Sri Gaura-purnima

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. So we welcome you on the most auspicious occasion of Sri Gaura-purnima. Two of our greatest festivals in the year are Sri Radhastami and Sri Krishna Janmashtami and Caitanya-caritāmṛta describes that Krishna in order to expand His pleasure manifested Himself as Radha and Krishna and then the two Radha and Krishna again became one as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Radhastami, the name Ashtami means the 8th day, sort of. . . So on the Ashtami, the moon is half one side and fifteen days before that is Janmashtami and so the moon is also half the other half and then the two half-moons have combined on the Purnima, Gaura-purnima. 

So it is the most auspicious celebration. So when we were in Calcutta with Srila Prabhupada, around 1971, we were living in the same place that the devotees have now, three Albert Road and the landlord was a Bengali gentleman, named Mr. Singh Roy and Mr. Singh Roy had a talk with Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Acyutananda Swami and in their conversation, Mr. Singh Roy put forth the theory that first Chaitanya Mahaprabhu existed and then from him, came Radha and Krishna and he also said that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is greater than Radha and Krishna, just like a rasagullā is greater than milk and sugar. 

So he had his theories and he is quite forceful about presenting them. So Acyutananda came Srila Prabhupada to ask him about what the landlord had said and I also happen to be in the room and Srila Prabhupada said that first Radha and Krishna exist and then comes Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The same example that Mr. Singh Roy gave first the milk and sugar exists and then they combine and become rasagullā. So then Acyutananda asked, “Well, who is greater?” Now in response to that question Srila Prabhupada pointed to a picture on the wall of his room that showed Srimati Radharani, sort of, seated in an elevated position in what is technically called Maan. Maan means like, Prabhupada translated it as like sulkiness, sulky anger. It is a high stage of mahā-bhāva and Krishna, is sort of kneeling at her feet asking her to give up her Maan. So who is the greatest? Srila Prabhupada said, “Srimati Radharani is the greatest.” 

And then he pointed to another picture of Krishna carrying the shoes of Nanda Maharaja on His head. Srila Prabhupada said, “Nanda Maharaja is the greatest because Krishna is carrying his shoes on His head” and then he said, “The devotee is the greatest.” Now that is a very deep conclusion and a significant conclusion because Srimati Radharani is hlādinī-śakti the pleasure potency of Krishna and from the hlādinī-śakti, Krishna enjoys pleasure in reciprocating with his devotees and the devotees also experience pleasure in engaging indevotional service to Krishna. And Krishna comes under the control of his devotees, not exactly under the control of his devotees but under the control of their love. That is how powerful love of Godhead is. 

And that love of Godhead is very rare but it was distributed and is being distributed freely by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and therefore he was addressed by Srila Rupa Goswami, namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya- nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ. So Namo mahā means munificent. He addressed Lord Chaitanya- you are the most magnificent incarnation of Godhead because you are distributing freely with no incarnation has ever given before and that is kṛṣṇa-prema, Love for Krishna, kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te. And Krishna says that He will, this verse is also quoted in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, that He will award material opulence and even liberation very easily. But he will not award bhakti so easily because by bhakti he becomes controlled. That is how powerful bhakti is, pure bhakti, prema-bhakti.

And Srila Jiva Gosvami comments that Krishna is speaking like that to establish the superior position of bhakti over karma, jnana, and yoga. But really, he likes to be controlled by His devotees. So he said- well, I give the other things easily but not bhakti because when I get bhakti, I come under the control of the devotee but actually he likes to come under the control of the devotees. But he says that just to show how rare and precious bhakti is and that is just being distributed, was distributed, is being distributed freely by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. 

And practically everything in this movement, the Hare Krishna movement, if we trace it, it will go back to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. All of our practices, the practices that Srila Prabhupada has given us are coming from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and in our praṇāma mantra to Srila Prabhupada which we sing every, I sang it in my little kirtan- gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe. Gaura, means Lord Chaitanya and vāṇī means words, instructions, and pracāriṇe, Srila Prabhupada is preaching Gaura vāṇī, the teachings of Lord Chaitanya. 

So we have an immeasurable debt. Of course, first to Srila Prabhupada who brought this all to us and then through disciplic succession to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. 

Now why did Lord Chaitanya descend? There are internal reasons and external reasons. The internal reasons are that he wanted to experience the glories of Srimati Radharani’s love for him, he wanted to experience the sweetness of himself, Krishna, that Srimati Radharani experiences and he wanted to experience the. . .

Can anyone help me there? 

