CC Madhya 9.163 – Bhakti Is the Best Process

Giriraj Swami: Reading from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Chapter Nine, “Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s Travels to the Holy Places.”

jaya jaya śrī-Chaitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaitacandra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

TEXT 263

karma-nindā, karma-tyāga, sarva-śāstre kahe
karma haite prema-bhakti kṛṣṇe kabhu nahe

TRANSLATION

“In every revealed scripture there is condemnation of fruitive activities. It is advised everywhere to give up engagement in fruitive activities, for no one can attain the highest goal of life, love of Godhead, by executing them.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In the Vedas there are three kāṇḍas, or divisions: karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, and upāsanā-kāṇḍa. The karma-kāṇḍa portion stresses the execution of fruitive activities. But ultimately it is advised that one abandon both karma-kāṇḍa and jñāna-kāṇḍa (speculative knowledge) and accept only upāsanā-kāṇḍa, or bhakti-kāṇḍa. One cannot attain love of Godhead by executing karma-kāṇḍa or jñāna-kāṇḍa. But by dedicating one’s karma, or fruitive activities, to the Supreme Lord, one may be relieved from the polluted mind, and becoming free from mental pollution helps elevate one to the spiritual platform.

COMMENT

So, by offering the fruits of one’s activities, one cannot get bhakti, but by offering the fruits of one’s activities, one can become free from material contamination.

PURPORT (continued)

Then, however, one needs the association of a pure devotee, for only by a pure devotee’s association can one become a pure devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. When one comes to the stage of pure devotional service, the process of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam is very essential. By executing the nine items of devotional service, beginning with śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam, one is completely purified. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11).

COMMENT

So by offering the fruits of one’s activities to the Lord, one gradually becomes purified. When he is purified, if he gets the association of a pure devotee and the mercy of a pure devotee, then he can get bhakti and engage in devotional service. When he engages in devotional service, the main processes are śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. Therefore, in the beginning, Lord Chaitanya stress is placed on the process of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ. Then when he has bhakti, he can execute the orders of Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

Only then is one able to execute Kṛṣṇa’s orders in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.65, 66):

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

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaranaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

“Always think of Me, 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. Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.” In this way one develops his original constitutional position of rendering loving service to the Lord.

One cannot be elevated to the highest platform of devotional service by karma-kāṇḍa or jñāna-kāṇḍa. Pure devotional service can be understood and attained only through the association of pure devotees. In this regard, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura states that there are two types of karma-kāṇḍa activities — pious and impious. Pious activities are certainly better than impious activities, but even pious activities cannot bring about ecstatic love of God, Kṛṣṇa. Pious and impious activities can bring about material happiness and distress, but there is no possibility of one’s becoming a pure devotee simply by acting piously or impiously. Bhakti, devotional service, means satisfying Kṛṣṇa. In every revealed scripture, whether stressing jñāna-kāṇḍa or karma-kāṇḍa, the principle of renunciation is always praised. The ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is the supreme Vedic evidence. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.5.12) it is said:

naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ
na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam
kutaḥ punaḥ śaśvad abhadram īśvare
na cārpitaṁ karma yad apy akāraṇam

“Knowledge of self-realization, even though freed from all material affinity, does not look well if devoid of a conception of the Infallible [God]. What, then, is the use of fruitive activities, which are naturally painful from the very beginning and transient by nature, if they are not utilized for the devotional service of the Lord?”

COMMENT

So, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam tells that even transcendental knowledge which is completely free from material contamination does not look well if it does not include knowledge of Krishna. So, what to speak of fruitive activity which are naturally painful from beginning. Fruitive activity and mental speculation has no value without Krishna consciousness.

PURPORT (continued)

This means that even knowledge, which is superior to fruitive activity, is not successful if it is devoid of devotional service. Therefore in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam — in the beginning, middle and end — karma-kāṇḍa and jñāna-kāṇḍa are condemned. For example, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.2 it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ‘tra.

