Verse: Teachings Of Lord Chaitanya
I welcome you all to this seminar on the teachings of Lord Chaitanya. Especially, we will be dealing with Mahaprabhu’s teachings to Sanatana Goswami. His teachings are very important to us as we aspire to follow His footsteps. As a matter of fact, His teachings are pertinent to anyone who is interested in spiritual life since His teachings are the summary of Vedas. Mahaprabhu summarized the Vedas and gave it in the sublime form of Hare Krsna Mahamantra. In the beginning, the sound vibration that Krsna gave to Brahma came in the form of pranav and expanded in the form of Gayatri and then into Vedas. Finally, it converged into Hare Krsna Mahamantra.
Mahaprabhu Himself didn’t compose anything. He gave lectures and urged everyone to chant Hare Krsna. Harer nama Harer nama Harer namaiva kevalam- this being the Mahaprabhu’s teachings. He gave Sikshastakam explaining the meaning of Hare Krsna Mahamantra. He gave those teachings to some of His intimate associates in different occasions. They were mainly to Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, Ramananda Roy etc. He revealed the different aspects of Vedic wisdom to these personalities. The six Goswamis(Rupa,Ragunatha dasa,sanatana,ragunatha bhatta,gopala bhatta and Sri Jiva Goswami) explained it in elaborate way giving evidences from the scriptures. These six Goswamis are the principal propounders of Mahaprabhu’s teachings. He personally instructed Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. Sanatana Goswami was the chief minister and Rupa Goswami being the finance minister of Bengal. They were also elders to other four Goswamis and naturally they were their preceptors. Rupa Goswami holds a very unique position as he presented Mahaprabhu’s teachings. So as to understand his teachings one has to approach it through Sanatana Goswami as Mahaprabhu’s teachings to Rupa Goswami is the lofty understanding of Krsna consciousness. But through Sanatana Goswami, the Krsna consciousness was given stepwise.
Sanatana Goswami wanted to resign and the King became upset. Sanatana Goswami accepted the position given by a Muslim and therefore he was ostracized by the Brahminical society. This depicts the mean nature of the Brahmin society at that time. The Brahmanas at that time were exploiting the society in the name of religion. Mahaprabhu appeared at that degraded period to uplift the human society and give them the perfect understanding. He included everybody and didn’t even distinguish them based on their caste or religion.
Sanatana Goswami was an eternally liberated soul. When he was a boy, once he had a dream of a Brahamana coming and giving him Bhagavatam. The next day to his surprise, a Brahmana did come and gave him Bhagavatam. Since then, he treated it as his only friend. He continued practicing Krsna consciousness even after being ostracized from the society. It is said that any Brahmana who traveled by that area would take the shelter of Sanatana Goswami. When Sanatana Goswami was determined to resign and join Mahaprabhu, the King became upset and imprisoned him. But he escaped from the prison by bribing the prison keeper and traveled by foot to Vrindavan. He took the forest route to avoid any recognition of his whereabouts. Mahaprabhu had already returned from Vrindavan and met Santana Goswami in Benaras. He went to see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who was living in the house of Tapan Misra. Sanatana Goswami’s appearance resembled that of a Muslim mendicant. Tapan Misra was ordered to bring the Vaishnav who was waiting outside. Since he didn’t find any Vaishnav but only a Muslim fakir and reported the same to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu then ordered to bring him in. Santana was brought inside and was immediately embraced by Mahaprabhu. Sanatana didn’t want Mahaprabhu to touch him as he didn’t shave or clean up for quite some time. After initial exchanges, Mahaprabhu instructed him to get civilized. Sanatana shaved his head and took bath in the Ganges. He was offered new clothes by Tapan Misra. Santana Goswami refused to accept the new clothes and requested for an old one. Sanatana Goswami got a dhoti which he tore into two pieces. He used one half to cover his lower body and while the other his upper body. This later became the dress code for all the Goswamis which symbolized renunciation. Nowadays, the babajis in Vrindavan imitate them artificially which is not appreciated by Bhakti Siddhanta Saravathi Thakur. The white color of dhoti symbolizes being situated beyond the material nature. Material nature is influenced by three modes namely, goodness, passion and ignorance. The goodness is symbolized by saffron. Our understanding is that being situated in varnashrama by accepting sanyasa, we will worship the lotus feet of the Goswamis holding their lotus feet on our head. These instructions are recorded in Chaitanya caritamrita extensively. Sanatana Goswami enquired Mahaprabhu about one’s original identity and the reason for his suffering from these threefold miseries. Mahaprabhu replied that though he is an eternally liberated soul he is still enquiring for the benefit of humanity. Mahaprabhu started to explain the different aspects of Vedas.
