CC Madhya 8.22.55–64

Giriraj Swami:

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaitacandra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Chapter Twenty-two, “The Process of Devotional Service”

CHAPTER SUMMARY

In the twenty-second chapter, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu describes the process of devotional service. In the beginning He describes the truth about the living entity and the superexcellence of devotional service. He then describes the uselessness of mental speculation and mystic yoga. In all circumstances the living entity is recommended to accept the path of devotional service as personally explained by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The speculative method of the so-called jñānīs is considered a waste of time, and that is proved in this chapter. An intelligent person should abandon the processes of karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa and mystic yoga. One should give up all these useless processes and take seriously to the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In this way one’s life will be successful. If one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness fully, even though he may sometimes be agitated due to having previously practiced mental speculation and yogic mysticism, he will be saved by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. The fact is that devotional service is bestowed by the blessings of a pure devotee (sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ). A pure devotee is the supreme transcendentalist, and one has to receive his mercy for one’s dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness to be awakened. One has to associate with pure devotees. If one has firm faith in the words of a great soul, pure devotional service will awaken.

COMMENT

So, this is the background, and we had discussed the portion described in the summary here last night. Now we will continue more or less from where we left off.

SUMMARY (continued)

In this chapter Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu differentiates between a pure devotee and others. He also describes the characteristics of a pure devotee. A devotee’s most formidable enemy is association with women in an enjoying spirit. Association with nondevotees is also condemned because it is also a formidable enemy on the path of devotional service. One has to fully surrender unto the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and give up attraction for women and nondevotees.

TEXT 1

vande śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-
devaṁ taṁ karuṇārṇavam
kalāv apy ati-gūḍheyaṁ
bhaktir yena prakāśitā

TRANSLATION

I offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is an ocean of transcendental mercy, and although the subject matter of bhakti-yoga is very confidential, He has nonetheless manifested it so nicely, even in this Age of Kali, the age of quarrel.

TEXT 2

jaya jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya nityānanda
jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

TRANSLATION

All glories to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Nityānanda Prabhu! All glories to Advaitacandra! And all glories to all the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu!

TEXT 56

kṛṣṇa kṛpālu arjunere lakṣya kariyā
jagatere rākhiyāchena upadeśa diyā

TRANSLATION

 “Kṛṣṇa is so merciful that simply by aiming His instructions at Arjuna, He has given protection to the whole world.

TEXT 57–58

sarva-guhyatamaṁ bhūyaḥ
śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ
iṣṭo ‘si me dṛḍham iti
tato vakṣyāmi te hitam

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te
pratijāne priyo ‘si me

TRANSLATION

“ ‘Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you My supreme instruction, the most confidential knowledge of all. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit. Always think of Me and become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.’

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is a quotation from the Bhagavad-gītā (18.64–65).

COMMENT

So, in Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna has mentioned various processes of self-realization or advancements, but the conclusion is given in the Eighteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, in the verses quoted here, 18.64 and 18.65. The conclusion is that one should become Krishna conscious—man-manā bhava mad-bhakto, one should always think of Krishna and become Krishna’s devotee; mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru, one should worship Krishna, and offer obeisances unto Krishna, and the result will be that in the end, one will go to Krishna, one will go back home, back to Godhead, the Lord’s eternity. So, this is the conclusion of the Bhagavad-gītā, and although Krishna spoke the Gītā to Arjuna, the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā are not meant for Arjuna alone; they are meant for everyone. Therefore, Lord Chaitanya says that by aiming His instructions at Arjuna, Krishna gave protection to the whole world. Why protection? From what has he protected them? He has protected them from other processes like karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, and yoga, which will not be sufficient to free one from the repetition of birth and death. So, Krishna has protected the whole world from the repeated cycle of birth and death by telling them that they should become devotees of Krishna or they should become Krishna conscious.

