛṣṇeti yasya giri taṁ manasādriyeta that one should respect them within the mind. One should not blaspheme them or offend them, but at the same time one should not associate with them intimately, but within the mind he should respect them as Vaishnavas because they are chanting the holy name of Krishna, and after all, the holy name is identical with the Lord Himself, and gradually they will be delivered by the mercy of the holy name.

PURPORT (continued)

Any devotee who believes that the holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord is a pure devotee even though he may be in the neophyte stage.

COMMENT

So here again we come to the same point that if one has full faith that the holy name of Krishna is the same as Krishna and if he has full faith in the process of devotional service even though he is a neophyte, he is still considered a pure devotee. In the sense that he is engaged in uttamā-bhakti, he is not resorting to any other process besides uttamā-bhakti. By his association others may also become Vaishnavas.

We discussed the other day how Srila Prabhupada said that one that one should receive the Hare Krishna mantra from the lips of some pure devotee, but how devotees who would receive the mantra from Srila Prabhupada could give the mantra to others—means others could hear the mantra from them, and they would get the same benefit as receiving the mantra from Srila Prabhupada.

So here it’s confirmed that even if a neophyte devotee has full faith in the holy name of Krishna, others can also become devotees by associating with them and we know that from practical experience.

Devotee: When you say full faith, what would that mean?

Giriraj Swami: Full faith means that the holy name is not different from Krishna and that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Devotee: How could you really consider someone with that full faith to be a neophyte?

Giriraj Swami: Neophyte in the sense, that he is just beginning the process, and he does not have much knowledge but again we have to think about the fact that there are different grades of kaniṣṭhādhikārīs, madhyamādhikārīs, and uttamaadhikaris because it’s a continuous process so there are obviously neophytes, who don’t have such faith but someone may be in neophyte and have such faith.

I am actually reading these and discussing them with you because they’re not easy to understand at first glance but they refer to us, devotees or aspiring devotees. Just to give an example, here or somewhere else, Srila Prabhupada has mentioned that his young students who have full faith in the holy name have been successful in preaching Krishna consciousness and making advancement whereas some of his contemporary God brothers were very experienced in devotional service and very knowledgeable in Vedic literatures could not make tangible advancement because they didn’t have faith in the chanting of the name. They gave it up. So they would see us as neophytes because we are new, we have no background, and so on, but at least if we have faith in the chanting then we can make progress more than so-called mature devotees who gave up chanting even though they were knowledgeable in the scriptures and others procedures.

Devotee: [Unintelligible] was to chant sixty-four rounds? Did you say that they gave up chanting? Uttamā-bhakti doesn’t necessarily refer to [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: The first point is the definition of uttamā-bhakti and what you said is the marginal characteristic that he doesn’t mix karma, jnana, or any other process and the natural characteristic is that he continuously serves Krishna favorably. But the definition applies to sādhana-bhakti, bhava-bhakti, and prema-bhakti. So even sādhakas, we are all supposed to be practicing uttamā-bhakti and according to our qualification to practice it, we are kaniṣṭhādhikārīs, madhyamādhikārīs, or uttama-adhikārīs but the thing that we are practicing is the same that is uttamā-bhakti. That’s why sometimes devotees asked Srila Prabhupada, “How many pure devotees are there in the world?”

And Srila Prabhupada said, “How many disciples do I have?” And he explained, “It’s like the difference between an unripe mango and a ripe mango; both are mangoes but one is unripe and the other is matured and sweet and fragrant and soft and juicy, but they’re both mangoes. So even a neophyte can be a pure devotee, but he would be considered unripe, and as his shraddha matures into ruci, āsakti, bhāva, and prema then he becomes riper and riper and sweeter and sweeter.

Devotee: What about Srila Prabhupada’s God brothers and other contemporaries, were they also following uttamā-bhakti?

Giriraj Swami: They may have been, but if one commits offenses he could fall down. Anyway that’s another subject but one can fall down certainly, at least temporarily, one can fall down.

Devotee: Or practice bhakti externally or some other way other than pure bhakti?

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, he can do mixed devotional service.

