CC Madhya 6 – Give Up the Speculative Habit

Giriraj Swami: Previously, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya had been very attached to the rules and regulations of the Vedas. He was attached to his bath, his cleanliness, his rituals, and so on, and he could not appreciate the real ingredients of pure devotional service, namely the holy name and mahā-prasāda. So when Lord Chaitanya came early in the morning with mahā-prasāda, although the Bhattacharya had not taken bath—generally, one is not supposed to honor prasāda until he has taken bath—he immediately took the mahā-prasāda and honored it in great happiness. Lord Chaitanya became very pleased because he could see that Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was becoming free from the constraints of the rituals of Vedic civilization and was actually appreciating bhakti and prasāda. So, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya quoted some verses to the effect that mahā-prasāda should be taken immediately. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Chapter Six,

TEXT 227

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very pleased to see this. He became ecstatic in love of Godhead and embraced Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya.

TEXT 228

The Lord and the servant embraced each other and began to dance. Simply by touching each other, they became ecstatic.

TEXT 229

As they danced and embraced, spiritual symptoms manifested in their bodies. They perspired, trembled, and shed tears, and the Lord began to speak in His ecstasy.

TEXT 230

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “Today I have conquered the three worlds very easily. Today I have ascended to the spiritual world.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The goal of human perfection is stated here in brief. One has to surpass all the planetary systems of the material universe, pierce through the covering of the universe and reach the spiritual world, known as Vaikuṇṭhaloka.

TEXT 231

Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, “I think that today all My desires have been fulfilled because I see that Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya has acquired faith in the mahā-prasādam of Lord Jagannātha.

TEXT 232

“Indeed, today you have undoubtedly taken shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa, without reservation, has become very merciful toward you.

TEXT 233

“My dear Bhaṭṭācārya, today you have been released from material bondage in the bodily conception of life; you have cut to pieces the shackles of the illusory energy.

TEXT 234

“Today your mind has become fit to take shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa because, surpassing the Vedic regulative principles, you have eaten the remnants of food offered to the Lord.

COMMENT

The Lord Chaitanya quotes one nice verse:

yeṣāṁ sa eṣa bhagavān dayayed anantaḥ
sarvātmanāśrita-pado yadi nirvyalīkam
te dustarām atitaranti ca deva-māyāṁ
naiṣāṁ mamāham iti dhīḥ śva-śṛgāla-bhakṣye

TEXT 235

“‘When a person takes shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead without reservation, the unlimited, merciful Lord bestows His causeless mercy upon him. Thus he can pass over the insurmountable ocean of nescience. Those whose intelligence is fixed in the bodily conception, who think, “I am this body,” are fit food for dogs and jackals. The Supreme Lord never bestows His mercy upon such people.’”

TEXT 236

After speaking to Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya in this way, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu returned to His residence. From that day on, the Bhaṭṭācārya was free because his false pride had been dismantled.

TEXT 237

From that day on, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya did not know anything but the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and from that day he could explain the revealed scriptures only in accordance with the process of devotional service.

TEXT 238

Seeing that Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya was firmly fixed in the cult of Vaiṣṇavism, Gopīnātha Ācārya, his brother-in-law, began to dance, clap his hands and chant, “Hari! Hari!”

TEXT 244

Gopīnātha Ācārya reminded Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, “My dear Bhaṭṭācārya, what I foretold to you has now taken place.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Previously Gopīnātha Ācārya had informed Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya that when he would be blessed by the Lord he would thoroughly understand the transcendental process of devotional service. This prediction was now fulfilled. The Bhaṭṭācārya was fully converted to the cult of Vaiṣṇavism, and he was following the principles automatically, without being pressured. In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.40) it is therefore said, sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt: “Simply by performing a little devotional service, one can escape the greatest danger.” Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya had been in the greatest danger because he had adhered to Māyāvāda philosophy. Somehow or other he came into contact with Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and became a perfect devotee. In this way he was saved from the great falldown of impersonalism.

