CC Adi 1.84

Giriraj Swami: Occasion of welcoming Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai and Srila Prabhupada into their new altar. There have also been many other improvements to the ambience for Their Lordships, Their devotees.

So, I thought to read some verses from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta that glorify Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai.

Please repeat.

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

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

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

We shall read from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter One. This verse appears as the second in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and then it is quoted again as the Eighty-Fourth verse and followed by an explanation of the verse.

TEXT 84

vande śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-
nityānandau sahoditau
gauḍodaye puṣpavantau
citrau śan-dau tamo-nudau

TRANSLATION

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the horizon of Gauḍa to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all.”

TEXTS 85–86

Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, the Personalities of Godhead, who formerly appeared in Vṛndāvana and were millions of times more effulgent than the sun and moon, have arisen over the eastern horizon of Gauḍadeśa [West Bengal], being compassionate for the fallen state of the world.

TEXT 87

The appearance of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Prabhu Nityānanda has surcharged the world with happiness.

TEXT 88–89

As the sun and moon drive away darkness by their appearance and reveal the nature of everything, these two brothers dissipate the darkness of ignorance covering the living beings and enlighten them with knowledge of the Absolute Truth.

TEXT 90

The darkness of ignorance is called kaitava, the way of cheating, which begins with religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation.

TEXT 91

dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ‘tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śiva-daṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ‘tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt

TRANSLATION

“The great scripture Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, compiled by Mahā-muni Vyāsadeva from four original verses, describes the most elevated and kindhearted devotees and completely rejects the cheating ways of materially motivated religiosity. It propounds the highest principle of eternal religion, which can factually mitigate the threefold miseries of a living being and award the highest benediction of full prosperity and knowledge. Those willing to hear the message of this scripture in a submissive attitude of service can at once capture the Supreme Lord in their hearts. Therefore there is no need for any scripture other than Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This verse appears in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.2). The words mahā-muni-kṛte indicate that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva, who is sometimes known as Nārāyaṇa Mahā-muni because he is an incarnation of Nārāyaṇa. Vyāsadeva, therefore, is not an ordinary man but is empowered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He compiled the beautiful Bhāgavatam to narrate some of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees.

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, a distinction between real religion and pretentious religion has been clearly made. According to this original and genuine commentation on the Vedānta-sūtra, there are numerous pretentious faiths that pass as religion but neglect the real essence of religion. The real religion of a living being is his natural inborn quality, whereas pretentious religion is a form of nescience that artificially covers a living entity’s pure consciousness under certain unfavorable conditions. Real religion lies dormant when artificial religion dominates from the mental plane. A living being can awaken this dormant religion by hearing with a pure heart.

COMMENT

So, Srila Prabhupada gives a long purport here which we shall not read just now. But the basic idea is clear that the constitutional position of the living entity is to serve Krishna without any motivation. When the living entity serves the Lord in pure love without any selfish desires for fruitive activity or mental speculation, he is satisfied. Nothing else can satisfy him. yayātmā suprasīdati—that religion is first class which is unmotivated and without any material cause. And, that dharma alone can fully satisfy the self. Anything else is a cheating process. It cheats us out of the real happiness and satisfaction that is due to us as parts and parcels of Krishna, eternal servants of Krishna.

People are cheated because actually they want to be cheated. Today, I happen to listen to an interview between Srila Prabhupada and two journalists. And, the journalists were commenting on various gurus, and yogis, and swamis, who had come to America, and Srila Prabhupada immediately responded that they are not gurus. They are not bona fide, unless they know the Bhagavad-gītā and present Krishna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be worshiped. They are not gurus, he said. Actually, they are cheaters. He quoted this verse that anything that does not teach a pure devotional service to Krishna is a cheating religion or a cheating process. And, he said that they themselves come from India to be cheated. They themselves come to be cheated, out of the real benefit of life. He said, they don’t have the strength to come to the west and present the message of Krishna as it is, but they themselves come to be cheated, to be victimized by the material attractions of western society. And, that’s the truth.