Devotee: You were saying [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Well faith you see, shraddha is translated as faith. Sometimes it’s also translated as attraction but it is what it is. It is the beginning of bhakti, so as the bhakti matures it becomes the different stages of bhakti but it’s basically one’s faith, and it does increase with knowledge. In the sense that suppose we have faith in the process but we face some question and we don’t know the answer, but when we get the answer then our faith increases. Although it’s not that our faith is so weak that we give up the process, but still if there is something we don’t understand and then someone explains it, then we become more fixed. Or if we meet someone while preaching and he raises some argument that we can’t answer, so it’s not that we will give up the process but faith and attraction in the scriptures means that we’ll learn more and more about the scriptures, and that’s how we become madhyamādhikārī and uttama-adhikārī. So there is enough faith not to give up the process but definitely the faith of the uttama-adhikārī will be greater than the faith of the madhyamādhikārī because these things are increasing, the faith is increasing and the knowledge is increasing, the attachment to Krishna is increasing but there is a point at which one has enough faith that he’ll never leave the process no matter what. But when you’ve seen Krishna face to face and touched Krishna and played with Krishna, definitely you are going to have more conviction than someone who’s only heard about Krishna.

Devotee: This Text Seventy-one [Unintelligible] superior according to detachment and love and it goes on the common symptoms have been ascertained as the three categories that are presented but I’m having difficulty seeing a correlation between these definitions or descriptions and attachment love doesn’t seem to really feed in on these two features so much?

Giriraj Swami: What’s the question?

Devotee: Well, what did what is that you started that little presentation here by saying that first there is categorization according to faith. Now there is categorization according to attachment and love. Yeah, and then in these different categories in the description I don’t really see a prominence of evaluation on the basis of attachment of love.

Giriraj Swami: Now when I’m completely in love with Krishna, everything I see will remind me of Krishna. I won’t see anything separate from Krishna, so that’s uttama-adhikārī. When I have lesser attachment for Krishna, I will see the presence of Krishna to some extent but not to the fullest extent but I’ll see the presence of Krishna in devotees, I’ll see that they are engaged in the service of Krishna and they have some relationship with Krishna. And in the innocent people, I’ll also see the potential for service to Krishna and I’ll preach to them so that their natural capacity for serving Krishna can be awakened. But if I have very little attachment for Krishna, I’ll only see Krishna in the temple or I’ll only see that my deity or my spiritual master is Krishna or Krishna’s service, and I won’t have any broader appreciation of Krishna’s presence.

Devotee: So it’s the symptoms of love actually, it’s very pragmatic.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah exactly. Now I’ll read the next year Satyaraja Khan asked the same question and the Lord gave the same answer that you should chant the holy names and serve the Vaishnavas. Then again Satyaraja Khan asked, “Tell me the symptoms of a Vaishnava,” and Lord Chaitanya replied:

TEXT

“kṛṣṇa-nāma nirantara yāṅhāra vadane
sei vaiṣṇava-śreṣṭha, bhaja tāṅhāra caraṇe”

This is [Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta] Madhya-līlā, Chapter Sixteen, Text Seventy-two.

TRANSLATION

“A person who is always chanting the holy name of the Lord is to be considered a first-class Vaiṣṇava, and your duty is to serve his lotus feet.”

COMMENT

The last description that Lord Chaitanya gave was of the kaniṣṭhādhikārī and the present description is of the madhyamādhikārī.

TRANSLATION

“A person who is always chanting the holy name of the Lord is to be considered a first-class Vaiṣṇava, and your duty is to serve his lotus feet.”

COMMENT

So the neophyte devotee is just beginning to chant the holy name, the intermediate devotee is practiced to chant the holy name and takes pleasure in chanting the holy name. And as we’ll read in the next statement, the highest devotee is someone who when seen inspires someone to chant the holy name and the highest devotee is someone who when you see him you chant, you become inspired to chant. That’s stated in Text Seventy-four:

TRANSLATION

“A first-class vaiṣṇava is he whose very presence makes others chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.”

COMMENT

Actually we discussed that bhakti resides within the heart of the devotee, and if one just gets the association of the devotee for a moment or less than a moment, he can be infused with bhakti or even be inspired by bhakti and different devotees experienced as much with Srila Prabhupada. I know several devotees who had never met Srila Prabhupada as such, but who had met the devotees and then when they heard that Srila Prabhupada was coming to the city, they went to the airport to receive him with the other devotees. And they said that just that as soon as they saw Srila Prabhupada, they were just overwhelmed with some sort of ecstasy and they started to weep or just even without having any idea that that they have to offer obeisances, they would just spontaneously offer obeisances, and they would feel something like ecstasy, they would feel some ecstasy.

So this is the mahā-bhāgavata, just by seeing him not even by hearing him necessarily but just by seeing him, there is so much bhakti emanating from him that one can get the bhakti from him and experience transcendental emotions.