The Vedas primarily deal with sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana. Sambandha is the relationship between a living entity and the Supreme Personality of Godhead which when one understands becomes free from the bondage of material nature. It is due to our forgetfulness of Krsna that we are bound to this material nature. The release from it therefore lies in understanding Krsna. Abhidheya deals with the process of re-establishing the lost relationship with Krsna. Prayojana deals with being situated in that loving relationship and elevate ourselves to the spiritual platform. Mahaprabhu explained the different process of approaching the Supreme Personality of Godhead namely, Jnana or speculative knowledge, yoga or mystic realization and bhakti or devotional service. Due to these three different processes different aspects of Supreme Personality of Godhead is perceived. Though Krsna, the Absolute Truth is one without a duality, He appears to be different due to our perception from different perspectives. The three aspects of realization are Brahman, Paramatma or the Super soul and Bhagavan. Brahman or the impersonal effulgence of the Lord is perceived through the material intellect by external endeavor. One comes to the realization that Brahman is the cause of all material manifestation. The spiritual energy of the Lord is transformed into the material universe. The realization of the Brahman is a dead end and if one is fortunate enough, he tries to go internal. The process of internal realization is yoga. Yoga begins with the understanding that one has to stop the wavering thought process. The fifth aspect of astanga yoga deals with the withdrawal of the senses from the object of the senses and stopping the activities of mind. When one goes more and more within himself, then he comes to the stage of realization of the Super soul within his heart though it is only a localized or plenary aspect. In the perfected stage of astanga yoga, one begins to render devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is a natural development as the living entity in the light of infinite Super soul sees itself as a minute soul and the general tendency of an inferior is to surrender to the superior. In this way we see that those who are situated in devotional platform have already transcended the yogic realization. When the Lord becomes pleased through devotional service, He reveals Himself to the devotee as Bhagavan which is His original form endowed with all opulence.
Mahaprabhu started to explain the features of Bhagavan. He established that the original Supreme Personality of Godhead is Krsna. He is two armed and His bodily complexion is that of a monsoon cloud. In his purport, Srila Prabhupada mentions that the complexion of Syamsundar is not black but that of the dark monsoon (rain bearing) clouds. Krsna is the most beautiful Supreme Personality of Godhead and His complexion is not material. So with material definition it is not possible to understand the complexion of Krsna. This Supreme Personality of Godhead is a cowherd boy in Vrindavan.
Mahaprabhu continued as He started to elucidate on Krsna’s expansions. Krsna has three different manifestations: svyama rupa, tadekatma rupa and aavesh rupa. Svyama rupa of Krsna is that of a cowherd boy as the son of Nanda Maharaja. His pastimes are to play with the cowherd boys and the cowherd girls 24 hours a day. The highest region of the spiritual sky is like this Earth planet but the opposite. They have 8 prahars. Each prahars consists of 3 hours. Krsna is just like a human being and behaves like one in Vrindavan. In this regard we can consider the statement in Bible “Man has been created according to the image of God”. The original form of the Lord is not four arms or eight arms or thousand arms but two arms just like an ordinary human being. This svayam rupa has two aspects: svayama rupa and svayama prakash. Svayam rupa as already explained is that of cowherd boy in Vrindavan. Svayama prakash has again two aspects: prabhava and vaibhava. Prabhava is Krsna expanding in His own form as in when Krsna was dancing with 16000 gopis, He expanded into 8000 Krsnas. Vaibhava refers to same form with little different characteristics. Balaram looks exactly like Krsna but for the complexion which is milky white. Krsna as the son of Devaki, is dressed as a kshatriya which is same as Krsna form, but possessing different characteristics (that of kshatriya). Tad ekatma - it is the same but there is slight difference. This again has two aspects: Vilasha and Svankhsha. Vilasha has again two aspects: Prabhava and Vaibhava. Prabhava aspect of vilasha is that when Krsna expands as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. Each of them again expands into 24 further expansions which is Vaibhava Vilasha. Svankhsha are Krsna’s different incarnations. They are Purusa avatar, Lila avatar, Guna avatar, Manvantara avatar, Yuga avatar and Shakthavesh avatar. Purusa are the incarnations that are related to the material nature. They are Karanadakshayi Vishnu, Garbodakshayi Vishnu and Kshirodakshayi Vishnu. Karanadakshayi Vishnu lies in the causal ocean. Just as there is an ocean of sugar, milk and water, it is understood that there is an ocean of cause (a substance). As He breathes, from every single pore of His