This is explained in the following verses taken from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.11.32) and the Bhagavad-gītā (18.66).

Giriraj Swami: So, these verses we are going to read now were quoted by Lord Chaitanya in the talk with the leader of Tattvavādīs or followers of Madhvacharya because Srila Madhvacharya accepted the authority of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

TEXT 264

ājñāyaivaṁ guṇān doṣān
mayādiṣṭān api svakān
dharmān santyajya yaḥ sarvān
māṁ bhajeta sa tu sattamaḥ

“Occupational duties are described in the religious scriptures. If one analyzes them, he can fully understand their qualities and faults and then give them up completely to render service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A person who does so is considered a first-class man.”

So, the Tattvavādīs, the followers of Madhvacharya stress the importance of karma in varnashrama-dharma. But here Lord Chaitanya quote Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that karma or varnashrama-dharma can be given up by one who actually studies qualities and fault of such activities. Then he comes to the conclusion that he should simply render the service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead and nullified the fruitive process of varnashrama-dharma or karma-kāṇḍa.

TEXT 265

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.”

COMMENT

So, another verse from Bhagavad-gītā which says the one can give up dharma. Dharma means varnashrama-dharma. And another verse quoted by Lord Chaitanya,

TEXT 266

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 by Srila Prabhupada

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

COMMENT

In other word, in order to be eligible to give up varnashrama-dharma and engage fully in devotional service, one must have two qualifications. The first qualification is that he should be material exhausted. He should not have any desire to enjoy the material world. And the other qualification is that he should have faith and taste in bhakti, specially śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. But if he has faith and taste for bhakti and at the same time he is materially exhausted and has no desire for material advancement, then he can give up varnashrama-dharma and engage fully in the service of the Lord. Now, in the beginning the leader of the followers of Madhvacharya said that by offering the fruits of one’s activities, one can attain the one of the five types of liberation. So, first Lord Chaitanya commented on the process that the best process is not the process of varnashrama-dharma or karma. But the best process is bhakti or śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ. Now, he explaining that the actual goal is not mukti, the actual goal is bhakti.

TEXT 267

pañca-vidha mukti tyāga kare bhakta-gaṇa
phalgu kari’ ‘mukti’ dekhe narakera sama

TRANSLATION

“Pure devotees reject the five kinds of liberation; indeed, for them liberation is very insignificant because they see it as hellish.

TEXT 268

sālokya-sārṣṭi-sāmīpya-
sārūpyaikatvam apy uta
dīyamānaṁ na gṛhnanti
vinā mat-sevanaṁ janāḥ

TRANSLATION

“ ‘Pure devotees always reject the five kinds of liberation, which include living in the spiritual Vaikuṇṭha planets, possessing the same opulences as those possessed by the Supreme Lord, having the same bodily features as the Lord’s, associating with the Lord and merging into the body of the Lord. The pure devotees do not accept these benedictions without the service of the Lord.’

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.29.13).

TEXT 269

yo dustyajān kṣiti-suta-svajanārtha-dārān
prārthyāṁ śriyaṁ sura-varaiḥ sadayāvalokām
naicchan nṛpas tad ucitaṁ mahatāṁ madhu-dviṭ-
sevānurakta-manasām abhavo ‘pi phalguḥ

TRANSLATION

“ ‘It is very difficult to give up material opulence, land, children, society, friends, riches, wife, or the blessings of the goddess of fortune, which are desired even by great demigods. But King Bharata did not desire such things, and this was quite befitting his position, because for a pure devotee whose mind is always engaged in the service of the Lord, even liberation, or merging into the existence of the Lord, is insignificant. And what to speak of material opportunities?’

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.14.44) concerning the glorification of King Bharata, whom Śukadeva Gosvāmī was describing to King Parīkṣit.

COMMENT

So generally, if one is free from material attachments, he wants liberation. But a pure devotee does not want even liberation what to speak of material enjoyment. He has no desire for either for bhukti or for mukti but only he wants bhakti.