I have one godbrother named Amogha Lila, who went through many phases, but before he met the devotees, he was in Baha’i but then when he met the devotees, he got an idea that he should also join, and he did it, but he still had faith in the hierarchy of the Baha’i church. And according to the Baha’i, the theory of the Baha’is there are nine Baha’i higher persons and when the nine of them meet they’re considered to be infallible. So he wrote to them and asked them if they would give him permission to take initiation from Srila Prabhupada. So he wrote to them. Then in the meantime Srila Prabhupada came, and Amogha Lila went to the airport and the same thing—he was just overwhelmed with ecstatic feelings, and he decided on the spot that he would surrender to Srila Prabhupada. And in those days initiations could be done very quickly. So the temple president recommended him, and he got initiated. And then about one or two weeks later, the letter came from the Baha’i hierarchy saying that they didn’t give him permission, and then he knew for sure they were not fallible. They gave wrong advice so that is the power of the uttamā-bhakta the mahā-bhāgavata. So just by seeing, one gets inspired.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: If you see the old movies of the devotees in kirtan at the time of Prabhupada’s arrival or in the temple, you can see how they were in ecstasy. You see them crying and dancing and swaying.

Devotee: I was told that some businessman even with all of their offered obeisances they didn’t really know who was coming.

Devotee 2: In 1974 when Srila Prabhupada came into the airport in San Francisco just before the Ratha-yatra, we all went to meet in the airport with a lot of devotees and I experienced something I’d never experienced before. And that was when Srila Prabhupada came out of the, wherever it came out from the whole airport, the whole airport stopped. Everyone turned and looked, but at least for two or three seconds, this room was completely transformed and then after everyone got over the experience, it was business as usual, it was a powerful spiritual experience.

Giriraj Swami: Almost everyone who met Srila Prabhupada felt so. Even if due to material attachment, they became then a inimical later, but when they were with Srila Prabhupada, they couldn’t say anything. They couldn’t even think.

Just to give another example of how one can feel the influence of one’s devotion. Once well after, I had been in India for three years, I got sick and then Srila Prabhupada said that if I stayed in Bombay, I wouldn’t be able to get better, so I guess, I will go to Los Angeles. So my uncle came there. He was very sober, thoughtful. Well anyway, so he came to meet Srila Prabhupada, he was a doctor and he came to meet Srila Prabhupada and he spoke to Srila Prabhupada for about twenty minutes, and he did almost all of the talking and Prabhupada said nothing, only maybe two sentences, I think two sentences but at the end, my uncle was so moved. He kept saying, “He is a very deep person,” and then he said, “My God, actually I’ve never seen anyone that looks like him. I must get a photo with him.” He was like a very serious person; he wouldn’t ask for someone’s photos.

Devotee: It seems [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes that’s true because the bhakti energy is actually transmitted and the closer you come to it, the more of it you can get. There is one devotee in caitanya-līlā named Kalidasa, and he was very attached to taking the remnants of the Vaishnava, and he would go to every Vaishnava. It says as many Vaishnava as they were in Bengal, he took the remnants of as many Vaishnavas. He would go to them and give them some prasāda and ask for their remnants and if they didn’t agree to give their remnants, he would hide outside the house and then when they would throw away the leaf plate or the clay pots, he would pick up the remnants. That’s what he would do with the brahmans, but then once he decided he would do something with the so-called lower class Vaishnava, this means Vaishnava with a lower birth but because he was a brahman, they wouldn’t think of giving him their remnants. So he would just hide and take them. So he approached one Vaishnava named Jhadu Thakura, who was from a lower class family, and he asked Jhadu Thakura to place his lotus feet on his head. Jhadu Thakura said, “No way! You are a high-class brahman and I’m just a low-class nobody, no way.” So then Kalidasa said. . . Then he quoted three verses from the scriptures to the effect that if someone is born in the family of chandalas, but if he is a Vaishnava he is more worshipable than a brahman who is born in a brahmin family but not a Vaishnava.

