Six Opulences of Lord Chaitanya (4): Renunciation

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you.
So we are continuing with our discussion on the six opulences of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And till now we discussed the opulences of of we started with the opulence of beauty then wisdom then strength, knowledge wisdom strength faith and wealth we discussed. Today we will discuss about renunciation.
And Sarovam Bhattacharya while glorifying Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that he has come to teach Vairagya Vidya that is the famous verse which is a part of his Sarvabhauma Shatak Vairagya Vidya Nija Bhakti Yoga Shikshartham Ekah Purushah Puranah Shri Krishna Chaitanya Sharir Adhari Kripam Budhir Yastavahum Prapadye So Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is that same Supreme Lord who has come now to teach Vairagya Vidya the knowledge of renunciation which is nondifferent to Bhakti Yoga unto himself and generally speaking renunciation may not seem to be a universally attractive opulence almost everyone is attracted to wealth almost everyone is attracted to beauty but if especially in modern society we see renunciation people may feel oh this person has just run away from society this person is just a responsible person yes of course there are within the devotee community or within the community of those who are spiritually minded renunciation is valued and appreciated but what about otherwise so how can we say that renunciation is the opulence that attracts everyone actually renunciation may not be attractive to everyone but the fruits of renunciation is attractive to everyone what is the fruit of renunciation that is peace in the Bhagavad Gita 12th chapter 11th verse Lord Krishna describes that by renunciation what does one get peace and what kind of peace that which has no end constant peace one gets so people may not be attracted to renunciation but they are indeed attracted to peace they all want they all want to actually join in the peaceful state of mind which a person who is having that’s why sometimes even in corporate circles people say oh this person is so cool you know even sports like cricket Hare Krishna Shrinath Prabhu, Chetan Prabhu Chetan Prabhu seems to be calling I don’t know from where he is calling but he is saying over here that if we add him then it will put this call on hold you have his id see Chetan Prabhu is also saying we are devotees from Bangalore Rambabu Prabhu is the same group or different group ok here is the id you can try to add him Shrinath Prabhu so we were discussing about renunciation may not be attractive but the fruit of renunciation is attractive that is peace and even in a competitive game like cricket under a high pressure situation suppose the last overs are there in the cricket match and if some players stay very cool then they are very much appreciated and glorified he has a cool head he has nerves of steel he has and those who choke under pressure they are criticised as chokers or collapsers so the ability to stay calm is something which is universally valued and that ability to stay cool and calm under all circumstances is a fruit of renunciation so renunciation does not necessarily mean absence of emotions it means control of emotions if emotions were absent then there would be no joy to life all of it would be like stones but when there is the ability to control one’s emotions and express them in the right way then that is actually appreciated so even say a cricketer who is under stress because the final overs are coming if he manages to stay cool it’s not that he is detached he very much wants to win the match but if he can stay cool and calm that is appreciated so renunciation in and of itself does not mean that one doesn’t care for the world one doesn’t care for anything renunciation means that one cares for something higher something more valuable sometimes people think that because if they see a person who has renounced the world they think that oh this person must have not been able to not have been able to be happy in life, successful, he could not achieve the things in life, that’s why he was not able to get the joy of life and that’s why he turned away and he went away to renounce the world so people think that generally when materialistic people when people are not able to succeed in material life then they turn and they renounce the world and they become renunciates, however true renunciation comes not because one is frustrated material life if that is the motive why one is renouncing the world then he has not really developed the opulence of renunciation, the quality of renunciation what he has developed is simply frustration so renunciation comes from the conviction that there must be something more to life than its material pleasures because the material pleasures are so temporary and we by our very nature are eternal therefore when a person has the faith that there must be something higher to life, then at that time a person is able to develop renunciation, so just like you know when a child is playing and the parents tell him to study it’s not that he doesn’t like his toys he does like his toys but at that time he feels that his parents feel that he should actually study because study is of more long term value for you so similarly in spiritual life yes there is material life and there is sense gratification which is nice, like a fun level nice in the sense that it is necessary for everyone, as long as people are conditioned we need to eat, we need to sleep most people also need to some extent some sexual gratification so there is a facility for that but beyond that when a person understands these in itself do not make me happy they do not make for a fulfilling life then a person develops a higher values, a higher goal for life, so renunciation does not mean not caring for anything, renunciation means caring for things in a proper perspective so is a student renounced when he actually is giving up toys you can say he is renounced but he is not renounced in the sense that he has developed a higher attachment he has developed a higher value system where you know that studies are of greater importance than playing and so by developing that higher taste he gives up the lower taste actually that is why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in his teachings to Gopal Goswami and Sanatana Goswami especially Sanatana Goswami he differentiates between phalgu vairagya and yukta vairagya phalgu vairagya means something is of no use to me let me give it up but ok it may not be used for me at a material level but what about at a spiritual level what about at the level of serving Krishna one has that higher vision that is complete renunciation Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibits both these aspects of renunciation one aspect is detachment from everything material and the second aspect is attachment to everything spiritual attachment