TEXT 270

nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve
na kutaścana bibhyati
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv
api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ

TRANSLATION

“ ‘A person who is a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa is not afraid of a hellish condition, because he considers it the same as elevation to the heavenly planets or liberation. The devotees of Lord Nārāyaṇa are accustomed to seeing all these things on the same level.’

COMMENT

It means devotees only desires pure devotional service, he does not desire anything else. Therefore, he sees hellish planets, heavenly planet, and liberation are all the same. Because heaven is important if one who want to enjoy sense gratification but pure devotee doesn’t want to enjoy sense gratification. Hellish planets are significant because we want to avoid material misery but the pure devotee has no interest to avoid material conditions either and he is not interested in mukti because a pure devotee only is interested in devotional service. He is not interested in liberation. Therefore, for him all are the same: elevation to a heavenly planet, degradation to a lower planet, and liberation, all are the same for him. All are useless because he can engage in the service of the Lord in any condition and he only wants to engage in Krishna’s servant.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.17.28) regarding the personality Citraketu. Once when Citraketu saw the goddess Pārvatī sitting on the lap of Lord Śambhu (Śiva), he criticized Lord Śiva for being shameless and sitting just like an ordinary man with his wife on his lap. For this reason Citraketu was cursed by Pārvatī. Later he became a demon named Vṛtrāsura. Citraketu was a very powerful king and a devotee, and he could certainly retaliate even against Lord Śiva, but when Pārvatī cursed him, he immediately accepted the curse with a bowed head. When he agreed to accept this curse, Lord Śiva praised him and told Pārvatī that a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa is never afraid of accepting any position provided there is a chance to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the purport of nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati.

TEXT 271

mukti, karma — dui vastu tyaje bhakta-gaṇa
sei dui sthāpa’ tumi ‘sādhya’, ‘sādhana’

TRANSLATION

“Both liberation and fruitive activity are rejected by devotees. You are trying to establish these things as life’s goal and the process for attaining it.”

COMMENT

If you see the pure devotional service is jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam, free from jnana and karma and free from any other desire except for bhakti, free from desires for bhukti and mukti. But here, Lord Chaitanya is detected in a statement of the leader of the followers of Madhvacharya that they thought that karma was the means and moksha was the end. But actually both were wrong.

TEXT 272

sannyāsī dekhiyā more karaha vañcana
nā kahilā teñi sādhya-sādhana-lakṣaṇa

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued speaking to the Tattvavādī ācārya: “Seeing that I am a mendicant in the renounced order of life, you have been playing with Me in a duplicitous way. You have not actually described the process and ultimate objective.”

TEXT 273

śuni’ tattvācārya hailā antare lajjita
prabhura vaiṣṇavatā dekhi, ha-ilā vismita

TRANSLATION

After hearing Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the ācārya of the Tattvavāda sampradāya became very much ashamed. Upon observing Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s rigid faith in Vaiṣṇavism, he was struck with wonder.

TEXT 274

ācārya kahe, — tumi yei kaha, sei satya haya
sarva-śāstre vaiṣṇavera ei suniścaya

TRANSLATION

The Tattvavādī ācārya replied, “What You have said is certainly factual. It is the conclusion of all the revealed scriptures of the Vaiṣṇavas.

TEXT 275

tathāpi madhvācārya ye kariyāche nirbandha
sei ācariye sabe sampradāya-sambandha

TRANSLATION

“Still, whatever Madhvācārya has established as the formula for our party we practice as a party policy.”

COMMENT

In other words, he admitted that what Lord Chaitanya had said is correct, that karma is not the mean and moksha is not the end. Therefore, the acharya of the Tattvavādīs became very ashamed, but still he said that we are in the party of Madhvacharya and therefore we follow these policies of Madhvacharya.

TEXT 276

prabhu kahe, — karmī, jñānī, — dui bhakti-hīna
tomāra sampradāye dekhi sei dui cihna

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “Both the fruitive worker and the speculative philosopher are considered nondevotees. We see both elements present in your sampradāya.