Jhadu Thakura said, “Yes, what you say is true because the shastra must be true but that only applies to real Vaishnavas, not to me.” So then Kalidasa left some mangoes as a gift and left and Jhadu Thakura accompanied him part of the way then he returned home. So then then as soon as Jhadu Thakura turned back Kalidasa also went back, and he looked at the footprints of Jhadu Thakura that were in the sand and then he took the dust from Jhadu Thakura’s footprints then he went back to Jhadu Thakura and he waited outside, Meanwhile Jhadu Thakura offered the mangoes to the Lord and he ate, then his wife took what was left and then they threw the pits and skin out of the house into the garbage. So immediately Kalidasa started licking the skins and sucking the pits, and he felt great transcendental ecstasy. So the bhakti energy of the pure devotee can be conveyed especially through three substances, bhakta-pada-dhūli means that the dust from the lotus feet of the Vaishnava, bhakta-pada-jala—the water that’s washed the lotus feet of the Vaishnava, and the remnants of food eaten by the Vaishnava. And one can one can get the same effect, may be more than by seeing a Vaishnava.

Then Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami concludes the incident by advising the readers that you know these three substances are very powerful and you should have faith in them. So you should give up your doubt and intentions and take advantage of the potency of these three items of the Vaishnava.

So just make one more point. Srila Prabhupada used to defend his devotees very strongly even though they sometimes made mistakes or sometimes behaved badly because they were engaged in the service of the Lord. They were chanting the holy name. And anyway. . . Then Lord Chaitanya says a Vaishnava is one who developed all good transcendental qualities, all the good qualities of Krishna gradually develop in Krishna’s devotees but here we should know that the development of the good qualities may take time. And that just the fact that some devotee who surrendered to Krishna and the holy name doesn’t manifest all good qualities, it doesn’t mean that he is not a devotee or that you can criticize him or blaspheme him. This is very important because in the beginning when the devotees asked Srila Prabhupada about the offense of blaspheming the devotees who have dedicated their lives to propagating the holy name whether the offense applies only to pure devotees, Srila Prabhupada said, “No, it applies to all of the devotees.” We should be careful. Then some devotees said, “Srila Prabhupada, if we have to ask the other devotees to forgive us every time we offend them then practically the whole day, we’ll have to be asking devotees to forgive us.” So then Srila Prabhupada said that in the morning when we offer obeisances to the Vaishnavas, the idea is that we are asking them to forgive us for any offenses that we might have committed throughout the day or in the past, and then we don’t have to ask them every time we commit some small offense. But for our own sake we should not commit any offense big or small even in the mind because it will hurt us.

But actually another characteristic of the mahā-bhāgavata is that in the presence of the mahā-bhāgavata or by the mercy of the mahā-bhāgavata, madhyamādhikārīs and kaniṣṭhādhikārīs become successful in their efforts, their activities. We also saw with Srila Prabhupada that neophyte devotees who were not experienced or qualified in many respects, they did so much service. But because of their attachment to Srila Prabhupada and by his mercy, they did so much service.

So we’ll end here. There is a little bit more about the qualities of the devotees that we can discuss tomorrow then we’ll discuss about the non-devotees because as important as it is to associate with especially advanced devotees, it’s also very important not to associate with non-devotees in general. So you can hand in your homework if you haven’t yet. And for the next week, I’ll ask you to do the same thing – outline and with verses—I’ve pointed out certain verses that summarize each day’s section—very important verses from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So you should learn them or at least one verse which explains the main point and for tomorrow, the important verse that summarizes the whole discussion is Text Eighty-seven, asat-saṅga-tyāga, — ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra ‘strī-saṅgī’ — eka asādhu, ‘kṛṣṇābhakta’ āra

Yeah, that’s tomorrow’s class. So on the exam, I’m going to ask you to write a few of the important verses that summarize the main points for this particular discussion.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: On Monday.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, there will be an exam just to, is that all right? Just so we can have more chanting and hearing on paper. You’ll all get a chance to speak in the class, you don’t all get to speak, but in the exams you will all get a chance, and I will get to hear from all of you.  

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Today I didn’t really, I didn’t give emphasis on what to memorize.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Sixty-two is number four. Plus—Jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya-kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsah – Sixty-two—that’s the definition of shraddha, plus sādhu-saṅga sādhu-saṅga—that’s also very important.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: That’s for tomorrow’s discussion. Yadṛcchayā, the verse we discussed, which makes a person eligible for devotional service even if you don’t know the Sanskrit but you should know the context, that is Text number Fifty.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Before that going back, there is Text Thirty-one—

kṛṣṇa sūrya-sama māyā andhakāra
yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa tāhāṅ nāhi māyā adhikāra krsna’s surya sama.

In other words if you just come to Krishna, the light of Krishna, all the darkness of maya will go away. So you don’t have to follow any other process to get rid of the maya. You just have to take the process of approaching Krishna. Then jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya-kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsah

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Maybe I will make a list of these so that it will be easier. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!!