We are cheated because we want to be cheated. Anyone, who has been exposed to the knowledge of the Bhagavad-gītā, or the knowledge of Krishna consciousness cannot be cheated, unless he or she wants to be cheated. Srila Prabhupada commented on the Indian Independence Movement that, as Prabhupada said it, “The Indians threw out the British from India because that they didn’t want to be cheated by them. And, now that they’ve thrown out the British, they all want to come to America and be cheated by the Americans.”

So, Prabhupada was saying that the same thing applies to so many so-called gurus, who came from India to America. They wanted to be cheated by the Americans by the materialistic society. So, we are being cheated voluntarily. We want to be cheated. But if someone is sincere, if someone listens with a pure heart in a submissive mood, he can be relieved from the darkness of ignorance, and actually experience wonderful benedictions of, it says here, happiness and prosperity, but real happiness, and real prosperity. So, just read a little more to glorify their Lordships.

TEXT 92

The foremost process of cheating is to desire to achieve liberation by merging into the Supreme, for this causes the permanent disappearance of loving service to Kṛṣṇa.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The desire to merge into the impersonal Brahman is the subtlest type of atheism. As soon as such atheism, disguised in the dress of liberation, is encouraged, one becomes completely unable to traverse the path of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

So, most religionists, whether from India or anywhere, generally appeal to people’s desires either for material enjoyment or impersonal emancipation from material bondage, but they don’t give the real thing which is a loving devotional service to Krishna. What we are really understanding here from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta is what it means that Gaura-Nitai are bestowing wonderful benediction upon all. So we are really understanding.

TEXT 93

“The prefix ‘pra’ [in the verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam] indicates that the desire for liberation is completely rejected.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is an annotation by Śrīdhara Svāmī, the great commentator on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. 

TEXT 94

All kinds of activities, both auspicious and inauspicious, that are detrimental to the discharge of transcendental loving service to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa are actions of the darkness of ignorance.

COMMENT

So, even auspicious works that are meant for material elevation, so-called pious activities, that are meant to bring material benefit both to the performer, and to those for whom the sacrifice is made, the charity is given, are considered to be in the darkness of ignorance. And, it’s very interesting. I mean, it’s very clear that in these verses, there is no compromise. And, in the same way, there was no compromise in Srila Prabhupada. It was very interesting listening to the two interviews, very interesting.

The one was conducted by an American journalist from the Associated Press, and his initial approach was almost exactly opposite to the interview conducted by the two Indians, who were writing for some journal for Indians who lived in America and Canada. The American journalist had the idea that the devotees in the Krishna consciousness movement were isolated from the rest of society. And, that these talented, capable, intelligent, young men and women, who could be making a contribution to society, were not making the contribution that they could make. And, Srila Prabhupada replied that the reason people have this idea is because they are in ignorance. They identify with the body, and they measure contributions in terms of the body. But, we are acting on the spiritual platform. Our contribution is to the soul. The soul is the real person. The body is just a vehicle. It’s like a motor car. And then, he gave the example that material existence or embodied existence is like living in the prison.

So, everyone in the prison, they are being punished, they are being obliged to break rocks, and so the prisoners, they see people are coming and they are not breaking rocks like them, so they think they are not making a contribution. But, Prabhupada said, “Our contribution is, we tell the prisoners, this is not your real life. You are not meant for living in the prison house and breaking rocks. You are meant for reforming your mentality, and being released from the prison, and being becoming free, and no longer having to break rocks. But, they are thinking, Oh, these people aren’t joining in the work of breaking rocks. They are not making a contribution.

The Indians, they came with the complete opposite view. They said, “Swamiji, we see that in your society you have brahmacharis, grihasthas, and sannyasis. You have people in all orders of life. From this, we can see that you are not advocating that your devotees should be away from the world. But, that they should be in the world and contributing to the world because grihasthas, the whole cycle.” Anyway, it was of course, each conversation took its own course, but Prabhupada basically said the same thing to the Indians that he said to the Americans, even though they were both coming from different angles. And that is, that actually, we have nothing to do with the material world. We are operating on the spiritual platform. We haven’t come here to improve people’s material lives.

Of course, If they follow the principles of varnashrama-dharma with Krishna consciousness, their life will improve in many ways. But, basically we are not acting on the material platform. We are here to act on the spiritual platform. And then, he proceeded to give the same explanation of the driver in the car. And, we are not here for the car. We are here for the driver, and everyone’s identifying with the car.