to something higher so because renunciation is a very important opulence we will discuss both these aspects in detail so we know Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at a very young age renounced the world when he was only 24 years old he exhibited the extraordinary opulence of renunciation by leaving everything material now again Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had no frustration in his family life it was not that his wife quarrelled with him and he found that life is so disagreeable so just let me quit home it is described that Krishna Priya would not you know she was the most submissive and chaste and attractive of all women and she would serve Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu very very faithfully and diligently so it is not because of family frustration that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu renounced the world or sometimes people just either they lose their job and they find that it is too difficult to get a new job or that you know the job demands too much work so better let me renounce they are frustrated with their career Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was frustrated with his career he was at the age of 14 itself in which the word is precocious precocious means one who is intelligent beyond his age so he was so precocious at the age of 14 normally students are just finishing their school then they want to go into college, junior college at that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu started his own institute, teaching institute he had not only learned everything he was teaching students and hundreds of students came to him and he was so loved and so popular among his students that his students even his students would challenge and defeat other and he is like if a person is a professor at one particular college and if he is invited to give guest talks at some other place that is considered also a great honour that means it is a proof of his learning so similarly Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was invited to go to what is now Bangladesh and when he went there he educated the people over there so nicely in such a short time that they gave him lot of Lakshmi and gifts and donations that means Brahmana lives on charity so even from an economical point of view it is a very rewarding trip even from a career point of view it increases his fame far and wide as I said for a teacher to be invited just like in our colleges also sometimes people invite some professor from America is coming so the institute itself is considered as an honour we are inviting somebody from abroad and not only that they will not invite any ordinary Tom, Dick and Harry they will invite some respectable person Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was invited like that to Bangladesh and he went and had a very successful tour of education over there so he did not have any family problems he did not have any financial problems he did not have any career problems and not only that was there any problem in his friend circle all the devotees over there loved him so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu why did he renounce he exhibited the opposite so when there is reason when there is frustration with material life and that time one renounces then to some extent that is Smashan Vairagya somebody has passed away so life is temporary we should become detached so when there is external impetus for renunciation when there is external frustration with material life and one renounces that is actually to some extent natural that is not considered so much the opulence of renunciation but when one has no reason to renounce and at that time one renounces that is considered to be a great opulence Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited that he had no frustration with any aspect of his life from the material point of view but from the spiritual point of view we consider that I have to deliver the whole world but if I am not a if I am in the householder order when people will not respect me if they don’t respect me then they will not be delivered so even if they don’t respect me as a supreme lord at least if they respect me as a sannyasi then they will be elevated so when he saw that Ramana is there he thought he is just like one of us he may be a little scholar but just another Brahmin why should we care for him so they were not ready to respect him Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not want to respect for himself he wanted the respect for their elevation for their spiritual well-being so at that time just he went to Khatwa he took the sannyas from Keshavarthi Maharaj and just left he wanted to go to Vrindavan but by the arrangement of Krityanand Prabhu’s house and the request of Nimay of Mother Sachi he went to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in this way he renounced and Bhaktivinoda Thakur in his Gauranga Shatanaam describes this he says that Shri Krishna Chaitanya Chandra Bharati Tarana Parivraja Shri Romana Vaidha Pawana Shri Krishna Chaitanya Chandra so he became his earlier name was Nimai Pandit after sannyasi got the name Chaitanya Shri Krishna Chaitanya so Prabhupada explains Shri Krishna Chaitanya means Krishna is Krishna Chaitanya is consciousness so Krishna Consciousness Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is personified Krishna Consciousness Hare Krishna are all of you able to hear me yeah ok so if any of you is not able to hear please type a message so that Srinath Prabhu can do the next adjustment so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so one aspect of renunciation is that one just leaves everything that one loves and everywhere that one is loved and leaves now to some extent for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu he would travel all alone he did not even want any associate with him but at the request of devotees when he went to south India he took he took Kaal Krishna Das with him and when he went to north India he took Balabhadra Bhattacharya but he did not want to take anyone with him also for his service or for his assistance and he would travel on foot going wherever his heart prompted actually he had a plan to deliver people both in south India and north India now his renunciation was so great that he would not even as it is said that even when the Vaishnavis the wives of the great Vaishnava like Shiva Shiva, Sthakur, Advaitacharya and others would come even see even they would offer him respects from a distance and we know how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was so heavy with Chota Haridas or a small over of a small mistake now why did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do like that? Shankaracharya explains to instruct everyone but even this is an of an insubordination. It’s like if you are in a college and some professor is very strict, you have to come on time for the class. Now, some people may like it.