TEXT 277

sabe, eka guṇa dekhi tomāra sampradāye
satya-vigraha kari’ īśvare karaha niścaye

“The only qualification that I see in your sampradāya is that you accept the form of the Lord as truth.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to point out to the Tattvavādī ācārya, who belonged to the Madhvācārya-sampradāya, that the general behavior of the Tattvavādīs did not favor pure devotional service, which must be devoid of the taints of fruitive activity and speculative knowledge. As far as fruitive activity is concerned, the contamination is the desire for elevation to a higher standard of life, and for speculative knowledge the contamination is the desire to merge into the existence of the Absolute Truth. The Tattvavāda sampradāya of the Madhvācārya school sticks to the principle of varṇāśrama-dharma, which involves fruitive activity. Their ultimate goal (mukti) is simply a form of material desire. A pure devotee should be free from all kinds of material desire. He simply engages in the service of the Lord. Nonetheless, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was pleased that the Madhvācārya-sampradāya, or the Tattvavāda sampradāya, accepted the transcendental form of the Lord. This is the great qualification of the Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas.

It is the Māyāvāda sampradāya that does not accept the transcendental form of the Lord. If a Vaiṣṇava sampradāya is also carried away by that impersonal attitude, that sampradāya has no position at all. It is a fact that there are many so-called Vaiṣṇavas whose ultimate aim is to merge into the existence of the Lord. For example, the sahajiyās’ Vaiṣṇava philosophy is to become one with the Supreme. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu points out that Śrī Mādhavendra Purī accepted Madhvācārya only because his sampradāya accepted the transcendental form of the Lord.

COMMENT

So here the question might arise that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was initiated in the Madhava sampradāya, so how could he criticize the Madhava sampradāya? But the answer is given that the contamination is among the Madhvacharya sampradāya or the limitations in the Madhava sampradāya were transcended by the Madhavendra Puri. Madhavendra Puri took initiation from Madhava sampradāya because of the good qualification of the Madhava sampradāya for they accept the form of the Lord as truth. In other words, they are not Mayavadis who think that the form of the Lord is false. So because they accepted that the form of the Lord is truth, Madhavendra Puri took initiation in the line of Madhvacharya. But he brought something which Madhvacharya sampradāya did not have. He brought ecstatic love of Godhead.

Prior to Srila Madhavendra Puri, only the deity of Krishna was worshipped alone, but from the time of Srila Madhavendra Puri, the worship of Srimati Radharani with Krishna was introduced and therefore ecstatic love of Krishna was introduced by Srila Madhavendra Puri. Prior to Srila Madhavendra Puri, the worship was on the basis of rules and regulations, not on the basis of spontaneous love or ecstatic love.

TEXT 278

ei-mata tāṅra ghare garva cūrṇa kari’
phalgu-tīrthe tabe cali āilā gaurahari

TRANSLATION

Thus Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu broke the pride of the Tattvavādīs to pieces. He then went to the holy place known as Phalgu-tīrtha.

COMMENT

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:30:00]

Giriraj Swami: Well, we can know when we speak to them. Of course, there are five kinds of moksha, and the acharya of the Tattvavādīs admitted that the other types of moksha besides merging are also possible. The impersonalists have no conception of personal liberation. They know only impersonal liberation, but the acharya of the Tattvavādīs understood the fact that there are different types of liberation including personal liberation. So, the Tattvavādīs is better than Mayavadis millions of times, trillions of times, but still pure devotee do not desire even liberation, even personal liberation. They only want to serve Krishna. So the philosophy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is very high. It is completely pure without any desire even for personal liberation, so what to speak of impersonal liberation or material enjoyment. It is so high and pure. Because he was in the mood of Srimati Radharani and following the footsteps of resident of Vrindavan and the residents of Vrindavan do not have any desire except the happiness of Krishna.

