CC Madhya 15.137–181 – The Glories of the Devotee—Part 02

Giriraj Swami: CC Madhya-līlā 15.137–181 – “The Glories of the Devotee,”

CC Madhya 15.164

eta śuni’ mahāprabhura citta dravilā

aśru-kampa-svarabhaṅge kahite lāgilā

TRANSLATION

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu heard Vāsudeva Datta’s statement, His heart became very soft.

COMMENT

Because the servant had the same qualities as the master. While Chaitanya had the same mood of compassion for the fallen souls, Vāsudeva Datta also had the same mood. So seeing this mood in Vāsudeva Datta, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s own heart melted.

TRANSLATION (continued)

Tears flowed from His eyes, and He began to tremble. In a faltering voice He spoke as follows.

TEXT 165

“tomāra vicitra nahe, tumi — sākṣāt prahlāda

tomāra upare kṛṣṇera sampūrṇa prasāda

TRANSLATION

Accepting Vāsudeva Datta as a great devotee, the Lord said, “Such a statement is not at all astonishing because you are the incarnation of Prahlāda Mahārāja. It appears that Lord Kṛṣṇa has bestowed complete mercy upon you. There is no doubt about it.

COMMENT

In other words, nobody can have such feelings of compassion without being blessed with the full mercy of Krishna.

TEXT 166

kṛṣṇa sei satya kare, yei māge bhṛtya

bhṛtya-vāñchā-pūrti vinu nāhi anya kṛtya

TRANSLATION

“Whatever a pure devotee wants from his master, Lord Kṛṣṇa doubtlessly grants because He has no duty other than to fulfill the desire of His devotee.

TEXT 167

brahmāṇḍa jīvera tumi vāñchile nistāra

vinā pāpa-bhoge habe sabāra uddhāra

TRANSLATION

“If you desire the deliverance of all living entities within the universe, then all of them can be delivered even without your undergoing the tribulations of sinful activity.

TEXT 168 TRANSLATION

“Kṛṣṇa is not incapable, for He has all potencies. Why would He induce you to suffer the sinful reactions of other living entities?

TEXT 169

tumi yāṅra hita vāñcha’, se haila ‘vaiṣṇava’

vaiṣṇavera pāpa kṛṣṇa dūra kare saba

TRANSLATION

“Whosever welfare you desire immediately becomes a Vaiṣṇava, and Kṛṣṇa delivers all Vaiṣṇavas from the reactions of their past sinful activities.

COMMENT

So when the Vaishnava wants to bestow mercy upon some person, he prays to Krishna to give mercy to the person and specifically to give bhakti to the person. Because by bhakti kleśaghnī automatically the sinful reactions are eradicated, the material miseries are eradicated.

PURPORT

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu here informed Vāsudeva Datta that since Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful, He can immediately deliver all conditioned souls from material existence. In essence, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “You desire the liberation of all kinds of living entities without discrimination. You are very anxious for their good fortune, and I say that simply by your prayer all living entities within the universe can be liberated. You do not even have to take up the burden of their sinful activities. Thus there is no need for you to suffer for their sinful lives. Whoever receives your compassion becomes a Vaiṣṇava immediately, and Kṛṣṇa delivers all Vaiṣṇavas from the reactions to their past sinful activities.” Kṛṣṇa also promises this in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.66):

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.”

As soon as one fully surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, he becomes a Vaiṣṇava. In this verse from the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa promises to relieve His devotee from all the reactions to sinful life. It is a fact that a fully surrendered Vaiṣṇava is completely out of the range of material infection. This is to say that he does not suffer the results of his previous pious or impious actions. Unless one is freed from sinful life, one cannot become a Vaiṣṇava. In other words, if one is a Vaiṣṇava, his sinful life is certainly ended.

COMMENT

Because yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ [Bg. 7.28], one cannot engage in devotional service unless he is free from sinful activities. So one actually becomes a devotee or a Vaishnava. He must be finished with sinful activities.

PURPORT(continued)

According to the Padma Purāṇa:

aprārabdha-phalaṁ pāpaṁ kūṭaṁ bījaṁ phalonmukham

krameṇaiva pralīyeta viṣṇu-bhakti-ratātmanām

COMMENT

Same verse is quoted in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.