Yes, yes, I will just read it. It is so beautiful. It is very confidential actually but anyway, you said it that is good enough. So those are like the internal reasons and the external reasons were that he wanted to introduce the saṅkīrtana movement, the yuga-dharma, he wanted to fulfill the position of the yugāvatāras and he wanted to respond to the loud cries of Advaita acharya, who was asking him to descend. Advaita acharya himself is Maha-Vishnu, he is all-powerful but he was in the mood of a devotee and in the mood of a devotee, he felt compassion for all the living entities and he felt incapable of delivering them himself. He thought only if Krishna comes personally, He will be able to deliver them unless he prayed, he read a verse that Krishna sells himself to someone who worships him with Ganges water and Tulsi leaf. So he began to worship his Saligram Shila with Ganges water and Tulsi leaves and cry out very deeply for Krishna to appear and thus he did appear as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

And on various occasions in the Chaitanya Bhagavat, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that I was resting peacefully on the Ananta Śeṣa in the milk ocean but Nara that was his affectionate name for Advaita acharya, he disturbed me from my peaceful rest and made me come down here. So this is a very important point that yes, there are four ages- Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga and they repeat in cycles like the four seasons repeat. And in each age, a different method of self-realization or God realization is recommended. So in Sat yuga it is a meditation and in Treta-yuga, its Vedic sacrifices and in Dvapara-yuga its elaborate temple worship and then in Kali-yuga, its chanting of the holy names.

So in every Kali-yuga, there is a yuga avatar, an incarnation, for the age but it is not always Lord Chaitanya. It is only once in a day of Brahma which is something like. . . That is what I was thinking. Thank you. Yes, 4.3 billion years. So once in a day of Brahma, 4.3 billion years. Krishna, the original personality of Godhead comes in Dvapara-yuga, and once in a day of Brahma, once in 4 billion 300 million years in the Kali-yuga, immediately following the Dvapara-yuga, in which Krishna descends, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descends. So this is a very-very rare occurrence and we are amazingly blessed and fortunate to be living during this time just five hundred odd years after Lord Chaitanya descended.

And it was Lord Chaitanya’s desire, well prediction and desire, pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma, that in every town and village, in every country of the world my name or Krishna’s name will be preached. So when Lord Chaitanya made this utterance, some five hundred years ago, it seemed impossible and even the followers of Lord Chaitanya down to the first half of the last century could not believe that it could happen literally. They thought that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was speaking in some poetic metaphorical way but not that literally people in every town and village of the world will chant his name. And, but this is also predicted in a book called Chaitanya Mangala by Lochan dasa Thakura. Many of us are familiar with Lochan dasa Thakura because he wrote the beautiful song- Parama Karuna. 

So Lochan dasa Thakura said or wrote that, there was an exchange, that the chanting would be spread to every town and village of the world and so how is that possible? So the Lord said, “I will send my Senapati bhakta.” So Sena means army and pati means, like, that the controller, the protector and in a more colloquial translation, Senapati means commander-in-chief, like, the commander-in-chief. So he said that I will send my Senapati bhakta, that my commander-in-chief devotee. So this also points to Srila Prabhupada. That he was that Senapati bhakta. He was the one who fulfilled the seemingly impossible prediction that the holy name would be spread to every town and village of the world.

So how fortunate are we to be connected with them either directly or very closely? It is amazing. So we should take, obviously, we should take advantage of this incredible good fortune that has been offered to us and especially, chant the holy names

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

Yes, Lord Chaitanya says that of all the processes, all the nine processes of devotional service the chanting of the holy name is the best and therefore, this is the Hare Krishna movement and Srila Prabhupada’s own words- We are popularly known as the Hare Krishna people. 

So we should chant as much as possible. In one talk that Srila Prabhupada gave here in LA, he said, “If you have time, chant Hare Krishna. Don’t waste time. Don’t speak nonsense. You have time, chant Hare Krishna.” But another very important part of Srila Prabhupada’s mission as we know is book distribution. In fact, what we know of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was really coming from Srila Prabhupada’s books especially, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. And that mood of giving this maha-varanyaya, Srila Prabhupada said that all of his representatives and the temples but the temple presidents, they should reflect the same mood of munificence, of generosity. And so we do that by giving people the holy name, by giving people Srila Prabhupada books, by giving them prasāda and festivals, I mean, the Ratha-yatra festival in Los Angeles is probably the best in the world and people get everything at that festival. 