Some people may like that strictness. Most people will not like that strictness, because everybody just wants to act the way they want. But strictness is something we can talk against it.
We can talk for it. But if a person is strict and we have to deal with it, we cannot avoid talking about it. We have to deal with the strictness.
So in that sense, even that strictness is opulence. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was himself very strict. And we also know how one time when he was at Jagannath Puri, suddenly he heard Chaitanya Goswami’s Geet Govinda being sung in a very sweet and melodious voice.
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would be so attracted to any Krishna Katha, he would feel so grateful to the person who was speaking Krishna Katha that you are allowing me to remember Krishna, that he would immediately want to go and embrace that person. We know that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu didn’t even want to see Pratap Rudra. During the Dath Yatra, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu fell at one time and Nityanand Prabhu and other Vacharyas were not there close by, Nityanand Prabhu or Kashishwar Pandit who would normally protect Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were not there close by.
At that time, Pratap Rudra Maharaj caught Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so that he would not call. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to his external consciousness and said, oh, this is the king. He felt as if he had been contaminated by the touch of the king.
And he went away. So, he did not even want to be touched by the king. So, the same Maharaj Pratap Rudra in Jagannath Valnapa Gardens when he started speaking the glories of Lord Krishna, the Gopi Gita, the 31st chapter of the Ras Panchadhyay.
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was so ecstatic that he got up and embraced. He started saying, Bhuridha Janam, Bhuridha Janam. You are the great well-wisher of mine.
And similarly, here when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard the Gita Gopi, he felt so happy and grateful to the person who was singing Gita Gopi. He started running towards that person to embrace that person. And unfortunately, this person was a woman.
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was so much in her transcendental consciousness, just like Ramananda Rai when he was decorating those Devi Dasis. He was not even conscious that they were women because he was at a spiritual level of consciousness. He was thinking of himself as Vishakha Sakhi and these Devi Dasis as Krishna’s Gopis.
Similarly, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was himself thinking of himself as Radharani. And he was thinking that whoever is speaking the glories of Krishna is also, a devotee of Krishna. So he just ran towards that person.
And Govinda, who was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s personal servant, ran, ran, ran after him and tried to stop him. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was completely blinded, deaf and deafened by this man. And he didn’t hear anything.
Finally, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Govinda came right next to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and shouted, it is a woman, it is a woman. And then, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was running at high speed and stopped as if he had been frozen, as if he had turned to stone. Generally, if a person is running very fast, it takes time for him to stop.
Momentarily, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stopped as if he had frozen. And he said that Govinda today has saved my life. He has a sanyasi attached to him and I was not able to do anything.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited that strictness that a sanyasi should keep a distance from a woman. So, we see his renunciation, first of all, in keeping a distance from women. At the same time, we also see his renunciation in the sense of keeping distance from wealth and wealthy people.
I was just telling about Maharaj Bata programme. So, the king wanted to meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu refused. He not only refused, when the devotees insisted, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, I will leave Jagannathpur and go away from here.
So, normally speaking, when somebody is very wealthy or famous, people, everybody wants to go and meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I am not going to do it. I don’t want to meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
So, this is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s renunciation. The king wants to meet but he doesn’t want to meet the king. So, generally wealth and women are the things that attract people in this world.
Renunciation means renunciation from wealth and renunciation from wealth. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited both of them. Now, when we look at Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s life, it’s very interesting that Ramananda Raya was also living like a king, like aristocrat.