Text 245

Offering his obeisances to Gopīnātha Ācārya, the Bhaṭṭācārya said, “Because I am related to you and you are a devotee, by your mercy the Lord has shown mercy to me.

TEXT 246

“You are a first-class devotee, whereas I am in the darkness of logical arguments. Because of your relationship with the Lord, the Lord has bestowed His benediction upon me.”

TEXT 247

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very pleased with this humble statement. After embracing the Bhaṭṭācārya, He said, “Now go see Lord Jagannātha in the temple.”

COMMENT

When the Lord comes, especially Lord Krishna and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, They come in the guise of human beings. The pastimes of Krishna are called nara-līlā, or human-like pastimes, and unless one is favored by the mercy of the Lord, one cannot understand his actual position. Sometimes the representatives of Krishna and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu act similarly. They actually hide their actual spiritual position because they know what we are like. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was proud, and we also are proud. So if the Vaishnava comes and asserts himself, we won’t like it because we may think that I don’t have anything to learn from him; I already know so much. Maybe he has something to learn from me. And we are also prone to envy. So again, if the Vaishnava asserts himself, we might become envious and think, Who is he? Just as the Lord can be very bewildering the way He appears like an ordinary human being, so the Vaishnava may also do the same thing. But the only purpose, just like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s purpose, was just to give mercy to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, similarly, the only purpose of the Vaishnava is to give mercy to the conditioned soul. But he is very intelligent and expert in how he does it, knowing how fallen we are. Even after he is recognized, he also maintains the same pretense but by his mercy, we can get some glimpse into his position.

Sometimes, Srila Prabhupada’s personal servants had difficulty being close to him. So coming close to Srila Prabhupada, they sometimes saw behavior that so closely resembled ordinary behavior that they became bewildered. Such bewilderment is a test from Krishna or from the Vaishnava. Sometimes Prabhupada would do things knowing that disciples may have doubts, but he did them anyway because he had to act as the acharya and he had to do whatever was best. So even if the disciples got doubts about him, he may have acted in the same way as he knew he had to act in order to establish his principles. There is one nice story related in Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta. Prabhupada had one servant named Puruṣottama who was quite nice. I also knew Puruṣottama. But after becoming Prabhupada’s servant and coming so close to Srila Prabhupada, he became bewildered. One thing that troubled him was that Srila Prabhupada was very affectionate to one girl named Sarasvati, who was the daughter of Shyamasundara and Malati. She was only two or three years old then, and Prabhupada would joke with her and play with her and so on, which sannyasis are not supposed to do. One time Srila Prabhupada actually picked her up and held her over his head and said, “They will criticize that why is the sannyasi playing with children?”

But even deeper than Prabhupada’s personal activities were some of his statements. Generally, people in the West are very attached to speculative knowledge, especially scientific knowledge, and they are condition from the very beginning—from parents and teachers—is to believe the version of the scientists as absolute truth. Therefore, they conceive of the universe according to the teachings of the speculators. Srila Prabhupada even predicted that when he came out with the Fifth Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, some devotees would leave because they wouldn’t be able to reconcile the description of the universe in the Bhāgavatam with the modern notions. The same thing happened with Puruṣottama. The astronauts were supposed to be going to the moon, and Puruṣottama was very interested. Srila Prabhupada was not at all interested. In fact, he didn’t believe that they could go to the moon. According to scripture, the moon is a heavenly planet, and one cannot go to a heavenly planet by mechanical arrangements. Prabhupada used to joke with him because he didn’t want him to remain in the darkness of ignorance. So he joked with him also knowing that either he would have to get out of his ignorance and advance or leave. Because actually, we cannot remain stagnant in devotional service. We have to constantly be advancing, and if we are not advancing, Krishna will give us a test. As a result of the test, we will have to make more advancement to pass the test, or we won’t pass the test and we will suffer. But we can’t remain stagnant.