TEXT 59

pūrva ājñā, — veda-dharma, karma, yoga, jñāna
saba sādhi’ śeṣe ei ājñā — balavān

TRANSLATION

“Although Kṛṣṇa previously explained the proficiency of executing Vedic rituals, performing fruitive activity as enjoined in the Vedas, practicing yoga and cultivating jñāna, these last instructions are most powerful and stand above all the others.

COMMENT

So, although Krishna has mentioned other processes throughout the Gītā, the conclusion is clear, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru. When some authority gives various instructions, the final instruction should be accepted. Once, Srila Prabhupada gave one disciple an instruction, and then he gave the same disciple another instruction. So the disciple protested, “But you told me something else before.” Srila Prabhupada replied, “If you accepted my authority then, then why don’t you accept it now?” In other words, we cannot pick and choose which instructions of the authority we want to follow. That is not surrender. Surrender means we accept whatever instruction the authority gives, and if previously he gave another instruction and now he gives another instruction, we have to accept the last instruction. Of course, Krishna never intended that Arjuna should follow the other processes. He only explained the other processes to bring one to the stage of surrender to Krishna, or devotional service, which is the real purpose of Bhagavad-gītā.

TEXT 60

ei ājñā-bale bhaktera ‘śraddhā’ yadi haya
sarva-karma tyāga kari’ se kṛṣṇa bhajaya

TRANSLATION

 “If the devotee has faith in the strength of this order, he worships Lord Kṛṣṇa and gives up all other activities.

COMMENT

So, although Krishna says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, to give up all other duties and just surrender to Him, not everyone can do so, or not everyone does. So what is the qualification that one needs to accept the order of Krishna and execute it? The qualification is faith or sraddha. If one has faith in the words of Krishna, then he will follow the order of Krishna to become Krishna conscious. But if one has no faith in Krishna, or little faith in Krishna, he will not be able to follow the order. There are so many people who come and hear discourses on Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. They hear again and again, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru, to become Krishna conscious, to become Krishna’s devotee, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, to give up all other religious processes and just surrender to Krishna. They hear it again and again, but still, they don’t follow it. Why? Because they don’t actually have faith. But if someone has faith, then he can follow it.

TEXT 61

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

TRANSLATION

“ ‘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.’

PURPORT

This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.20.9).

COMMENT

So, who is qualified to give up the Vedic injunctions, especially in relation to varnashrama-dharma? Who is qualified? Krishna says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. So, who is eligible? The person who has faith. Faith means he should have an attraction for hearing and chanting about Krishna, and at the same time, he should be fed up with material activities. He should be fed up with fruitive work. If one is disgusted with material activities but at the same time awakens a taste for chanting and hearing about Krishna, he can transcend the Vedic injunctions for varnashrama-dharma and take to the direct process. But if he is not materially exhausted, if he still has material desires, if he wants to enjoy in the material world with wife, friends, children, and so on, then he should follow the Vedic injunctions for fruitive work. But if he has faith in the instructions of Krishna, if he is materially exhausted, then he can take fully to the direct process of devotional service.

In her prayers to Lord Krishna, Queen Kunti has also prayed that akiñcana-gocara. She says to Lord Krishna, “You are the property of those who have no material possessions.” As long as we want to possess something in the material world—wife, children, position, or opulence, we cannot get Krishna. But if someone gives up everything, all possessions or all sense of proprietary, then he can get Krishna. Krishna becomes the property of such a devotee who has no other possession. But if one is attached to other possessions, then Krishna thinks that, You want to possess so many other things except Me. So, go ahead, possess them and enjoy them. Why should I give Myself to you? I will only give Myself to someone who has nothing else and wants only Me.”

So, we come to the temple, and we look at the devotees, and we see that they have big buildings and motor cars and various facilities. Does it mean that they cannot get Krishna? If they think that “I am the Lord, I am the proprietor, I am the enjoyer, I am the controller,” that even living in the ashram, they won’t get Krishna. No one will get Krishna. But living in the ashram and thinking that This is not my property, this is not for my benefit, this is only for the service of Krishna, for the preaching of Krishna consciousness, and if one is fully conscious that everything is the property of Krishna, and is meant for the service of Krishna, and one had no personal attachment to it, no personal desire to enjoy it, then he is also considered a akiñcana, someone who has no material possession.