Any other questions? Do we have some questions.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:33:10]

Giriraj Swami: When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came and saw the deity, he danced and became mad in ecstasy. So the deity is certainly Krishna Himself and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu saw the deity as Krishna Himself, and Krishna is all powerful at all times and under all circumstances.

There Is a picture of Srila Madhvacharya. He taught the philosophy of Advaita, so his hand always shows two fingers that not one but two, that jīvātmā and Paramātmā are two, they are not one. Sripad Madhvacharya was the fifth acharya in disciplic succession bearing his name, the Madhya sampradāya. His devotion to the Lord and his scholarship are known throughout India. After traveling all over India, Madhvacharya went to Badrika ashram where he met Vyasadeva and explained his commentary on Bhagavad-gītā before him, thus he became a great scholar by studying before Vyasadeva. Aside from his great spiritual power, it is also said there was no limit to his bodily strength as he performed many astonishing pastimes testifying to this fact. His disciples Padmanabha Tirtha following him in disciplic succession. So, in our paramparā, begin from Krishna, Brahma to Narada to Vyasa and to Madhvacharya because Madhvacharya personally met Vyasadeva, and heard from him and learned from him.

Devotee: If Madhvacharya was such a good scholar, then [Unintelligible 00:36:32]?

Giriraj Swami: He was especially concerned to defeat advaitavāda. Advaitavāda, means the idea of non-duality. Dvaita means two, so Advaita means no two, only one. So mainly he preached against advaitavāda because people were not so advanced. So he preached against the advaitavāda and he established that the form of the Lord is truth and that one can continue one’s individual identity even after liberation and one can go to the spiritual world and in the spiritual world, living on the same place of the Lord, has the same opulences as the Lord, have the same features as the Lord, and so on. Even in ISKCON, if you ask most devotees, they may not be able to say what is the goal. They might go back home back to Godhead, which, in one sense, is true, but it may not be complete. We have to inquire further to see if they actually have the right idea or not. Because to go back home, back to Godhead, really means to engage in the service of the Lord, which we can do even in the present body if we have perfection, if we attain perfection. So the actual goal is kṛṣṇa-prema, and if we have kṛṣṇa-prema, we can have darshan of Krishna and service to Krishna even in this body and in this world. So in that sense, that going back to Godhead is all right, but if we think that we have to leave the body and go to the spiritual world and the goal is to go to the spiritual world to serve Krishna, then it is not perfect. Therefore, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi, I want only your pure devotional service life after life. Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:40:08]

Giriraj Swami: Because everyone is attached to the body, and of all calamities, death is the worst. We don’t want disease; we don’t want old age. But we are more afraid of death than of disease and old age. So when we confront the fact of death, then we become more serious about the problems of life and the solution. What is the goal of life? So because Arjuna was confronted with death on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, either his death or their death. Maharaja Parīkṣit was also confronted with death within seven days. So they asked very serious questions, and then we saw Krishna spoke Bhagavad-gītā and Śukadeva Gosvami spoke Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. How we should see the death, how we should see the goal of life, and so on.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:43:00]

Giriraj Swami: Because they are sinful. Generally, only pious persons come to Krishna, sinful persons do not come. Maya keeps them away. Therefore, Bhagavad-gītā says, catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino ‘rjuna, that four types of pious people come to Krishna. So if a pious person is in distress, he will come to Krishna. But if an impious person is in distress, he will not come to Krishna. He will go to intoxication, or he will go to communism, or he will go to anything. And na mā duktino mûhā prapadyante narādhamā, four types of people never surrender to Krishna because they are sinful. So maya does not allow them to surrender. Maya keeps them in ignorance. But the pious activity that can bring one to Krishna is not the ordinary activity of puṇya, but especially the activity of serving pure devotees is the pious activity that can bring the person to Krishna. That is called ajñāta-sukṛti. They do service to Krishna or service to bhakta without knowing what they are doing. So, many such pious activities are accumulated, they can more easily come to Krishna and to bhakti.