TLC – The Teachings of Lord Caitanya—Part 16 VIHE

Giriraj Swami:

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda (3)

Yesterday, we completed Chapter Twenty-two which deals with the subject of? In one word? Abhidheya. And, now we shall begin Chapter Twenty-three which deals with the subject of? Prema.

[Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 23.4]

TEXT 4

kṛṣṇe rati gāḍha haile ‘prema’-abhidhāna

kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasera ei ‘sthāyi-bhāva’-nāma

TRANSLATION

“When affection for Kṛṣṇa becomes deeper, one attains love of Godhead in devotional service. Such a position is called sthāyi-bhāva, permanent enjoyment of the mellows of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa.”

COMMENT

At the end of the last Chapter, Lord Chaitanya explained how affection comes to the stage of rati or bhāva. Rati and bhāva are the two names for the same thing and when rati or bhāva becomes deeper, it becomes prema. Prema is the intensified form or the condensed form of rati or bhāva. So Text Five gives the definition of bhāva and we should know this.

TEXT 5

śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā

prema-sūryāṁśu-sāmya-bhāk

rucibhiś citta-masṛṇya-

kṛd asau bhāva ucyate

COMMENT

Śuddha-sattva means transcendental goodness. There are three modes of material nature—tama-guṇa, raja-guṇa, sattva-guṇa. And in the material world, there are always different combinations of different proportions of the three material modes. But distinct from the material mode of goodness is transcendental goodness, which is called śuddha-sattva or viśuddha-sattva and when one comes or to the stage of bhāva, one attains to the platform of śuddha-sattva.

Just as there are three material modes—ignorance, passion, and goodness—there are also three divisions in the spiritual realm corresponding to sat, cit, and ānanda or existence, knowledge, and bliss. The existence potency is called sandhinī, the knowledge potency is called saṁvit, and the pleasure potency is called hlādinī. The bhakti energy consists of saṁvit and hlādinī.

As we discussed, just to begin bhakti, one must have association of devotees so that the bhakti from within the heart of the devotee can enter into the heart of the candidate and arouse bhakti there. But although the seed of bhakti is there, the person is not complete in his spiritual development, and therefore he engages in the process of sādhana-bhakti. But when the person comes to the stage of bhāva, the devotee is blessed by hlādinī and saṁvit, and he becomes fully situated on the transcendental platform.

śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā prema-sūryāṁśu—bhāva is like a ray of the sun of prema. In other words, bhāva is the same as prema but it is just the beginning. When the first rays of the sun peep over the horizon, one knows that the sun will rise very soon. So similarly, when bhāva enters the heart of the devotee, one can know that prema will follow just thereafter.

Rucibhiś citta-masṛṇya-kṛd asau bhāva ucyate—at that time one’s heart becomes softened by various tastes by hearing about Krishna, chanting, or remembering about Krishna or in any way coming into contact with anything that reminds one of Krishna. One’s heart softens with various tastes of relish of the association of Krishna.

Then Lord Chaitanya explains that the svarūpa-lakṣaṇa or natural characteristic or constitutional characteristic is śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā—the devotee becomes situated on the platform of pure goodness; and the taṭastha-lakṣaṇa or marginal symptom is that his heart softens by various tastes.

Text Seven gives the definition of prema which we should also know.

samyaṅ-masṛṇita-svānto—when that bhāva softens the heart completely, mamatvātiśayāṅkitaḥ—one becomes endowed with a great feeling of possessiveness in relation to the Lord.

Bhāvaḥ sa eva sāndrātmā – when bhāva becomes very much condensed and intensified, budhaiḥ premā nigadyate, it is called prema (love of Godhead) by learned scholars.

In the material world, everyone falsely identifies with the material body, and he thinks this is my body and the things in relation to the body are also mine. This is my mother, father, friend, enemy, husband, wife, this is my house, car, and so on. As we advance in devotional service the false sense of I and mine becomes diminished, but still it continues to some extent, but when one comes to the stage of prema that he has no other sense except that Krishna is mine. He has no other possession besides Krishna, and therefore he has no other affection towards anyone or anything except Krishna.