TEXT 62

‘śraddhā’-śabde — viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya
kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya

TRANSLATION

“Śraddhā is confident, firm faith that by rendering transcendental loving service to Kṛṣṇa one automatically performs all subsidiary activities. Such faith is favorable to the discharge of devotional service.

COMMENT

The crucial point for engaged devotional service is faith or sraddha. Here the Lord Chaitanya gives the definition of sraddha. ‘śraddhā’-śabde means by the word sraddha, viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya, by the word śraddhā’ is meant firm, viśvāsa, and niścaya, certain. And what is that faith? kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile, by devotional service to Krishna, sarva-karma kṛta haya, all other activities are performed. One does not have to perform them separately. Simply by bhakti, one fulfills everything. He doesn’t have to do karma, jnana, or yoga separately. He only has to do bhakti. And by bhakti, you will get all of the good results of karma, jnana, yoga, plus more. So if someone is firmly convinced that only by doing bhakti, I will get all of the benefits. . . sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Firm faith and confidence are called śraddhā. When one engages in the Lord’s devotional service, he is to be understood to have performed all his responsibilities in the material world. He has satisfied his forefathers, ordinary living entities, and demigods and is free from all responsibility. Such a person does not need to meet his responsibilities separately. It is automatically done. Fruitive activity (karma) is meant to satisfy the senses of the conditioned soul. However, when one awakens to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he does not have to work separately for pious activity. The best achievement of all fruitive activity is detachment from material life, and this detachment is spontaneously enjoyed by the devotee firmly engaged in the Lord’s service.

COMMENT

So actually, the purpose of Vedic civilization is liberation. As long as we remain in the material world, we have to suffer in so many ways. We have to suffer birth, death, old age, and disease, which nobody wants to suffer, but we are forced to suffer. And there are so many other miseries also, which we don’t want, but which are forced on us. So any intelligent person will think, I don’t want to suffer, but I am being forced to suffer. Why? And how can I become free from suffering? When such an intelligent person inquires, he is said to be a human being. If one doesn’t inquire into the problems of life and the solution to the problems, he is said to be an animal, although he may have two legs, but he is called dvīpāda-paśu, “two-legged animal” because he has not inquired into the real problems of life and into the actual solution. So the real problems are the repetition of birth, disease, old age, and death, and so many other miseries. And the solution is devotional service.

So, unless one comes to the platform of devotional service, he is bound to continue in the material world and suffer. So if anyone wants to become free from the material miseries, he should take to the process of pure devotional service. By the process of pure devotional service, he will be liberated. Now, if someone doesn’t take to pure devotional service but if he engages in karma-kāṇḍa, then the best result of karma-kāṇḍa is that he should become detached from material things. Because in karma-kāṇḍa, he will have to sacrifice his possessions, he will have to give in charity, and he will have to do so many things to become detached from his material possession. So the best result of karma-kāṇḍa is detachment. But the one who takes to bhakti, he automatically gets detachment,

vāsudeve bhagavati
bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ
janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ
jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam

Very quickly, he gets vairāgya or detachment, and he has knowledge. He doesn’t have to try for them separately, but he gets them automatically by bhakti.

TEXT 63

yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena
tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ
prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇāṁ
tathaiva sarvārhaṇam acyutejyā

TRANSLATION

“ ‘By pouring water on the root of a tree, one automatically satisfies the trunk, branches and twigs. Similarly, by supplying food to the stomach, where it nourishes the life air, one satisfies all the senses. In the same way, by worshiping Kṛṣṇa and rendering Him service, one automatically satisfies all the demigods.’

PURPORT

This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.31.14).

