CONTENTS:
- Siksastakam Part 1 (verse 1),
- Srila Prabhupada's Appreciation; and
- Guru Maharaja’s instructions.
1. SIKSASTAKAM PART 1 (VERSE 1)
Siksastakam has eight verses, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave only these eight verses in written form. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave the most sublime and elevated spiritual wisdom but in written form He gave only these eight verses. He was the greatest scholar of all time He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Even if we look at Him from the mundane perspective then we can see Caitanya Mahaprabhu was an exceptionally brilliant personality. When Mahaprabhu was about 14 years old He defeated the greatest scholar of India, Keshava Kashmiri and that to without getting into any debate or scholarly battle. Generally, just as the Ksatriyas fight with sword and weapons, the Brahmanas fight with each other (if you can call it a fight) with their intellect. In this way they proved their wisdom over others. I will briefly narrate that story just to reveal Mahaprabhu’s unusual brilliance. Keshava Kashmiri. Kashmir is in the Northern most part of India, a valley at the foothills of the Himalayas. There was a very exalted Brahminical culture there and many many Brahmanas used to live there. Keshava Kashmiri was one such Brahmana from Kashmir and his original name was Keshava Bhatta but because he was from Kashmir he was commonly known as Kashmiri. Keshava Kashmiri was such a brilliant scholar that he wanted to prove his scholarship by defeating other scholars all over India. He started his journey from Kashmir and as he was travelling, he was defeating the scholars. In this way he travelled through the entire India from North India to West India to South India to central India and then he came to East India, Bengal. He defeated all the scholars of notice able scholarship and renowned individuals at different places. Only the last place of scholarship that was left was Navadwip. Actually, there was pockets, areas known for scholarship. So, he was going from one place to another like Benares, Mathura, Vrindavan. So, in this way Keshava Kashmiri travelled all over India to South India and South India also is very renowned for scholarship, Western India, Maharashtra was also renowned for scholarship.
Keshava Kashmiri meets Nimai
Now the only place that was left to be conquered was Navadwip. When the scholars of Navadwip got to know that Keshava Kashmiri is coming to challenge them, in order to save their face and reputation they all ran away. So, when Keshava Kashmiri came to Navadwip no one was there to challenge him or to have an encounter with him. He heard that there is one great scholar and his name is Nimai Pundit who is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When Keshava Kashmiri heard that he was just a young boy just about 14, 15 years old then he felt what’s the point in getting into an argument with a boy, he was waiting for the big scholars to come back. One day Keshava Kashmiri was walking by the Ganges and he saw one beautiful looking young boy, he is teaching a group of young students. He was teaching grammar; grammar is the very basics of Sanskrit language. When you learn Sanskrit the first aspect that you deal with is grammar. Just out of curiosity he asked Him, “What are you teaching? What’s your name?” He said, “My name is Nimai Misra.” So, he said, “Oh, so you are the Nimai Pundit” Caitanya Mahaprabhu replied, “Yes, out of affection people call me Pundit which means scholar, just out of their affection they consider Me to be a scholar but actually I am just a boy teaching grammar to these students.” Keshava Kashmiri said, “Ok, it was very nice meeting you, I heard about your scholarship so come let’s have an encounter.” Caitanya Mahaprabhu said,” You are such an exalted scholar, I don’t want to get into an intellectual duet with you but rather I will take advantage of meeting you, such an exalted scholar.” Keshava Kashmiri said, “Tell me what do you want to hear from me?”
Caitanya Mahaprabhu defeats Keshava Kashmiri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “See the river Ganges is flowing here so just say something describing the glories of the Ganges . ”Then Keshava Kashmiri continuously composed hundred verses with the same speed, flow and rhythm of the Ganges and recited them. Everyone was awestruck. Can you imagine? Writing poetry is one thing but describing poetry in this way in this flow what kind of scholarship was this and everyone was awestruck. Keshava Kashmiri was naturally feeling proud and asked Caitanya Mahaprabhu, “So, how did you like it?” Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Fine, it was very nice excepting a few mistakes here and there.” Keshava Kashmiri was absolutely upset with Him, he said, “No one ever points out any mistakes in my composition, my compositions are flawless.” He started to chastise Caitanya Mahaprabhu, “How dare you find faults in my composition, what do you know about poetry? You are simply a young lad teaching grammar, anyway what mistake did you find in my composition ? ” Caitanya Mahaprabhu recited just one verse from that, the 64th verse and in one verse He pointed out 7 mistakes just in that one sloka. Keshava Kashmiri was completely dumbfounded. Caitanya Mahaprabhu pointed out those mistakes, see Sanskrit poetry maintains certain law and Mahaprabhu pointed out those mistakes according to that law. For example, one mistake was that he was describing Ganga coming from the head of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva actually held the Ganga’s flow when Ganga came from the upper planetary system to the material nature. Lord Shiva held Ganga on his head, so that way it can also be considered that Ganga is coming from the head of Lord Shiva. Now while describing Lord Shiva, he said Bhavani barta means the husband of Bhavani, who is Bhavani? Maha Maya, Durga. Lord Shiva is the husband of Durga, now the word Bhavani means the wife of Bhava and Bhava is the name of Lord Shiva so the composition was the husband of Bhavani means the wife of Bhava’s husband. In simple words Lord Shiva is being described as Shiva’s wife’s husband. It sounds as if she has another husband. But before doing that Caitanya Mahaprabhu showed so many qualities in that composition and then He pointed put so many defects. So, this is how without even challenging or getting into a duet, Caitanya Mahaprabhu defeated Keshava Kashmiri.
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
Prabhupada mentioned that finally when Caitanya Mahaprabhu sent him to the West, he sent him as a pauper, without any money, without any resources. But all kinds of wonderful things started to happen. So Srila Prabhupada was not in the limelight, Srila Prabhupada was not even in the forefront when Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati was present. But Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Thakur knew who Srila Prabhupada was and what Srila Prabhupada would do . (Prabhupada Realizations)
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
A vaishava’s heart is very pure & a pure hearted person is extremely magnanimous. So one’s vaishnavism is judged by the degree of his being magnanimous.
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Dasi)