PURPORT(continued)

“There are different stages of dormant reactions to sinful activities to be observed in a sinful life. Sinful reactions may be just waiting to take effect [phalonmukha], reactions may be still further dormant [kūṭa], or the reactions may be in a seedlike state [bīja]. In any case, all types of sinful reactions are vanquished one after another if a person engages in the devotional service of Lord Viṣṇu.”

TEXT 170

yas tv indra-gopam atha vendram aho sva-karma-

bandhānurūpa-phala-bhājanam ātanoti

karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājāṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

TRANSLATION

“ ‘Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the original Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who regulates the sufferings and enjoyments due to fruitive activity. He does this for everyone — from the heavenly King Indra down to the smallest insect [indra-gopa]. That very Personality of Godhead destroys the karmic reactions of one engaged in devotional service.’

PURPORT

This is a quotation from the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.54). 

COMMENT

So Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is proving to Sri Vasudeva Datta that if one engages in devotional service, he becomes free from sinful reactions. So, if he desires that someone becomes a devotee, automatically the devotee will become freed.

TEXT 171

tomāra icchā-mātre habe brahmāṇḍa-mocana

sarva mukta karite kṛṣṇera nāhi kichu śrama

TRANSLATION

“Because of your honest desire, all living entities within the universe will be delivered, for Kṛṣṇa does not have to do anything to deliver all the living entities of the universe.

TEXT 172

eka uḍumbara vṛkṣe lāge koṭi-phale

koṭi ye brahmāṇḍa bhāse virajāra jale

TRANSLATION

“Just as there are millions of fruits on the uḍumbara tree, millions of universes float on the waters of the river Virajā.

PURPORT

Virajā is a river that divides the material world from the spiritual world. On one side of the river Virajā is the effulgence of Brahmaloka and innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, and on the other side is this material world. It is to be understood that this side of the Virajā River is filled with material planets floating in the Causal Ocean. The name Virajā indicates a marginal position between the spiritual and material worlds, but the Virajā River is not under the control of the material energy. Consequently it is devoid of the three guṇas.

COMMENT

Virajā is the destination of the Buddhists because they are marginal. They are not material and they are not spiritual. They are in between like, void. But actually, there is no void. There is this.

TEXT 173

tāra eka phala paḍi’ yadi naṣṭa haya

tathāpi vṛkṣa nāhi jāne nija-apacaya

TRANSLATION

“The uḍumbara tree is filled with millions of fruits, and if one falls down and is destroyed, the tree does not even consider the loss.

TEXT 174 TRANSLATION

“In the same way, if one universe is vacated due to the living entities’ having been liberated, that is a very little thing for Kṛṣṇa. He does not take it very seriously.

TEXT 175

ananta aiśvarya kṛṣṇera vaikuṇṭhādi-dhāma

tāra gaḍa-khāi — kāraṇābdhi yāra nāma

TRANSLATION

“The entire spiritual world constitutes the unlimited opulence of Kṛṣṇa, and there are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets there. The Causal Ocean is considered the surrounding waters of Vaikuṇṭhaloka.

TEXT 176

tāte bhāse māyā lañā ananta brahmāṇḍa

gaḍa-khāite bhāse yena rāi-pūrṇa bhāṇḍa

TRANSLATION

“Māyā and her unlimited material universes are situated in that Causal Ocean. Indeed, māyā appears to be floating like a pot filled with mustard seeds.

TEXT 177 TRANSLATION

“Of the millions of mustard seeds floating in that pot, if one seed is lost, the loss is not at all significant. Similarly, if one universe is lost, it is not significant to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

TEXT 178 TRANSLATION

“To say nothing of one universal mustard seed, even if all the universes and the material energy [māyā] are destroyed, Kṛṣṇa does not even consider the loss.

TEXT 179 TRANSLATION

“If a person possessing millions of wish-fulfilling cows loses one she-goat, he does not consider the loss. Kṛṣṇa owns all six opulences in full. If the entire material energy is destroyed, what does He lose?”