He was the governor of Madras and as the governor of Madras, even when he came to meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or when he came at the banks of the Kawebi river, where he was staying in Vidyanagar. That time it was called Vidyanagar, now the place is called as Kahoon. And it’s also called as Rajahmundry and just in that area, devotees have built a very beautiful temple with all the shavataras.
So, in that area itself. So, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was near the banks of the river and that time Ramananda Raya came and there were many dozens of Brahmins behind him. There were Gauri guards, there were attendants and he came to offer his respects to the river and then he saw Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and he went to offer his respects to the sannyasin.
And as you know, Ramananda Raya is Vishakha Sakhi and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Rajarani. So, when both of them met each other, they built this temple. And everybody was very surprised.
The Brahmins were surprised from both a spiritual perspective and a material perspective. From a material perspective, a king, he may offer respects from a distance to a sannyasi but a king will rarely go and embrace a sannyasi. On top of that, an unknown sannyasi over there and Ramananda Raya is a very wealthy and powerful person over there.
From a material perspective, it is very strange. A king is embracing a sannyasi and crying tears. And similarly, from a spiritual perspective, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a sannyasi.
A sannyasi normally doesn’t associate so closely with wealthy people. On top of that, Ramananda Raya is not only a wealthy person, aristocratic person, but he is also a shudra. So, how can the sannyasi embrace this shudra? So, from the material, worldly perspective, as well as from the shastric perspective, the Brahmins were very surprised to see this.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya were in their own world. And finally, after embracing both of them for a long time, then they noticed the puzzlement that was there in the faces of the Brahmins. And then they restrained their emotions.
So, here we see something very surprising that renunciation is exhibited by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with Pratapartha. But why is he not exhibiting the same renunciation with Ramananda Raya? So, Ramananda Raya is also a governor. Ultimately, the lord has his own plans.
And Ramananda Raya is exhibiting the mood of a gopi over here, mood of a sakhi. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is reciprocating with him at that level. So, renunciation, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibits it, but he also exhibits it according to time, place, circumstance.
See, that means, now we may say that, Radheshyam once asked Radhamahara this question, that we see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was so strict while meeting with a king. But we see nowadays in ISKCON, when we want to build temples, we have to go to wealthy people. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not want to meet the king because he was wealthy people, whereas we, even as brahmacharis and we have to do fundraising, we have to go and take appointment and go and meet the wealthy people.
So, how are we wealthy people or famous people or influential people? We have to, we go and meet them. So, how do we reconcile this? Are we really following in the footsteps of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? So, Radhamaharaj replied that, yes, we have to understand the principle that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught through the acharyas. And for us, our foremost example of the acharya to emulate is not the six Goswamis.
Yes, we want to emulate them also. But our foremost example is Shila Prabhupada. And we see Shila Prabhupada, he was a sanyasi, but he went to meet the king.
In fact, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not want to meet a king and he did not want to meet a woman. But Shila Prabhupada went and met Indira Gandhi, who was a king and a woman. She was a lady head of state.
And Shila Prabhupada was in America with a busy preaching tour and he cancelled that tour so that he could come to meet Indira Gandhi. So, was Shila Prabhupada not following Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? No. So, that’s why when we say we have to follow in the footsteps, follow the example, it means to go deep.
So, if you look at Chaitanya Mahaprabhu carefully, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s refusal to meet Pratap Rudra is mentioned in chapter 10 of the Madhyamika. Chapter 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, these actually describe the repeated refusal of Pratap Rudra and finally his eventual acceptance. So, these chapters describe how Pratap Rudra ascends from failure to failure to failure to eventually to success.
Stepping stones of this, how eventually, gradually he is accepted by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But the point is, if we read that section of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu carefully, the reason why Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu doesn’t want to meet King Pratap Rudra is because of the bad reputation that it will create. So, in the Vedic times, a sanyasi is one who is renounced and he should be seen to be renounced.
So, he should be seen to be renounced means that he should not be seen hobnobbing with wealthy people, he should not be seen dallying with women. Of course, it’s not that he should not be seen, not that he is not visible, but he invisibly does business. But basically, he should not do it privately and he should not do it publicly also.
Why? Because for a sanyasi, his reputation is very important. Now, this is interesting that generally Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, Amanina manadena, that one should not expect any respect from others. On one side, he is saying that we should not expect any respect from others, then why should we consider that reputation for a sanyasi is important? When Jagadanand Pandit would try to give him a very fragrant and opulent oil for massaging his body, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, I am a sanyasi.