So, Malati was cooking for Prabhupada, and sometimes Puruṣottama would help her in the kitchen. They were staying at John Lennon’s estate, outside London. One time, there was an explosion in the kitchen, and Malati or maybe both of them became covered with black smoke and soot. They were living very closely, very intimately with Srila Prabhupada, so they went into Srila Prabhupada’s room. Another disciple named Jamuna heard the explosion and came to see what happened. She came in and saw Puruṣottama all black and covered with soot. She said, “Srila Prabhupada, what happened?” Srila Prabhupada said, “Oh, it is Puruṣottama. He just came back from the moon.” [Laughter] So Prabhupada was constantly joking. Then finally the day came, the great day came, and the moon landing was supposed to be shown on the television. Some of the devotees were very interested, and they arranged to get a television. They even brought it in the room when Prabhupada was taking his massage. The devotee, maybe Dhananjay, was massaging Prabhupada and at the same time looking at the television. Prabhupada would point out the faults in the massage with Dhananjay, saying, “What is the matter with you? Don’t you know how to massage? You should do it like this.” Then Prabhupada himself would do the massage. Again, Dhananjay would concentrate, then his mind would wander and start getting focused on the television set. Srila Prabhupada said, “What is the matter with you? Why can’t you do it properly?” knowing very well what was happening. Then Prabhupada would again show him. Prabhupada would say, “What is happening?” The devotee wasn’t facing the set, so devotees would say, “Oh, now they have landed on the moon and they are taking big steps,” and so many things. Prabhupada said, “Nonsense, they haven’t gone to the moon,” just deliberately provoking them.

So, Prabhupada did it and Puruṣottama couldn’t take it. It was too much for him, and he left. What I mean to say is that the Lord and the spiritual master are very hard to understand. One of the reasons is that they act like ordinary human beings. But the reason they act like ordinary human beings is for our benefit, in order to give us mercy. Sākṣād-haritvena samasta-śāstrair, that the spiritual master has the same qualities as the Supreme Lord, and out of all of the qualities of the Lord, the main one is bhakta-vātsalya or love for his devotees. He has love for his devotees, not only those who are actually devotees but even those who are aspiring to become devotees. He always wants to show mercy and he is always thinking how to give, how to give, how to give, and finding the ways and means. So, this sākṣād-haritvena samasta-śāstrair means that the spiritual master shares in the same qualities as Hari, Krishna, especially the quality of love for the devotees. Just like the Lord, he is always thinking how to give mercy, how to do, how to do, how to do, and devising so many tricky ways in which to do it. Because we are unwilling, basically, we are fallen and we are unwilling.

Srila Prabhupada himself said that giving Krishna consciousness to people in Kali-yuga is like trying to give medicine to a horse, which takes six people. It takes one person to hold down each of the horse’s legs, one person to pull open the jaws of the horse, and one person to put the medicine in. It is very difficult to give mercy or love of Krishna to fallen souls in Kali-yuga, but the Vaishnava does the work of six people. He does it by love and mercy, which is the real active force, but he does it externally by tricks, by pretending to be something that he is not, in one sense pretending to be less than he is, so that he can draw us close to him. Like Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was drawn close to Lord Chaitanya not because he asserted Himself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but because he was very gentle, very sweet, very humble. He said, “You are my spiritual master. I am just a young sannyasi. I don’t know anything. You should be merciful and maintain me,” and so on.

Any questions or comments?