Do you know the story of Lord Brahma who stole the cowherd boys and calves? After Brahma stole the cowherd boys and calves, Lord Krishna thought, How can I return to Vrindavan village alone? All of the mothers of the cowherd boys and calves will be so anxious if I return alone. So Krishna expanded Himself into a duplicate set of cowherd boys and calves. Just as each individual has his own bodily features, his own mannerism, way of speaking, dressing, walking, and everything, Krishna expanded Himself to be just like the original cowherd boys and calves. And in the evening when Krishna returned from the pasturing grounds with the cowherd boys and the calves, they all went to their respective homes, mothers, fathers, cowsheds. And for one year, the cowherd boys and calves were actually expansions of Krishna, at least the cowherd boys and calves that were stolen by Brahma. And for one year, the love of the mothers and fathers of the cowherd boys and calves increased to the same level as their love for Krishna.

At the end of the year, Lord Balarama noticed one peculiar incident – the cowherd men were grazing the cows on top of the hill, and the cowherd boys were grazing some older calves at the bottom of the hill. So when the cows on the top of the hill saw the calves at the bottom, they’d be so overwhelmed with love and affection that they broke loose from the cowherd men and began jumping down the hill to meet the calves. Now the calves were actually older. They weren’t used to suckling the mothers, but out of intense affection, the mothers began to give milk to the calves. Meanwhile, the cowherd men became completely baffled and frustrated because they were supposed to keep the cows separate from the calves. The cows were not supposed to give milk to the calves then. So they came down the side of the mountain in an angry mood, but when they got close to their sons, their hearts also melted in ecstasy and they began to smell the heads of their sons and embrace them, hearts melted, tears flowed from their eyes, and everyone was lost in ecstatic love. So Balarama wondered, How is this, what is this? And later, Krishna revealed that actually He had expanded Himself.

At the end of the story, Maharaja Parīkṣit asked Śukadeva Gosvami that generally mothers and fathers love their own children more than they love the children of others, so how is it that the mothers and fathers in Vrindavan loved the children that were actually Krishna more than their own children? And Śukadeva Gosvami replied that everyone loves his own self most. Why do we love the body because the body is an expansion of this self. And why do we love friends and relatives? Because they are expansions of the body. So the center of attraction is the soul. And why do we love the soul? Because the soul is an expansion of Krishna. So Krishna is the Supreme object of love even more than one’s own self. So the sense of possessiveness that is invested in the body and in things related to the body becomes reposed completely in Krishna at the stage of prema. He has no other identification except or any other sense of possessiveness except that Krishna is mine, my Krishna, I am Krishna’s, and Krishna is mine.

TEXT 8

ananya-mamatā viṣṇau

mamatā prema-saṅgatā

bhaktir ity ucyate bhīṣma-

prahlādoddhava-nāradaiḥ

TRANSLATION

‘When one develops an unflinching sense of ownership or possessiveness in relation to Lord Viṣṇu, or, in other words, when one thinks Viṣṇu and no one else to be the only object of love, such an awakening is called bhakti [devotion] by exalted persons like Bhīṣma, Prahlāda, Uddhava and Nārada.’

COMMENT

Here bhakti means prema-bhakti especially. Now, the next verses describe the various stages from shraddha to prema, which we will not discuss just now, the verses actually summarize the whole progression from shraddha to prema but we will continue the discussion about bhāva and prema, prayojana, and then come back to this to summarize or conclude.

Now how does one attain bhāva? In The Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Gosvami explains that there are two causes, two possible causes; One is intense spiritual practices, and the other is mercy or any combination of the two. Now, what is the definition of intense spiritual practices? When one passes through the stage of anartha-nivṛtti and comes to the stage of niṣṭhā or steadiness in devotional service, then one’s practices can become intense; we begin to become intense. One is no longer disturbed and diverted by various disruptions, by various causes for disruption in one’s devotional service. And more than niṣṭhā, more positive than niṣṭhā is ruci when one has positive taste for devotional activities. So much so that, one prefers to engage in devotional activities like chanting and hearing above any other activity, and ruci in turn develops into āsakti, where one gets so much pleasure in Krishna consciousness, he becomes so attached to Krishna consciousness that even in the midst of all sorts of disturbing and distracting situations, he remains absorbed in Krsna consciousness. He is not disturbed or distracted by anything and āsakti matures into bhāva, when one gets śuddha-sattva. 

