Sri Gaura-purnima

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. So, we welcome you on the most auspicious occasion of Sri Gaura-purnima, the appearance day of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya. The Original Personality of Godhead is Krishna, He is the cause of all causes, and the origin of all that be.

TEXT 1

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ

anādir ādir govindaḥ

sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

Krishna, although He is perfect and complete, He felt that there were aspects of Himself that He could not experience from the position of Krishna, and He wanted to experience them as Srimati Radharani experiences them. Of course, Srimati Radharani is the first expansion of Krishna on the side of His energies, or shaktis, and She is the greatest lover of Krishna. So, Krishna thought I can experience these features of Myself only from the position of Srimati Radharani. And so, He assumed Her mood, Her sentiments, Her bhāva, and also Her complexion, golden complexion, and He appeared as Sri Krishna Chaitanya.

So, there is one very important verse that was composed by Lord Chaitanya’s most confidential associate, Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, that explains this intimate fact. These are actually quite high topics, but I think after all the kirtan and abhiseka, you are pretty high, so I will read this.

This appears as the fifth verse of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and it is repeated by the author, Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami in the Ādi-līlā, Fourth Chapter. So, I’ll read this. But first, 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

So, this is repeated here, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Four, Text 230.

TRANSLATION

“Desiring to understand the glory of Rādhārāṇī’s love”.

COMMENT

That is the first reason.

TRANSLATION

“The wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes through Her love.”

COMMENT

The second reason.

TRANSLATION

“And the happiness She feels when She realizes the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord Hari, richly endowed with Her emotions, appeared from the womb of Śrīmatī Śacī-devī, as the moon appeared from the ocean.”

COMMENT

So, these are the, you could say, internal reasons for Lord Chaitanya’s descent. And the external reason, as explained in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, is that the time had come for the incarnation of the age to appear and to promulgate the method of self-realization for that age. So, as many of you know, there are four ages that repeat in cycles like the four seasons. There is Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga. And Lord Krishna appears at the end of Dvapara-yuga, but not every Dvapara-yuga, just once in a thousand. And in the Kali-yuga, after the Dvapara-yuga in which Krishna appears, Lord Chaitanya appears. And we’ve heard about the internal reasons for His descent, and the external reasons were to propagate the yuga-dharma for the present age of Kali.

And who knows what is the yuga-dharma for Kali-yuga?

Devotee: Hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, the chanting of

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Lord Chaitanya, as Srila Prabhupada writes in the introduction to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in his brief life sketch of Lord Chaitanya, Lord Chaitanya was also the ideal preacher of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and therefore, along with the chanting of the holy names, we also hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In fact, the entire process of bhakti-yoga that we follow in ISKCON is really coming from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, every element of our practice is coming from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who instructed the science of bhakti-yoga to Srila Rupa Gosvami. And Srila Rupa Gosvami in turn recorded those instructions with evidence from various revealed scriptures in his main book, which is Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. And Srila Prabhupada has given us a summary study of the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu in the form of The Nectar of Devotion. So, all of this is coming from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but Srila Prabhupada has adjusted those teachings to make them more accessible to us.

I will give an example.

When Lord Chaitanya was in Jagannatha Puri, of course, many devotees wanted to invite Him to their places for prasāda. So, Lord Chaitanya said, “I will take prasāda only in the home of a lakhpati.” Lakh means 100,000 and pati means one who owns, controls. So, the brahmans became very worried, “What is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu saying? We are just poor devotees; we don’t have a lakh of rupees.” And then, Lord Chaitanya clarified that He doesn’t mean someone who has a lakh of rupees, He means someone who chants a lakh of names every day. So, a lakh of names is sixty-four rounds.

Now, I can’t say for sure, but probably not many of us chant sixty-four rounds a day. And Srila Prabhupada, this is the point I’m making, that he took whatever Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave, but he made some adjustments for us. So, for us, he made the minimum number of rounds per day sixteen. And in one purport, I believe in The Nectar of Instructions, Srila Prabhupada says that according to his Guru Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, anyone who does not chant sixty-four rounds a day is considered fallen, patita. But then, Srila Prabhupada says because we, meaning us, his disciples, his followers, because we are endeavoring our best to serve Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he is confident that Lord Chaitanya, even though we are considered patita, fallen, because we are not chanting sixty-four rounds, but he is confident that Lord Chaitanya, who is known as patita-pāvana, will accept us. And we certainly have full faith and confidence that by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has accepted us, is accepting us, and is engaging us in service, in the saṅkīrtana movement.

Now, Lord Chaitanya, of course, gave many instructions, but I will mention one instruction that He gave three times, and which is important for us. They are all important, but this one strikes me as especially important. So, every year, His devotees, means after He displayed His pastimes for forty-eight years. And for the first twenty-four years, He was in Navadvipa, Mayapur, for the next six years, He traveled throughout India and spread the saṅkīrtana movement, and then for the last eighteen years, He was in Jagannatha Puri.