Devotee: Is this the reason why although India was fortunate, they could not understand anything about Jesus and he is not known?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, same with Krishna and same with Lord Chaitanya. Very few could recognize them as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and even Krishna. Because knowledge is not the criteria, one has to receive the mercy of the Lord, and one becomes eligible for the Lord’s mercy by devotional service, by humble service. Devotional service means humble service, not pretentious for name and fame or false prestige. Devotional service means humble service. Maharaja Prataprudra, when he took up the broom and swept the road in front of Jagannatha. Lord Chaitanya was moved because the king, he has hundreds and thousands of servants. He never takes up the broom. Even us, we are not kings, we are ordinary fallen souls, we also don’t like to take up the broom, and he was king. But he took up the broom and swept the road in front of the cart. Seeing that, Lord Chaitanya’s heart was melted, then he gave mercy.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:24:17]

Giriraj Swami: So one can understand Krishna or Lord Chaitanya by mercy. 

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:24:30]

Giriraj Swami: One progresses by mercy only, another way to progress but to become a little eligible for the mercy, we should act as the menial surrendered servant. By always being ready to do whatever the spiritual master wants and forsaking all personal considerations, one can become a little eligible to get some mercy. The actual advancement comes with the mercy.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:25:40]

Giriraj Swami: Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was attached to logic and argument and speculation, but he was not envious like some Mayavadis are envious. He appreciated Lord Chaitanya and was attracted to him, but he was used to dry argument and therefore his heart had become hardened. Therefore, he saw some things in the scriptures but not others. When he received the mercy of the Lord and his heart became softened, as predicted by Gopinatha Acharya, then he himself would quote from the scripture in support of the proper conclusion. At least in India, everyone accepts the authority of the scripture, especially the authority of Bhagavad-gītā. But some people come to the right conclusion and some don’t. It has to do with devotion, whether they have the proper mood of devotion or not. Some have no mood of devotion and they come to an impersonal conclusion. Those who have the proper mood of devotion can come to the right conclusion that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrender.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya accepted the supremacy of Vishnu, but he was not a pure devotee. He was affected by logic and argument and therefore his heart was not soft. Therefore, he didn’t have full faith in devotional service, and there was some tendency towards impersonalism. We also, we are devotees trying to become devotees, but we all have some tendency toward impersonalism, and we have some tendency towards sense gratification, which clouds our knowledge. Therefore, even though we read the scriptures, we don’t actually understand them fully or correctly. So, there was some tendency towards impersonalism, and even the Mayavadis appreciate the value of Lord Vishnu in their own way. They think that ultimately, through Vishnu, they can merge and become one with brahman. So, it is true he was arguing that there is no incarnation of Vishnu in Kali-yuga, but whether he accepted Vishnu as the absolute truth or just as some manifestation of the absolute truth, which is impersonal, is also not clear.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:29:50]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. So, there was some influence of impersonalism, but he wasn’t envious, and therefore he could ultimately accept. Mayavadis are absolutely envious; they won’t change under any circumstance. Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam, pure devotional service cannot be covered by jñāna, speculative knowledge, or cultivation of knowledge independent of devotional service. So, again, we come back to the mood. Krishna says, bhakto ‘si me sakhā ceti, I am giving the knowledge to Arjuna because he is a devotee. So, if one reads the Gītā in the mood of a devotee, accepting Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and accepting everything that Krishna says as the absolute truth, as Arjuna did, then certainly he will study the Gītā and come to the right conclusion and worship the Lord with intelligence. But if there is some tendency to speculate, to be envious of the Lord, and so on, then one won’t come to the right conclusion. Or he will come to the right conclusion to some extent but not to the full extent. Reading the Gītā is not cultivation of jnana, but it is śravaṇam, a part of bhakti.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:32:15]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, reading the Gītā in the mood of devotional service as śravaṇam will certainly help us because śravaṇam is the first item. You see, Lord Brahma also, after His experience with Lord Krishna in Vrindavan, in His same prayers, He has stated, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, that first of all one has to give up the bad habit of mental speculation; jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām, and one should live in the association of devotees who are discussing the glories of Lord Krishna. So, associating with devotees and hearing the discussions of Krishna consciousness is the actual process for spiritual advancement. But the first requirement is that we have to give up the speculative habit; then the discussions will be most helpful.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:34:05]