You know, if I apply oil on my body, what will people think? This is just a white cloth, a tiny black spot stands out like that. Even a small fault of a sanyasi will be seen. What is a small fault? It is attachment.
Attachment to anything worldly, anything opulent. The whole world will laugh at me. The whole world will criticise me.
So, even Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is telling Advaita Acharya when he is in Navadvipa. He and Shri Mata are discussing. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, you know, it is not appropriate for me to stay in Navadvipa after taking sanyas.
But at the same time, I don’t want to hurt my mother further. What should I do? So, Shri Mata says, it will give me great joy when I stay at the house. But at the same time, if people criticise and that will cause my joy, great pain.
Therefore, in order that he not be criticised, let him not stay here. Let him. But let him not go to Vrindavan because it is so far away.
Let him go to Puri. So, the point here through these examples and incidents I am telling is that, you know, public opinion is shown to be very important for a sanyasi. Why is that? Because the sanyasi is primarily a preacher.
And for a preacher, for his message to be respected. For his message to be respected, he needs to be respected also. A preacher does not want respect for himself.
But a preacher wants respect for his message. Because if there is no respect for a message, people will not take the message in a submissive spirit and then they will not be benefited by that message. So, when Srila Prabhupada came to India, you know, some of his Mataji disciples, Srimati Mataji and another Mataji, they had gone to Jaipur to arrange for the duties.
And when they were in Jaipur, every day they would go to Raghagavan temple and they would take darshan for a long time and sing Hare Krishna over there. And the local people of Jaipur were very impressed because these were western-bodied women. They were dressed in sari, which was itself surprising.
And they were singing prayers, Hare Krishna Mahamudra to Raghagavan, with such devotion for a long time. They were very pleased. And they were very inspired.
They said, you know, we would like to do something for you. What can you do? What can we do? So, they said that, you know, you can get Prabhupada over here and arrange a big programme for him. So, they agreed.
And then when Prabhupada came there, these Mataji themselves had done all the arrangement of the programme, the publicity and everything. So, Prabhupada was very pleased. He said, yes, see these Mataji’s, they are also like their male godbrothers.
They are also taking so much responsibility in the mission. But when Prabhupada came there, they had made the pamphlets. So, they said, Bhaktivedant Swami with his foreign disciples is coming here.
He is going to give programmes. So, Prabhupada said, why have you written only foreign? You should write American and European disciples. Because in foreign, there is Africa also.
Somebody is going to Africa, that is not, somebody has African disciples, that is not all that respectable. So, Prabhupada said, write American and European disciples. Why? Because Europe had ruled India and America was the, was the emerging world power after the Second World War, was the main world power apart from Russia at that time and USSR.
So, now here we say, Prabhupada is hungry for honour. He is not satisfied saying foreign disciples. He says, American and European disciples, so specific.
So, why is that? Because Prabhupada wanted that the message that he gives be respected. This message has been heard by and is impressed by Americans and Europeans. It should be an important message.
People will hear that. So, Shatana Mahaprabhu, like that, he wanted his message to be respected. And that is why he avoided meeting, meeting Ramananda Raya because in that culture at that time, a sanyasi mixing with a king would have contaminated the reputation.
The sanyasis hobnobbing with the king, that would have contaminated the reputation of the sanyasi. But now, in modern society, because at that time, the sanyasis were valued for their own right, own. Sanyasi comes.
Sanyasi is considered great because he has renounced the world. In fact, he is considered greater than a king. That is why the kings would often go to meet the sanyasis in the forest and take their association.
And the kings would honour the sages. They would come to the forest in the palaces. So, in those, that culture, sanyasi was considered greater than a king.
Both were considered Maharajas. But the Maharaj who had conquered his senses was considered greater than the Maharaj who had conquered a kingdom. So, at that time, for a king to be associated with a sanyasi was enhancing the respect of the king.
For a sanyasi to associate with a king was downgrading his respect. Ek Ramapur did not want that. But because the values have changed so much in Kalyuga, people don’t respect sanyas at all.
They think a sanyasi is just a parasite of society or something like that. So, now, in modern society, a sanyasi associating with a king will enhance the reputation of the sanyasi. The sanyasi is associated with the king.
He must be a great person. He must be a valuable sanyasi. He must be having some important message.