So the immediate cause of bhāva-bhakti is sādhana-bhakti from the stage of niṣṭhā especially from ruci and āsakti. Srila Rupa Gosvami says there are two causes of the appearance of bhāva-bhakti, and one of the causes is ardent spiritual practices and the definition of ardent spiritual practices are the spiritual practices that begin after the stage of anartha-nivṛtti, from niṣṭhā and especially ruci and āsakti, although the whole process begins with shraddha and therefore in the earlier stages it brings one to niṣṭhā. Therefore, they may be called indirect causes, but the direct cause of bhāva-bhakti is sādhana-bhakti after anartha-nivṛtti from niṣṭhā, really from niṣṭhā and then ruci.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. The other cause is mercy, and here again Rupa Gosvami divides mercy into two categories; mercy bestowed by the Lord and mercy bestowed by the devotees.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: The mercy bestowed by the Lord also is divided into three categories; if the Lord blesses someone with His words that you become Krishna conscious, then the person will become Krishna conscious by the mercy of the Lord. If someone gains the sight of the Lord and just by seeing the Lord, he can immediately come to the stage of bhāva. And if the Lord just wishes that you should come to the stage of bhāva and from within your heart, you will feel the appearance of bhāva. Srila Prabhupada calls that heartfelt good wishes. And then the other is the mercy of the devotee.

Now Rupa Gosvami says that usually the devotees attain bhāva-bhakti by intense spiritual practices; unusually, the devotee attains bhāva-bhakti by special mercy. And Srila Prabhupada gives the example that generally if one wants to get a degree, he has to go to the university and study, take the exam and pass, and then he gets the degree, but sometimes in exceptional cases someone who may not have a university education becomes so distinguished in some field of activity that the university will award an honorary degree to the person. So that is unusual, that’s very unusual. Usually one has to go to the classes, read the books, and pass the exam.

Now bhāva is translated as ecstasy and within the category of bhāva or ecstasy, there are various categories. One of which is anubhāva. In the beginning just before the definition of bhāva-bhakti, Lord Chaitanya mentioned sthāyī-bhāva. Sthāyī-bhāva means continuous ecstasy or permanent ecstasy that comes from one’s relationship with Krishna. I am the servant of Krishna, I’m Krishna’s friend, I am the mother of Krishna, I am Krishna’s girlfriend. That is the permanent ecstasy of the devotee that comes from the devotee’s relationship with the Lord.

Another division of bhāva is anubhāva. Anu means, it has many meanings but one of the meanings is to follow like rūpānuga—to follow Rupa Gosvami. So anubhāva means ecstatic symptoms that follow the initial ecstasy. In other words, if I’m experiencing ecstasy internally, there may be some symptoms manifest externally, and they are called anubhāva. Generally, ordinary people think of anubhāvas like laughing, dancing, crying, falling on the floor, fainting, and so on and those may also appear. But here Lord Chaitanya is giving another type of anubhāva, which are characteristics of someone in ecstatic love for Krishna, and we can test whether someone has an ecstatic love for Krishna more clearly by such symptoms than by temporary displays. So we should learn the different symptoms because we should also develop them by and by.

Kṣāntir avyartha-kālatvaṁ—these are Texts Eighteen and Nineteen.

Let me just summarize: Text Sixteen explains how one develops bhāva-bhakti by the process of sādhana-bhakti—by associating with the devotees, and chanting and hearing especially with taste and attachment, one can develop bhāva and then prema. So that is described in Text Sixteen. And Text Seventeen explains that when one actually develops ecstatic love for Godhead within his heart, there are certain symptoms, and next the symptoms are described Kṣāntir – forgiveness;

avyartha-kālatvaṁ—being free from wasting time. So, we should all cultivate these characteristics although they won’t manifest fully, but still we should try to develop them;

viraktir—detachment—if someone is materially attached, if he manifests ecstatic symptoms, we cannot accept that he’ll actually come to the state of bhāva-bhakti unless the symptom of viraktir is there or detachment;

māna-śūnyatā—absence of false prestige;

āśā-bandhaḥ—hope. There is a nice prayer by Rupa Gosvami that exemplifies āśā-bandhaḥ.

TEXT 29

‘O my Lord, I do not have any love for You, nor am I qualified for discharging devotional service by chanting and hearing. Nor do I possess the mystic power of a Vaiṣṇava, knowledge or pious activities. Nor do I belong to a very high-caste family. On the whole, I do not possess anything. Still, O beloved of the gopīs, because You bestow Your mercy on the most fallen, I have an unbreakable hope that is constantly in my heart. That hope is always giving me pain.’