COMMENT

Every Vaikuntha planet is compared to a wish-fulfilling cow. And compared to the Vaikuntha planets, what is the material creation? All the universes in the material creation are just like a goat. If someone has millions of cows and if he loses a goat, what does he care? So, Krishna has unlimited Vaikuntha planets with unlimited transcendental opulences. So, if He loses the material world, it is not a loss for Him. It is not a consideration for Him.

PURPORT

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, in clarifying verses 171–179, states that the meaning of these stanzas is very simple but that the purport is a little difficult to understand. Generally, the conditioned souls forget Kṛṣṇa when they are enticed by the material, external energy. Consequently they are called kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha, bereft of their relationship with Kṛṣṇa. When such a living entity comes under the jurisdiction of the material energy, he is sent into one of the innumerable material universes created by the material energy to give a chance to conditioned souls to fulfill their desires in the material world. Being very eager to enjoy the fruits of their activities, conditioned souls become involved in the actions and reactions of material life. Consequently they enjoy and suffer the results of karma. However, if a conditioned soul becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, the karma of his pious and impious activities is completely destroyed. Simply by becoming a devotee, one is freed of all the reactions of karma. Similarly, simply by the desire of a devotee, a conditioned soul can attain liberation and transcend the results of karma. Since everyone can be liberated in this way, one may conclude that it is according to the sweet will of the devotee whether the material world exists or does not exist.

COMMENT

So here the argument is that one who becomes a devotee, becomes freed from all sinful reactions. And one who receives the mercy of a devotee, becomes a devotee. Therefore, according to the will of the devotee, the material universe will exist or not. Because if he wants to give mercy to all the living entities within the material universe, he is free to do so. And if he gives them mercy, they will become devotees. And when they become devotees, they will become liberated. So they will vacate the universe and the universe will become empty.

PURPORT(continued)

Ultimately, however, it is not the sweet will of the devotee but the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who, if He so desires, can completely annihilate the material creation.

COMMENT

Because the devotee ultimately acts under the control of the Lord, although he is free to bestow mercy, the devotee is free to bestow mercy but he will not do so. If by chance for any reason, he finds that the Lord does not want it or there may be some argument with the Lord, then they will decide.

PURPORT(continued)

If the Lord so desires, he can completely annihilate the material creation. There is no loss on His part. The owner of millions of cows does not consider the loss of one she-goat. Similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of both the material and spiritual universes. The material world constitutes only one-fourth of His creative energy. If, according to the desire of the devotee, the Lord completely destroys the creation, He is so opulent that He will not mind the loss.

COMMENT

So it is also a fact that the Lord has no duty except to fulfill the desires of the pure devotee. So if the devotee wants to show mercy to any soul and prays to the Lord to give mercy, then the Lord to fulfill the desire of the devotee will give mercy. 

Lord Chaitanya quotes a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It is a last verse from this section. 

TEXT 180

jaya jaya jahy ajām ajita doṣa-gṛbhīta-guṇāṁ

tvam asi yad ātmanā samavaruddha-samasta-bhagaḥ

aga-jagad-okasām akhila-śakty-avabodhaka te

kvacid ajayātmanā ca carato ‘nucaren nigamaḥ”

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, “ ‘O my Lord, O unconquerable one, O master of all potencies, please exhibit Your internal potency to conquer the nescience of all moving and inert living entities. Due to nescience, they accept all kinds of faulty things, thus provoking a fearful situation. O Lord, please show Your glories! You can do this very easily, for Your internal potency is beyond the external potency, and You are the reservoir of all opulence. You are also the demonstrator of the material potency. You are also always engaged in Your pastimes in the spiritual world,

COMMENT

So here the personified Vedas are glorifying the Lord for different transcendental attributes. So they say that Your internal potency is beyond Your external potency. In other words, beyond the material universes there is the spiritual sky, which is filled with spiritual planets which are beyond the material energy. So indirectly, they are saying that what is it for You, if the material world becomes vacant. And You are the reservoir of all opulences. You have all opulences. So if the mustard seed of one universe goes, what is the loss for You? You are also the demonstrator of the material potency. You manifest the material potency. So You can make it unmanifest also. You are free to do anything and everything. You are also always engaged in Your pastimes in the spiritual world. And above all, You are enjoying in Goloka Vrindavan with the cowherd boys, the cows, and calves, Nanda Maharaja, Yasoda Maiya, and the gopīs and all the residents of the spiritual world.