So, It was very interesting that in both cases, Srila Prabhupada made the same point. And, he made the point to both that people misunderstand us because we are operating on the spiritual platform. And, they are all on the material platform. They are in ignorance. And, because they are in ignorance, they can neither understand us nor appreciate us properly.

And here, we find the same instructions that are being given in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta that anything other than pure devotional service to Krishna is cheating and ignorance. And These two Lords, Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai have come to remove this darkness of ignorance.

And Srila Prabhupada, as Their representative, as Their servant, also came to remove the darkness of ignorance. And, if we do not do the same thing, we are cheating, we are cheating people. I mean, maybe not to the same extent as some of the other swamis, or so-called gurus, but we are also cheating people and cheating ourselves.

TEXT 94

All kinds of activities, both auspicious and inauspicious, that are detrimental to the discharge of transcendental loving service to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa are actions of the darkness of ignorance.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The poetical comparison of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda to the sun and moon is very significant. The living entities are spiritual sparks, and their constitutional position is to render devotional service to the Supreme Lord in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So-called pious activities and other ritualistic performances, pious or impious, as well as the desire to escape from material existence, are all considered to be coverings of these spiritual sparks. The living entities must get free from these superfluous coverings and fully engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The purpose of the appearance of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda is to dispel the darkness of the soul. Before Their appearance, all these superfluous activities of the living entities were covering Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but after the appearance of these two brothers, people’s hearts are becoming cleansed, and they are again becoming situated in the real position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

COMMENT

So, their hearts are being cleansed by Their mercy, by the saṅkīrtana movement ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam and that’s the best way to cleanse our hearts. It’s the best way to cleanse the hearts of others. And, it’s the best way to please the two Lords Gaura-Nitai, the best way to serve Them, best way to worship Them. Srila Prabhupada said that in Kali-yuga, the main Deity is Gaura-Nitai, the Pancha-tattva, and the way to worship Them is by saṅkīrtana. And, we are blessed here, not only by the presence of Gaura-Nitai, but a real staunch saṅkīrtana leader along with many able assistants, some disabled but they are all part of it.

TEXT 95

By the grace of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda, this darkness of ignorance is removed and the truth is brought to light.

COMMENT

What is the truth? We are eternal servants of Krishna, nothing to do with pious, impious material activities.

TEXT 96

The Absolute Truth is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and loving devotion to Śrī Kṛṣṇa exhibited in pure love is achieved through congregational chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all bliss.

TEXT 97

The sun and moon dissipate the darkness of the external world and thus reveal external material objects like pots and plates.

TEXT 98

But these two brothers [Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda] dissipate the darkness of the inner core of the heart, and thus They help one meet the two kinds of bhāgavatas [persons or things in relationship with the Personality of Godhead].

TEXT 99

One of the bhāgavatas.

COMMENT

Who knows what the two bhāgavatas are?

Devotee: Person Bhāgavata and book Bhāgavata.

Giriraj Swami: And, can you explain without using the term Bhāgavata? What a person Bhāgavata is? And, what the book Bhāgavata is?

Devotee: Without scripture?

Giriraj Swami: No, just in English. What’s a person Bhāgavata?

Devotee: The person who exemplifies the scriptures. He who sets an example of the scriptures is the person Bhāgavata.

Giriraj Swami: And, the book Bhāgavata is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

TEXT 99

One of the bhāgavatas is the great scripture Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and the other is the pure devotee absorbed in the mellows of loving devotion.

TEXT 100

Through the actions of these two bhāgavatas the Lord instills the mellows of transcendental loving service into the heart of a living being, and thus the Lord, in the heart of His devotee, comes under the control of the devotee’s love.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada was saying, these Mayavadis, they want to be one with God. They want to be equal to God, but the pure devotee, he becomes the controller of God, becomes greater than God; God comes under his control, but really not under his control, but under the control of his pure love.

TEXT 101

The first wonder is that both brothers appear simultaneously, and the other is that They illuminate the innermost depths of the heart.

TEXT 102

These two, the sun and moon, are very kind to the people of the world. Thus for the good fortune of all, They have appeared on the horizon of.

COMMENT

Santa Barbara [laughter].

TEXT 102

Bengal.