COMMENT

So we always have to have hope in Krishna consciousness. If we lose hope, then we will lose everything. So here Rupa Gosvami appeals to the mercy of the Lord, who is the savior of the fallen, and especially Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the greatest benefactor of the most fallen. So being servants of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we have every hope that He will show mercy. That is why our service to the saṅkīrtana movement is our hope because by spreading the saṅkīrtana movement, by preaching Krishna consciousness, by distributing Prabhupada’s books, we can get the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and the mercy of Lord Chaitanya which will be our best qualification. In many cases like my own, it might be our only qualification. So we should always remain faithful to our spiritual master, to Srila Prabhupada, and to the preaching mission of Srila Prabhupada. And then by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya, we will be able to get more mercy to make more progress. Faithfulness and service to the mission of the spiritual master is the pot that allows us to hold anything. Without that, even if we come in contact with all of the best facilities for spiritual advancement, we won’t be able to hold anything. So service to Gaura-Nitai, to the saṅkīrtana movement of Gaura-Nitai is the best way to get Their mercy, and only by Their mercy, we will be able to approach Radha and Krishna.

Narottama dasa Thakura has also prayed for the mercy of Lord Nityananda and Lord Chaitanya as the only means to enter Sri Vrindavan dhāma and approach Radha and Krishna. Actually, the spiritual master makes the arrangements whereby the disciple can get the Lord’s mercy and the mercy of the previous acharyas. So besides giving us the regular daily program for Krishna consciousness, attending mangal-ārati, singing Nṛsiṁha prayers, worshiping Tulasi-devi and everything else. Chanting our rounds, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and everything else, Srila Prabhupada has also given us the preaching missions because by surrendering to the preaching mission, we have the best opportunity to get Lord Chaitanya’s mercy. And therefore what Srila Prabhupada has given us is truly complete. He has given us all of the ingredients of sādhana-bhakti in a perfectly presented and adjusted way. He has also given us the preaching mission by which we can get the greatest mercy from Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda. So we surrender fully to the process that Prabhupada has given us both in terms of ācāra and pracāra then we will surely get the mercy of the Lord and the previous acharyas and be able to attain success.

Then samutkaṇṭhā — eagerness; nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ—always having relish for the holy name. kṛṣṇa-guṇākhyāne haya sarvadā āsakti—always being attached to glorifying the transcendental qualities of Krishna; and finally kṛṣṇa-līlā-sthāne kare sarvadā vasati—he always reside in the abode of Krishna or the place where Krishna had His pastimes.

So these are the symptoms of one who has attained bhāva. Then next Lord Chaitanya describes the symptoms of one who has attained prema. First, He says kriyā mudrā vijñeha nā bujhaya—even the most learned man cannot understand the words, activities, and symptoms of a person situated in love with Godhead.

Text Thirty-nine. In between are the list of symptoms of one an ecstatic love with examples from the scripture. Now we come to the symptoms of prema. Here Lord Chaitanya quotes one verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

[Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 23.41]

evaṁ-vrataḥ sva-priya-nāma-kīrtyā

evaṁ-vrataḥ—means vow. Here the vow means the vow to serve Krishna in a particular way.

sva-priya-nāma-kīrtyā—means his own dear. Just like for different devotees and different relationships different names will be dear. For Subal, it may be Krishna. For Yasoda, it may be Gopal. For the gopīs, it may be Radhanath, Gopinatha; but the maha-mantra is complete. Everything is in the maha-mantra.

So this sva-priya indicates possessiveness which is one of the symptoms of prema.

Then,

jātānurāgo druta-cittaḥ uccaiḥ 

hasaty atho roditi rauti gāyaty

unmāda-van nṛtyati loka-bāhyaḥ

TRANSLATION

When a person is actually advanced and takes pleasure in chanting the holy name of the Lord, who is very dear to him, he is agitated and loudly chants the holy name. He also laughs, cries, becomes agitated and chants just like a madman, not caring for outsiders.’