And in Jagannatha Puri, He manifested the ecstasy of Srimati Radharani in separation from Krishna. That same ecstasy of separation that Srimati Radharani experienced in Vrindavan after Krishna left for Mathura and Dvaraka, that same ecstasy was manifested by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannatha Puri. And this mood of separation is very central to Krishna consciousness. From Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu on down through His immediate disciples, The Six Gosvami.

And at one Khumba-mela in Allahabad, a sort of devotee, not an ISKCON devotee, but someone who is like a devotee, came to our camp and he met some of Prabhupada’s disciples. And he was basically following the regulated principles that we follow and chanting Hare Krishna. And we couldn’t introduce him to Srila Prabhupada at that time, but afterwards, we told Srila Prabhupada about him. And Prabhupada listened, he seemed to be approving, but then we told him that the man had said that he had seen Krishna, and Srila Prabhupada replied, “This is not our mood,” that I’ve seen Krishna, such a cheap thing that I’ve seen Krishna, “But our mood is the mood of separation.” And he quoted from the Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka, beautiful prayers about the Six Gosvamis by Srinivas Acharya in the eight verse.

He rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ

That means he rādhe vraja-devike—queen of Vrindavan, Hey lalite – Lalita devi, he nanda-sūno—son of Nanda Maharaja, Krishna, kutaḥ—where are you? That was their mood, “Where are you?” And they were wandering all over Vrindavan, at Govardhana Hill, in the banks of the Yamuna, crying out loudly, “Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?” So, that is our mood, the mood of separation. But that mood of separation will only arise when we have some attachment. Just like if we are attached to someone and we lose the person’s association, they go away, they may even leave their body, so we feel separation because we had attachment for that person. If we are separated from someone for whom we have no attachment, we won’t feel separation.

So, separation is crucial to Krishna consciousness, but the basis of that separation is attachment to that personality. And generally, one becomes attached to one spiritual master, to Srila Prabhupada, and then to Gaura-Nitai, then to Radha-Krishna. And that attachment develops by following the process of bhakti-yoga without offense.

So, I mentioned that Lord Chaitanya gave the same instruction three times when He was in Jagannatha Puri, and the residents of Kulina-gram would meet Him, and although they were actually very exalted devotees, they presented themselves as materialistic householders. And so, they asked Lord Chaitanya, “What is our duty as householders, as materialistic persons?” And each time for three years consecutively, Lord Chaitanya gave the same answer, which is, “You should chant the holy name and serve the Vaishnavas.” This is really the essence of our process. And each year, the residents of Kulina-gram, led by Satyaraja Khan asked, “How do we recognize a Vaishnava? Because if we are supposed to serve Vaishnavas, you have to be able to recognize one.”

So, Lord Chaitanya, the first-year, said, “Anyone who chants the holy name once is a Vaishnava, and you should serve him or her.” The next year, they asked the same question, He gave the same answer, they further inquired, “How do we recognize a Vaishnava?” And Lord Chaitanya replied, “Anyone who is constantly chanting the holy name of the Lord is a Vaishnava.” He uses the word nirantara, it means without cessation. And the third year, same exchange, “Chant the holy names and serve the Vaishnavas.” “How do we recognize the Vaishnavas?” And Lord Chaitanya replied, “He whose very presence inspires others to chant the holy name is a Vaishnava.”

And Srila Prabhupada, quoting his Guru Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, explains that the first year, “Someone who chanted the holy name once,” Lord Chaitanya was referring to a kaniṣṭhā Vaishnava. And the second year, “Someone who is constantly chanting, an advanced devotee who is constantly chanting, that is a madhyam Vaishnava. And, “Someone just by seeing him, you become inspired to chant,” that’s a uttamā Vaishnava, like Srila Prabhupada.

There are many examples in Srila Prabhupada’s life when. . . I mean, anyway, I won’t go there because we are short of time. But you can even take it from me that sometimes he had a brief stopover in Fiji. . . Anyway, it’s too long of a story, but just from that brief stopover, some leading business in Fiji, they more or less surrendered and began chanting Hare Krishna and much of them became disciples, and that led to the establishment of the Krishna Kāliya temple in Lautoka, Fiji. Because it’s said that after Krishna banished Kāliya from Vrindavan, from the Yamuna River, he ended up in Fiji. So, we have the Krishna Kāliya temple there.