Giriraj Swami: We discussed the same thing yesterday that the first point is faith in the scripture. We have to establish the principle of superior authority, that every conditioned soul has four defects, and therefore, on his own, he cannot get perfect knowledge. If he wants perfect knowledge, he has to approach a perfect authority, which is Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna. Now, if he doesn’t accept Vedic authority, then he comes in the category of faithless, and with faithless persons, we should not preach about the glories of Krishna, but we should engage the people in some service. Of course, if the person challenges Krishna, then we have to defend Krishna and defeat the person. But it doesn’t mean the person will change, but our duty is to defeat him. As you said, if we don’t defeat him, he may think that we don’t have the answers. But then again, we should try to assess, as early as possible, whether the person will be able to understand the philosophy or not. If he comes in the category of someone who can’t understand the philosophy so soon, before getting into a big argument that could end in someone feeling offended, we should rather try to engage them in some service. These are practical points of preaching.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:37:25]

Giriraj Swami: You want bhukti and mukti. What for? You want bhukti and mukti. So, you don’t really want them, but you have some conditioning by which the mind is inclined towards them. But you, as the soul, have decided you want to serve Krishna. You don’t want bhukti and mukti; that is why you are asking how to become free from them. Everything is based on service and surrender. By service and surrender, we get the mercy of the Lord. And sevonmukhe hi jihvādau, the service begins with the tongue, with chanting Hare Krishna. By chanting Hare Krishna, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, the dust is cleansed from the mirror of the mind. Desires for bhukti and mukti are like dirt; they are dirty things that become cleansed by chanting, hearing, and chanting. Reading Prabhupada’s books is hearing. By reading Prabhupada’s books, we become more convinced of the futility or the inferiority of bhukti and mukti compared to bhakti, so that also helps to strengthen our resolve.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:39:50]

Giriraj Swami: People who come with faith in the Bible, should be encouraged to follow the Bible: “Thou shalt not kill.”

Devotee: But if you want to change them.

Giriraj Swami: We should not let them. Everyone should remain Christian, Hindu, Muslim, or Jews. No one should become Krishna-bhakta. [laughter]

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:40:50]

Giriraj Swami: They are not changing; they are realizing their actual identity, jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’. They are not changing from Christian and becoming Hindu; they are realizing their eternal constitutional position as Krishna’s servant. That is what we want them to do; that is why we are preaching.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:41:30]

Giriraj Swami: Did Prabhupada accept the Bible? The answer depends on who is asking the question. Sometimes he said it was a bunch of fairy tales for childlike people, and other times he said that it is scripture and by following it, one will make advancement. So, how Prabhupada saw the Bible would depend on who was asking him about the Bible, or at least what he said about the Bible would depend. I think that both are true because the basic principles of the Bible are the same as the Bhagavad-gītā, so it is scripture, and we do accept the same principles. But the stories in the Bible, we may not accept as actual historical fact. For example, we accept the history in Mahābhārata as historical fact; we may not accept the stories in the Bible as historical fact, but we accept the principles enunciated in the Bible, especially love of God, Jesus Christ.

In fact, at one stage, Srila Prabhupada was thinking of writing a commentary on the Bible, but then he thought that the Christians might not appreciate it, that an outsider was writing a commentary on it. But a pure devotee can extract the essence from all of the scriptures and explain the scriptures in the proper perspective. Even the Vedic literatures, without the explanation of acharyas, are not clear, as we see from the case of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. So, we actually need the explanation of the pure devotee to bring out the real meaning of the scripture. Prabhupada accepted the Bible as scripture, and he was ready even to comment on the Bible to bring out the real meaning. But of course, for people who accept Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there is no real need to study the Bible, because everything that is in the Bible is in the Gītā and the Bhāgavatam, plus more. But for people who are attached to the Bible, if they could understand the Bible in the right way from the explanations of the pure devotee, they would come to the same basic principles as Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!