TRANSLATION(continued)

where You exhibit Your reserved, internal potency, and sometimes You exhibit the external potency by glancing over it. Thus You manifest Your pastimes.

COMMENT

So the Lord’s manifestation of the spiritual world is His pastime but His manifestation of the material world is also His pastime, both.

TRANSLATION(continued)

The Vedas confirm Your two potencies and accept both types of pastimes due to them.’ ”

PURPORT

This verse is taken from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.87.14). It is from the prayers of the śruti-gaṇa, the personified Vedas, who glorify the Lord.

The almighty Personality of Godhead has three potencies — internal, external and marginal. The conditioned souls, who are condemned due to their forgetfulness of the Lord, are put under the control of the external potency when she creates the material world. The three modes of material nature keep the living entity in a constant state of fear (bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ). The conditioned soul is always fearful due to being controlled by the external potency; therefore the conditioned soul should always pray to the almighty Lord to conquer the external potency (māyā) so that she will no longer manifest her powers, which bind all living entities, moving and inert.

COMMENT

So here Srila Prabhupada says that because Krishna can release the living entity from the clutches of the material energy, we should pray to Him for release. But actually the devotee will think that if I pray to the Lord, He may or may not respond, He may or may not hear me. But if some Vaishnava, if my spiritual master prays then certainly He will respond. Therefore, like in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the fourth verse of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalua. Krishnadasa Kavirāja Gosvami is praying for the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But actually the prayer, if you read Caitanya-caritāmṛta, you will think that the verse is composed by Krishnadasa Kavirāja. But actually the verse is of Rupa Gosvami, who is one of the spiritual masters of Krishnadasa Kavirāja.

So he is thinking that if I pray to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to become manifest in the hearts of the devotees, He may or may not listen to me. But if Rupa Gosvami prays then certainly Lord Chaitanya will agree. So we ultimately pray to Krishna. But we are here in the material world. We don’t know if Krishna will hear us or not. But we have relationship with our spiritual master so we can pray to him. And if he prays to Krishna then certainly Krishna will respond. Actually, when I first met Srila Prabhupada, we were together in Boston for about two weeks and then he left for New Vrindavan, Columbus Ohio, and Los Angeles. Finally, within about two months or four months, Satsvarupa Maharaja wrote to Srila Prabhupada to recommend me for initiation. And Srila Prabhupada initiated me in Los Angeles and sent the beads by post with a letter. And in the letter Srila Prabhupada wrote that Giriraj is the name for Govardhana Hill and devotees worship Govardhana Hill as Krishna Himself. And sometimes they take stones from Govardhana Hill to worship.

Anyway then he said, I marked it in your presence when I saw you. And I prayed to Krishna that this soul may become aware of the value of Krishna consciousness. So it is actually the mercy of the devotee that enables one to engage in devotional service. Otherwise, we have no qualification. And when the devotee prays to Krishna for mercy then the mercy of Krishna follows.

TEXT 181

ei mata sarva-bhaktera kahi’ saba guṇa

sabāre vidāya dila kari’ āliṅgana

TRANSLATION

In this way, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu described the good qualities of His devotees one after the other. He then embraced them and bade them farewell.

COMMENT

Are there any questions or comments? Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:28:56–00:24:45]

Giriraj Swami: There are two types of pastimes. one is called nimitta and the other is called nitya. So the nimitta pastimes are occasional, within the material world but not in the spiritual world. And nitya pastimes are eternal, in the spiritual world. So in the part of Goloka Vrindavan which belongs to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, pastimes of performing saṅkīrtana, pastimes of visiting Vrindavan, pastimes of reciprocating with his devotees, are eternal. But meeting the Buddhists, meeting the Mayavadis, meeting the tattva-vādīs are occasional, within the material world. And the occasional pastimes may take [Unintelligible 00:30:35–00:30:38] those pastimes of stealing butter are eternal. Krishna’s pastimes of herding the cows is eternal. His pastimes of dancing with the gopīs are eternal. But His killing Kamsa is occasional, in the material world not in the spiritual world. So delivering sinners like Jagai and Madhai is performed in the material world not in the spiritual world. And the pastimes in the material world have similar features, as they are displayed in one universe after another but they are not exactly the same.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:31:49–00:32:07]