Now, one thing about Lord Chaitanya is that He is considered the most munificent incarnation of Krishna. Of course, Krishna Himself is very merciful, but Lord Chaitanya, that form of Krishna, Lord Chaitanya is considered most munificent. And He was addressed by Srila Rupa Gosvami:

TEXT 53

namo mahā-vadānyāya

kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te

kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-

nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ

Namo mahā-vadānyāya; vadānyāya means munificent, merciful, generous. Namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te, why? Because He is giving kṛṣṇa-prema, the greatest treasure, He is giving freely, kṛṣṇa-prema. Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya, He is Krishna. Kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne, He is known as Krishna Chaitanya. Gaura-tviṣe namaḥ, He comes in a golden complexion.

So, Srila Prabhupada applied that verse to his. . . Well, I would say it would apply to every disciple or follower of his, but he applied it specifically to his leaders, I guess the GBC men, temple presidents. And he was saying that like Lord Chaitanya, they should be very munificent. That’s part of our job description, they have to be munificent, merciful, generous in Krishna consciousness.

So, we are completely indebted to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and to Srila Prabhupada, who brought Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to us and has mercifully engaged us in Their service. Hare Krishna.

So, we have a few minutes, and I thought if anyone does have any questions or comments, we can keep some time for that. Radha Vinoda Prabhu?

Devotee: Maharaja, you were talking about serving three types of devotees. So, the residents of Kulina-gram were asking who to serve, how to recognize a Vaishnava, and you described three. So, we serve all three?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, we serve all three. I was going to mention that, but it didn’t come out of my mouth at the time, but you brought it out of my mouth. Yes, so that means we serve all the three categories of Vaishnavas, correct.

Devotee: Equally?

Giriraj Swami: To your utmost. How we serve them will vary, but we should serve them all. It’s a general principle that when one meets a devotee who is, you could say, more of a beginner, one is merciful to that person and engages the person and instructs the person, that’s also service. Of course, we can serve in so many other ways, but that’s also service. And those who are madhyam Vaishnavas, we make friends with them but we serve them. And those who are uttamā Vaishnavas, well, we serve them.

I mean, we make our efforts, that’s necessary, but really, everything ultimately depends on mercy. So, somehow or other, we want to act in such a way that we are receptacles for Gaura-Nitai’s mercy, for Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, paramparā’s mercy. Which reminds me of something I said on Nityananda-trayodasi, but I’ll repeat it because I think it’s so wonderful.

Srila Prabhupada said that to approach Radha and Krishna, one needs the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, and to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, one needs the mercy of Lord Nityananda, and to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, one has to approach people like Jagai and Madhai. So, there are so many Jagais and Madhais around, there is no dearth of them. And so, by approaching them with Prabhupada’s books, with the holy name, with prasāda, some form of Krishna, Krishna consciousness, we get that mercy.

Yes?

Devotee: You said something about kaniṣṭhādhikārī and somebody who chants Hare Krishna just once. Is there an attitude that’s associated with that one mantra, or is it just somebody who utters the name and that’s it?

Giriraj Swami: Well, that’s the purport that Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura gave. I mean, chanting the holy name of Krishna once, it’s not an ordinary thing. I mean, if we go out on the street, how many thousands of millions of people are there who’ve never chanted Krishna’s name even once? But it’s also true that if one chants, it’s mentioned, if you chant the holy name of Krishna once, that means with attention, without offense, if you just chant the holy name of Krishna once, you can attain all success in Krishna consciousness.

Devotee: Sorry, can you repeat that again? Without offending?

Giriraj Swami: Without offense. In other words, when we chant, we should really focus on each name. Because if we can chant even one name, just one name with full attention and absorption, we can develop love of Krishna. We should be very attentive in our japa, of course, and in kirtan.

Devotee: Thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Are you looking for the microphone?

Devotee: The residents of Kulina-gram, I think I remember that also, didn’t Mahaprabhu tell them that the definition of a Vaishnava is one who gives up the association of non-devotees?

Giriraj Swami: Well, that’s also there. So, that’s just another one of the instructions. Asat-saṅga-tyāga, — ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra ‘strī-saṅgī’ — eka asādhu, ‘kṛṣṇābhakta’ āra. Lord Chaitanya says the characteristic behavior of a Vaishnava is asat-saṅga-tyāga, he gives up the association of asat, sat means devotee, so asat means non-devotees. Asat-saṅga-tyāga, — ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra, then he gives two categories; strī-saṅgī, one who is attached to women for sense gratification, eka asādhu, ‘kṛṣṇābhakta’ āra. So, one kind of, you could say, unholy association is a man who is attached to women for sense gratification, and the other is someone who is just not a devotee. So, that’s a bit of a, you could say, subtle point, but that’s the instruction.

But by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, everyone here is uttamā-uttamā-uttamā. And so, we can associate with them, we can serve them, we can learn from them, and we can chant and dance with them. All right, thank you very much. Hare Krishna. [applause] Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!

Devotee: Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!