COMMENT

When the devotee comes to the stage of prema, he will actually see Krishna. He will get a vision of Krishna, and he will be so happy he will laugh. Or he will see some humorous pastime. Just like he will see Krishna enter the house of an elderly gopī to steal butter and the elderly gopī will come and say, “Oh! That naughty Krishna, that naughty son of Yasoda, He has come to my house to steal butter,” and then Krishna hearing the voice of the elderly gopī will become frightened, and He’ll start looking here and there on all sides, and then He’ll run away. So seeing this scene, the devotee will laugh. Then the vision of Krishna will disappear, and he’ll think, Oh! I had the sight of Krishna and now Krishna is gone. Then in separation from Krishna, he’ll weep and weep and weep, and he’ll cry out to the Lord that, “Where are you? Where have you gone? I had your vision and now you are gone. Please come back. Please don’t leave me like this.”

And the Lord showing mercy upon the devotee will appear again, and when Krishna appears again, nṛtyati—he dances. So we will stop here.

Devotee: At freedom [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: No, there are eight sāttvika-bhāvas and thirty-three vyabhicārī-bhāvas, they are different.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: You can’t count. Anubhāva—you can’t count. Anubhāva means any external expression of an internal ecstasy.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, we can read from the list that chanting the holy name can be an anubhāva. Describing the transcendental qualities can be anubhāva.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, like trembling, fainting, hair standing on end, those are more transitory, whereas these are permanent features in someone in ecstatic love.

Devotee: Which ones are more permanent?

Giriraj Swami: virakti – detachment—- all of these. So that’s how we should judge, if somebody has attained the stage of ecstatic love, not by the transitory symptoms, which can be feigned or which can arise even if someone doesn’t have bhāva. He may have just a glimpse of bhāva. Raty-ābhāsa—he can also exhibit such symptoms, not artificially; he may actually exhibit them spontaneously, but they don’t actually indicate the presence of bhāva, that maybe raty-ābhāsa or bhāva-ābhāsa. 

Devotee: I was thinking Srila Prabhupada never expressed that kind of symptoms of [[Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: But he exhibited all of the nine characteristics that we just. . . But it’s true, the other types of symptoms like crying or trembling and so on, he didn’t manifest very often.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Oh, the nine, those are always manifest.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Here, we come to the same point that when someone comes to the stage of prema, he’s on the platform of paramahamsa. Paramahamsa is beyond the rules and regulations but if the paramahamsa is associating with ordinary people or neophyte devotees, then he will not manifest himself, but he’ll set the example by acting as a sādhaka should act. So that’s why again as Srila Prabhupada says that if one is a paramahamsa and if he wants to act like a paramahamsa, then he should be away from people, he should go to the forest or the mountains. Because if he manifests himself in front of ordinary people, they may become bewildered, they may become bewildered. So again for the sake of preaching, for the sake of others, Srila Prabhupada contained himself. Just like the same example with Ramananda Raya and Lord Chaitanya met, they exhibited so many ecstatic symptoms but when Lord Chaitanya became aware of the brahmans that were watching them and the fact that they were outsiders, then He contained himself.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: No, but then prema, their only desire is to serve Krishna, to please Krishna. He doesn’t desire to enjoy bliss. So for the sake of Krishna’s service, he is prepared to check his own ecstasy, the manifestation of his own ecstasy. One example is given of Krishna’s servant in Dwarka, who was fanning Krishna and tears started to well up in his eyes and other symptoms began to appear, but he thought that if he gives way to his ecstatic symptoms, then his devotional service of fanning Krishna will be disturbed. So he checked himself.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: But we go back to the first definition of uttamā-bhakti—kṛṣṇānu-śīlanam. What does Krishna mean? What does Krsna mean?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Krishna, His name, His form, His qualities, His pastimes, His paraphernalia, devotees.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: I’m thinking whether I should be in the center or not. You see vaidhī-bhakti is favorable because by vaidhī-bhakti we make spiritual advancement; then when rāgānugā-bhakti comes, then we don’t then performing mudras is not favorable, but rāgānugā-bhakti hasn’t come. We are far from it. So in the meantime we should do vaidhī-bhakti—that would be very favorable.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: If someone is closing his eyes to the secondary processes of devotional service, and he is just concentrating on the main ones. So, he will not stumble or fall if he rushes towards the goal by performing the main items.

Devotee: [Unintelligible] 

Giriraj Swami: Ek-aṅga means someone who concentrates on one of the nine processes, but even if someone concentrates on three like śravaṇam, kīrtanam, smaraṇam, or even five and doesn’t give much importance to so many others that are in the list of sixty-four, the example applies.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: It’s time. Those who have to go to the writing class or leave for any of the reasons can leave now. Ok, so we will take it up tomorrow. Thank you, Hare Krishna.