Giriraj Swami: Brahmaloka has different meanings in different contexts. One Brahmaloka is the planet of Lord Brahma in the material universe. But another meaning of Brahmaloka is ‘the place of Brahmajyoti’. And, that refers to the spiritual sky which is beyond the material world. Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:32:43–00:32:56]

Giriraj Swami: I would say so. Because if someone is very attached to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and at the same time very attached to Krishna then upon leaving the body, he will simultaneously enter the pastimes of Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu like Swarup Damodar and Ramananda Raya are present in Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes as they are described in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. And they are simultaneously present in Krishna’s pastimes as well, Lalita and Visakha. So the spiritual master also is an eternal associate of both Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And we can understand from their writings, how attached they were to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So they are actually eternal associates of both. But it is possible that an ordinary living entity, he may be more inclined to Krishna and go to the pastimes of Krishna, or he may even be more inclined to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and go to His pastimes. But if he has love for both then he can simultaneously enter both pastimes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:34:51–00:32:59]

Giriraj Swami: They are aware but not always. Because when they come in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes, they are in the mood of Sadakas. They are not feeling that they are Siddhas by the agency of yoga-māyā. And yoga-māyā generally makes them feel that I am Rupa, I am Rupa. But Rupa Gosvami is trying to. . . as a Sadaka, he is trying to gain entry into the service of Radha and Krishna, into the pastimes of Radha and Krishna.

So in his practice of bhakti, he will sometimes have a glimpse of Radha and Krishna. And he will have a glimpse of his service to Radha and Krishna. And he will know that in the spiritual world, I am Rupa Mandri. Raghunatha dasa Gosvami will know in the spiritual world, I am Rati-manjari. But then because as long as we are in the physical body, we cannot live always in the spiritual world in meditation. We will have to come into the material world. And then coming into the material world, they will feel so much separation, and weep, and cry, as Raghunatha dasa Gosvami roll on the banks of Radha-kunda in separation.

So he as by the influence of yoga-māyā, he thinks that I am Raghunatha dasa. I am trying for the service of Srimati Radharani. And in his meditation, he is saying that oh! Now, I have come in the form of Rati-manjari and I am rendering services to Srimati Radharani and Krishna. But when again he comes out of internal consciousness to partial external consciousness and then to external consciousness, he feels that I am Raghunatha dasa. And he is crying, and weeping, and praying for the service of Radha and Krishna. He is not thinking that, Oh! That I am eternally Rati-manjari and I have come as Raghunatha dasa Gosvami just to play a part in Chaitanya’s pastimes. Then everything will be spoiled if he thinks like this.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:38:31–00:38:41]

Giriraj Swami: Well, he is asking. At the time of initiation, does the spiritual master take all the sinful reactions of the disciple or does it depend on the degree of surrender of the disciple?

He takes more than the disciples surrender warrants. But Srila Prabhupada has explained that the spiritual master will take as much of the sinful reactions of the disciple as required for the disciple to make advancement in Krishna consciousness. And then he can again take more and again take more. Because suffering is actually an impetus in devotional service. When we are feeling very satisfied and comfortable, we chant but we don’t have much feeling. But if we are suffering, if we are afflicted by some suffering then we can pray with more sincerity and more feeling. So I also think of Mother Arca Vigraha, that she suffered so much but her suffering definitely was an impetus for her to become more absorbed in Krishna, kṛṣṇa-kathā and Krishna Naam. She said, it was the only thing that gave her relief because she refused to take the heavy painkillers that most cancer patients take, because she didn’t want her consciousness to be affected. So she used to say that her only relief was listening to Krishna’s pastimes. When her mind became absorbed in Krishna’s pastimes then she forgot about her pain.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Gaura premānande Haribol!