And that is another thing, I mean, that Srila Prabhupada gave us. Of course, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself observed the Ratha-yatra in Puri but he gave us the Ratha-yatra and yes, but it is, yes, somehow or other it is all connected to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So I will read one verse from Caitanya-caritāmṛta which is from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and which predicts the appearance of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. There are other statements in the shastra that predicted Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance and so it is not just a sentiment that we accept him as Krishna. I mean, ordinary people they would regard him as a great saint of India but he is actually Krishna in the mood of Radharani. And so here is one of the verses. So please repeat after me.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

To save time I will proceed. So this appears in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Three, Text Fifty-two, and it is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Well, it is so purifying. Well, we will do a little more responsive. 

TEXT 52

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

TRANSLATION

“In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the name of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.” 

COMMENT

So all of you here are worshiping this incarnation of Godhead, Chaitanya, by performance of saṅkīrtana, by chanting the holy names. So you are certified as intelligent if anyone says anything to the contrary you hold up the book and you say—look it says right here that people who worship the incarnation of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by chanting the holy names are sumedhasaḥ, very intelligent and there is another word, contrary word alpa-medhasaḥ, which means less intelligent or unintelligent and the Bhagavad-Gita uses that word to describe people who worship demigods. People who worship the demigods are alpa-medhasaḥ and people worship Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by saṅkīrtana are sumedhasaḥ.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This text is from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32). Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has explained this verse in his commentary on the Bhāgavatam, known as the Krama-sandarbha, wherein he says that Lord Kṛṣṇa also appears with a golden complexion. 

COMMENT bY Giriraj Swami 

That golden complexion is Radharani’s. 

PURPORT (continued)

That golden Lord Kṛṣṇa is Lord Caitanya, who is worshiped by intelligent men in this age. That is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by Garga Muni, who said that although the child Kṛṣṇa was blackish, He also appears in three other colors — red, white and yellow.

COMMENT

So when Krishna appeared, as was the tradition, Nanda Maharaja invited the family priests Gargamuni to do his astrology and Gargamuni made this statement which is very significant that he is blackish as Krishna but he appears in three other ages in different colors- red, white, and yellow. So the red and white are eliminated because they are in Satya-yuga and Treta-yuga and the black that was Krishna. So the yellow is the only one left and that is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

PURPORT (continued)

He did not exhibit the remaining color, yellow-gold, until He appeared as Lord Caitanya, who is known as Gaura Hari.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains that kṛṣṇa-varṇam means Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya.

COMMENT

The varṇam has two meanings. One meaning of varṇam is a category, like we have Varna-asrama dharma So there are different categories, varnas, varnam. Another meaning comes from Varnayat which means to describe. So this incarnation is always kṛṣṇa-varṇam that means these are the same category as Krishna and he is also always describing Krishna or glorifying Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

Lord Caitanya always chants the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and describes it also, and because He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, whoever meets Him will automatically chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and later describe it to others. 

COMMENT

Now, another very important instruction of Lord Chaitanya’s which he gave three times in three successive years, when the residents of Kulingram met him at Jagannatha Puri and asked him what is their duty and every year Lord Chaitanya gave the same answer and is very important for us and that is to chant the holy names and to serve the devotees. And each year the residents would ask Lord Chaitanya- how do we recognize a devotee? And the first year he said that anyone who utters the name of Krishna once is a devotee. Then the next year, the same exchange- how do we recognize the devotee? Lord Chaitanya said that anyone who is always chanting the holy names is the devotee. And then the third year when they asked, he replied—Anyone who just by being seen by others inspires them to chant the holy name is a devotee. 

And Srila Prabhupada in his commentary explains that the first definition is of a beginning devotee, kaniṣṭhā, he chanted the holy name once so he is considered a devotee and he should be served. Second who is constantly chanting the holy name is an advanced devotee, madhyam and he should certainly be served, means he or she and someone who just by being seen inspires people that chant is Uttama devotee, mahā-bhagavata and Srila Prabhupada was like that. 

I love hearing stories of devotees who, for example, they saw Srila Prabhupada for the first time at the airport when he arrived and without having it in their mind to do so in a premeditated way, they just find themselves bowing down and crying and chanting. So that someone just by being seen he inspires people to chant. So we are so fortunate to be born in this Kali-yuga and to be associated with Srila Prabhupada who is the fulfillment of prophecies of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and also others, Bhaktivinoda Thakura. So yes, we should really take advantage of their mercy by accepting the practices of Krishna consciousness and also sharing Krishna consciousness with others. That is the combination. One alone is not enough.

As it is said in Caitanya-caritāmṛta that some people preach but they don’t behave very nice and some people behave very nicely but they don’t preach. But that particular verse was spoken in relation to Haridasa Thakura or nāmācārya but that he does both. So we should practice and preach. We should relish Krishna consciousness and share it with others.