COMMENT

So someone might think that if I just worship Krishna, there will be some defects in my service. I also have to worship Shiva, I also have to worship Durga, I also have to worship Ganesh, and thirty-three crores of devas. But Bhāgavatam says no, if you pour the water on the root of the tree, the trunk and the branches and the leaves will automatically be nourished. Similarly, by serving the Supreme Lord Krishna, all living entities, including the various demigods, will be served. You don’t have to try to serve them separately or worship them separately. So the example is very scientific. Suppose someone wants to serve humanity but how many people can he serve independently? Five, ten, a hundred, two hundred? And if he tries to serve them separately, they won’t really benefit anyway. Just as if you try to water the leaves of a tree, how many leaves will you be able to water? And even if you water the leaves of the tree, what benefit will they get? They don’t get any benefit. The water has to be poured on the roots.

Yesterday, one man came and met me from the Durham Tata Trust, and he had worked for thirty years in rural development for Tatas. And he went to some place where there was no electricity, no running water, no facilities. And with finance from Tata, he brought electricity, brought running water, drugs, paved roads, and other things. But he said that as soon as electricity and the other facilities came, so many other problems came. The people became more selfish, the relationships in the family and between friends deteriorated. Then so many vices came. They wanted to drink and smoke and do so many other things. He realized that actually, after introducing material facilities to them, they became worse. They were more happy before. So I just commented that actually, you have misguided them. and he said, yes, we misguided them. This is andhā yathāndair upanīyamānā, blind leading the blind. Bhāgavatam says, leaders are blind, and the followers are blind, and both fall in the ditch. So I said, this is the problem. The leaders are blind, and the followers are also blind. They don’t know who they are. The first thing I asked him is, “Who are you?” He said, “I don’t know.” I said, “Well, that was a fundamental question.” He said “I know.” So this is the problem. All of the biggest leaders, political leaders, or industrial leaders, or social leaders, they don’t even know who they are. Or if they have any idea, they think that “I am the body.” And because I am the body, I think that the best for me will be to increase the facilities for the body. That’s what most people think. And as long as one identifies with the body and works for the benefit of the body, he is considered selfish. If I work for my own body, I am a selfish person. But if I work for the benefit of my family member’s body, I am also selfish. It is a more extended form of selfishness. I can work for the benefit of my community, for the bodies, and it is a more extended form of selfishness. I can work for the benefit of my nation, because it is just your extended form of selfishness.

So actually, everyone is selfish because they identify with the body. And on the basis of the body, they think my family, my community, my nation” And either they work for my body, or my family, or my nation, or the community in the bodily concept of life. So they are all selfish, either limited selfishness or extended selfishness. And all is useless. All is useless because I am not the body. So whatever I do for the body won’t really help me. I have to do something for the soul. And Krishna consciousness is for the benefit of the soul. And that is the only thing that will really help people or make people happy.

I told this story that in 1971, after the war with Pakistan, so many refugees came from East Pakistan to Bengal. There were huge refugee camps there. So, after some time, the devotees started to visit the refugee camp to do hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. Now, the highlight of the day for the refugees was four in the afternoon because at four in the afternoon they would get milk, and it was the best thing for them. But the day that the devotees went and did chanting of Hare Krishna, and the refugees also joined in the chanting of Hare Krishna and dancing with the devotees, at four o’clock nobody wanted to leave the chanting and dancing. Nobody even thought of milk or went for milk. And afterwards, the officer in charge of the camp commented that this was the first time from the whole history of the refugee camp that they didn’t come for milk at four o’clock. Usually they would wait the whole day but when they got something for the soul, chanting Hare Krishna, dancing, they forgot about the body. So the soul is the real thing, the soul is the real person, not the body. So we want to do good for others or for ourselves, we should do for the soul, not for the body. Of course, we can take care of the body, maintain the body and soul together for the sake of serving Krishna. But we know that the body is just a machine, the body is not the person. So we maintain a machine for the sake of Krishna’s service. So we maintain the body for the sake of Krishna, but we don’t have any other attachments to the body. We don’t think that we will enjoy life through the senses of the body.