body, the bubbles that are created forms into a universe. In each single universe He enters as Garbodakshayi Vishnu where He fills up half of the space with water (coming from His body). A lotus sprouts from His navel on which Brahma is situated. In every single atom, Vishnu enters as Kshirodakshayi Vishnu. Krsna also performs various pastimes as different Lila avatars like Narashigna, Kurma etc. As Matsya He rescued the Vedas while as Kurma He helped in churning of the milk ocean. Then Lord manifests Himself as Guna avatars. There are three modes of material nature through which the Lord performs various activities. The creation is done in the mode of passion while maintenance is done in the mode of goodness and destruction in the mode of ignorance. There are three personalities in charge of these aspects. As Brahma He creates and as Vishnu He maintains and as Shiva He destroys. Brahma and Shiva are devotee incarnations whereas Vishnu manifests personally to maintain the universe. In this respect, Prabhupada gives an example that when a house is to be built the owner hires a construction company to build it. Later the owner of the house maintains it and when it is old, he hires a demolition company to demolish it. In this way we see that Vishnu is the real proprietor. Usually Brahma is a living entity. But when there is no living entity qualified to become Brahma, Vishnu Himself takes up the charge of creating the universe. Manvantar means Manu’s rule. In a day of Brahma 14 manus appear. These manus take care of the creation of material world whose period is called manvantar. Lord appears as different incarnations in different manvantars. Demigods and the seven sages change and different demigods appear. Yuga avatar deals with four yugas (Satya, Tretha, Dwapara, Kali) to teach dharma. In Satya yuga, the Lord appears as Sukla and teaches dhyanam (meditation). He taught Kardama Muni, the process of meditation. In Tretha yuga, the Lord appeared as Raktha and teaches sacrifice. In Dwapara Yuga, the Lord appears as Krsna and teaches temple worship. In this Tretha Yuga, the Krsna who came is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krsna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead comes once in a day of Brahma. A day of Brahma consists of 1000 chatur yugas. One chatur yuga consists of Satya, Tretha, Dwapara and Kali yuga. On the 28th chatur yuga, Krsna Himself comes. In other yugas, Krsna’s complexion is green, who is not actually the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the following Kali yuga, Krsna comes as devotee. Sanatana Goswami requested to speak about that devotee incarnation, hinting Mahaprabhu’s identity. Mahaprabhu being afraid of his identity would be revealed, shut Sanatana Goswami saying not to digress from the topic by asking frivolous questions. Sakthavesh avatar again has two aspects: principal and secondary. Sakthavesh means a living entity being endowed with the potency of Lord to accomplish a certain mission. Narada Muni , Parasuram, Vyasadev etc., are some examples of principal shakthavesh avatar. In the 11th chapter of Bhagavad Gita, different secondary shakthavesh avatars are mentioned. Mahaprabhu explained Sanatana Goswami that whenever Krsna comes, He perfoms His pastimes in three different aspects: childhood, boyhood and youth. These pastimes are performed only on the Earth planet. In the spiritual world of Vrindavan, Krsna is only a 16 years old boy and remains the same forever. His pastimes in Vaikuntha are sweet and perfect while in Dwaraka and Mathura it is even more perfect. But in Goloka Vrindavan, His pastimes are the most perfect and sweet. All of Krsna pastimes is going on simultaneously and perpetually throughout the universes. In this respect, one example is that in relation to the sun, time is present in all aspects of a day. Some where it is quarter past twelve while some where else it is half past nine. Mahaprabhu pointed out that Krsna’s pastimes cannot be even described by Anantashesh with thousands of mouth in unlimited time frame.
Thank you all very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Does anybody have any question?
Questions: When we say Krsna’s pastimes are going on simultaneously, does it mean that of his incarnations also?
Answers: Sanatana Goswami meant that the pastimes of Krsna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead (the son of Nanda maharaj) is going on simultaneously.
Questions: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu comes in the Kali yuga which comes after the Krsna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead appears?
Answers: Yes. Very good question. In the chatur yuga in which Krsna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead appears, Mahaprabhu appears in the following Kali yuga as Radha-Krsna.
Questions: How can Vasudev and Pradyumna expand?
Answers: By Krsna’s will even His devotees can expand. That is the inconceivable potency of the Lord.
Questions: In spiritual sky if the childhood pastime is not going on, is it incomplete?
Answers: No. Those who are attached to Krsna’s childhood pastimes get a chance to fulfill their desire when they happen on Earth planet. Due to jogamaya potency they think that some time ago they had played with Krsna. But there is no question of incompleteness.