So I will conclude with one of my favorite statements of Srila Prabhupada and in this very brief sequence of a few sentences, Srila Prabhupada describes the whole process of Krishna consciousness. He said that to approach Radha and Krishna, we need the mercy of Lord Chaitanya and to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, we need the mercy of Lord Nityananda and to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, we have to approach people like Jagai and Madhai. 

So it begins like that. Approaching people on the street with books or with hari-nāma or festivals. Yes, it is amazing but anyway, I. . . So yes, we have been blessed by the best and we should share our good fortune with others and especially, through the chanting of the holy names.

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

Thank you very much. So we do have a few minutes if any of you have any questions or comments. Yes.

Devotee: [Inaudible 00:43:21] 

Giriraj Swami: Yes. 

Host: Thank you. His godbrothers were also in doubt about how this mission of Mahaprabhu would be fulfilled?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. 

Host: And so Srila Prabhupada was in a meeting one day with them and they were saying how will this happen and his one statement shows that he understood exactly that he was that person who would come to the west and fulfill this mission. He said to them, “You doubt?”

Giriraj Swami: Perfect. Yes, yes.

Devotee: I have a question.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is okay. Please.

Devotee: Maharaja, what would you tell somebody if he or she would say that these are all too good to be true? What is the answer?

Giriraj Swami: What would I tell someone who says it is too good to be true?

Devotee: Yes, like Lord Chaitanya appearing once in a day of Brahma and distributing this rare gem that would be the love of Godhead.

Giriraj Swami: Well, I will tell them to try it. The test of the pudding is in the eating. Yes, they should try it. Tell them if it doesn’t work after a month we will give them their money back. Oh, yes. 

Devotee: Thank you. there are so many other paths out there and Gurus and teachers that come and they are also doing kirtan and claiming that they practice bhakti and they are chanting and they are even chanting Hare Krishna mantra. And when I pointed that out to some devotees that even who we would call, I guess, Mayavadis are chanting Hari Krishna. The response I get often is that but they are not chanting it purely. So in essence it doesn’t count and so I am a little baffled or confused whether even though they don’t believe in Krishna consciousness, they don’t accept Srila Prabhupada, they accept their different gurus but they are chanting Hari Krishna mantra not even knowing what they are saying, does that count for as chanting? 

Giriraj Swami: Well, Srila Prabhupada’s famous talk or essay on chanting Hare Krishna, he says, “The chanting however should be heard from the lips of a pure devotee. Just like milk is very good but milk touched by the lips of the serpent causes poisonous effects.” So when we chant with someone or hear someone chant, they come with a certain package and the chanting may be alright but more comes with it and that is why there is that statement- Milk touched by the lips of a serpent causes poisonous effects. 

Now there was a devotee, he joined ISKCON during Prabhupada’s time and then he left during Prabhupada’s time and he was critical of devotees. He didn’t like their mood. He didn’t think they were mellow enough.

So Srila Prabhupada was, writing them letters, positive letters. So they were in Australia, that area and Hari Suri was the GBC of the area of then. So he asked Srila Prabhupada, “Are they bonafide?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, they are not bonafide” and Hari Suri said, “But you write them such nice letters” and Srila Prabhupada said, “They are chanting Hare Krishna so I want to encourage them”. 

So we want to encourage everyone to chant whatever they are. But yes, we do want to be careful about associating with them intimately. I mean, they are Mayavadis in particular, they are in the different category, they might just be sort of ignorant. Mayavadis are in a different category. 

And out of so many examples, I am just thinking of one. There was a conference at Kurukshetra and different people were invited to speak, including Srila Prabhupada and some Mayavadis were also speaking and Brahma Nanda Prabhu was sitting next to Srila Prabhupada on the platform while some Mayavadi was speaking and he felt very uncomfortable and afterwards he said to Srila Prabhupada that we are in Kurukshetra at such a holy place and I am right next to my spiritual masters, a pure devotee. I feel so uncomfortable and he said, “Yes, it is because of the Mayavadis.” 

So anyway, yes, but just on that point that the chanting should be heard from the lips of a pure devotee. Srila Prabhupada said that anyone who has heard it from him and then someone hears it from that person it is like they are hearing it from him and then if someone again hears it from that person who heard it from a person, who heard it from Srila Prabhupada, it is like they are hearing it from him. So not only are you intelligent, your pure devotees and they should take the holy name to every town and village of the world and every Jagai and Madhai.

Hare Krishna.