So, are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:47:15]

Giriraj Swami: Ganesh is also a devotee. He always keeps the lotus feet of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva on his head. So because he keeps the lotus feet of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva on his head, he has the power for the mercy from Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva to eradicate obstacles on the way of the devotees. The actual remover of the obstacles is Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva. He removes the obstacles from the path of the devotee. But as Ganesh is also a devotee of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, he has some relationship with Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, he can also do the service on behalf of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva. But if we worship Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva directly, or if we worship the spiritual master directly, we don’t have to worship Ganesh. And when one disciple asked Srila Prabhupada, “How should we worship Ganesh?” Srila Prabhupada simply replied, “By the mantra,

oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya
jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena
tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ”

Because the only obstacle can be darkness. Krishna is light and maya is darkness. So where there is Krishna, there can be no darkness. So the only obstacle can be darkness or maya. And by the spiritual master, we get light and darkness goes away. So by the mercy of the spiritual master, all the obstacles go away. But we respect him as a devotee.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:50:30]

Giriraj Swami: I didn’t say that if you do bhakti then automatically you will do karma, jnana, and yoga. I said, “You will get the benefits that you would get if you did karma, jnana, and yoga.” Now, what benefit do you get from doing karma?

Devotee: Your duty.

Giriraj Swami: But what benefit do you get from your duty?

Devotee: Self-satisfaction.

Giriraj Swami: Self-satisfaction. So you will get more self-satisfaction from bhakti. But you are afraid to do bhakti because you think, “Who will take care of my wife? Who will take care of my children? Who will pay the bills?” But if you have bhakti, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t work. Even if someone has bhakti, he can work, but the mood will be different. The mood of the karmi who goes to work to earn money and the mood of the devotee who goes to work and earns money is different. The karmi is thinking that, “I have to work in order to get money in order to live.” But the devotee goes to work knowing that ultimately Krishna provides everything, and he doesn’t think that he is living or his family members are living for sense gratification. They are only living for devotional service. So if I am working and earning money just to buy food to keep the body and soul together for the sake of serving Krishna, that is not outside devotional service. But if I am earning money for the sake of enjoying life, then I get entangled in the laws of nature, maya. I get punished by maya. The devotees also eat, they also wear clothes, they also take rest, but they do so only to keep the body fit to serve Krishna, not for Sense gratification. So if some grihastha bhakta is working and earning money and spending money to keep the body and soul together for the sake of serving Krishna, that is not outside bhakti. But if he wants to get money to have nice clothes, to go to the movies, to eat in restaurants, and to enjoy life, that is maya.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:54:50]

Giriraj Swami: Should one forget the responsibilities of material life?

We should forget, but we can’t forget because we are not so qualified. We will chant, and we will be thinking of our family, thinking of our work, and thinking up so many things.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:55:30]

Giriraj Swami: You set a very good example. Maharaja Parīkṣit was the emperor of the world, but he left everything for the service of Krishna. He went and sat down by the banks of the Ganges and heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. When he went to the banks of the Ganges to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he left all connection with the kingdom. Of course, he had a qualified son who took over the kingdom. But now, none of the leaders is qualified. Anyway, they are not qualified.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:56:28]

Giriraj Swami: You don’t know that you are going to die in seven days, okay? Yes. So your position is more critical. You might die in seven minutes. So you can’t waste any time. You see anyway the leaders are not qualified, and for every post, there is so many people just waiting. There is no problem to get people to grab the post. So I don’t think the problem is finding people to stay in the seats. There are plenty of people who want to stay in the seat. The problem is nobody wants to get up from the seat. But if he has bhakti, then he will have vairāgya. He won’t be attached to the seat. He will get up.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:58:10]

Giriraj Swami: How does maya affect you here? Srila Prabhupada has given the example that if someone is drowning in the ocean and someone else comes to rescue him, throwing some rope, then he shouldn’t say, “Well, wait. Before I take the rope, I want to know how I got here.” He should take the rope and get saved. You have minute independence. Every soul has minute independence. So somehow or other, you misused your independence and came here. Now you should use your independence properly and get out.

Alright. Time for ārati.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari ki jaya!

Gaura-bhakta-vṛnda ki jaya!

So we will continue next week. Thank you.