So, Srila Prabhupada met Indira Gandhi because that would help him to further his mission. That would not only enhance his reputation, but he also had a plan. He tried to inspire Indira Gandhi to also implement some God-conscious principles in her rule.
Similarly, we know Radhanath Maharaj met both the President of India, Pratibha Patil, and then the President of America, Obama. So, here, that’s why renunciation is not a static, artificial stoning of one’s heart, making one’s heart into a stone. It is actually the attachment of everything for one’s selfish enjoyment.
But at the same time, the devotional renunciation with the vairagya which is exhibited by Shaitani Mahaprabhu is such that he will do whatever is required for the service of the world. So, now Shaitani Mahaprabhu did not want his own reputation to be contaminated, but at the same time, he wanted everyone to be delivered. That’s why he told Nityanand Prabhu, you go and deliver even the fallen people, the drunkards, the people, the women hunters, the very, very fallen people.
I cannot go, I am associated with drunkards, I cannot go to a brothel to deliver those people. Even that kind of people you can deliver. Shaitani Mahaprabhu was concerned even about them.
He wanted to protect the reputation of sannyasi at the same time, have them delivered. That’s how he made Nityanand Prabhu and others the instrument of his compassion for that purpose. So, Shaitani Mahaprabhu’s renunciation is very sweetly counterbalanced with his affection.
Now, Shaitani Mahaprabhu exhibited his renunciation from wealth, he exhibited his renunciation from women, and he exhibited his renunciation from even bodily comforts. He refused to take opulent, oiled, Jagadana Pandita. At one time, Shaitani Mahaprabhu’s sannyasi would sleep on the floor.
That time, Jagadana Pandita at one time arranged for a very soft and cosy bed. And Shaitani Mahaprabhu absolutely refused to take that bed. So, he did not take any bodily comforts for himself also.
And he set the example of renunciation and he inspired the Goswamis. That was his renunciation, which was the cause and the inspiration for the Goswami’s extraordinary renunciation. In the Belwamangal Thakur’s Govind Damodar’s Pothra, there is a beautiful verse, which describes how even a devotee can be renounced.
He says that, So, he described that these Rishis, what do they eat? They eat, Asana means to eat. Vata is air. So, they practically eat air.
And then, Ambu is water. And parna is leaves. In this way, by eating these three things, then you can imagine eating air, you just keep breathing air and you don’t even think of it as a diet.
And water, we need water for our body, but we don’t think of that as food. We think that is something additional to food. And what is the food that they are taking? That is parna.
Parna is leaves. So, these renunciates, they eat these three things. Vata, amvapurna, asana deha, parna asana, puta deha, their body becomes purified.
They sit under the trees, the fruit of the trees they sit, and they chant, So, it is described when King, when Vishwamitra Muni was earlier Kausi, he went to meet Valmiki Rishi. And then in Valmiki’s asana, he saw there were renunciates of different calibre. The first calibre of renunciates were those who would eat only vata asana, they would eat only air.
The second calibre of renunciates were those who would eat only ambu, water. And the lowest calibre of renunciates were those who would eat leaves. So, that was Vedic culture at the time of Ramayana, in Tirtha Yuga that some renunciate who eats leaves is considered to be a low quality renunciation, low-quality renunciate.
We can’t even imagine this in our ages. But we see the Goswamis followed in the footsteps, you know, they also were so austere. There was another Goswami who would just eat once in a few days and add to a little buttermilk, a few more.
Radhar Goswami also were very renounced. So, that is also one example of renunciation which is exhibited by the followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, we are abstaining from your basic bodily needs and taking very, very little.
So, this is the culture that was exhibited by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, Shri Shri Durga were utterly renounced. But interestingly, within the same Gaudiya Vaishnavism, within the same association of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we see an apparently entirely different culture in Navadvipa and Jagannath Puri.
In Jagannath Puri, you know, what would Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do? You know, Lord Jagannath is famous for Prasad and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, you know, he would feed devotees opulently and when devotees would be taking food, he would tell them, serve them more, serve them more. He was so individual and personal that he knew what every devotee liked and he would tell the server, serve that food item to that particular devotee. Similarly, we discuss that devotee’s love and joy of their lives was to feed Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Now, to feed Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and what would they do to feed Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? You know, they would cook so many items and there are, actually there are many chapters in Chaitanya Charita Amrita which are about Prasad. Third chapter of the Madhya Leela is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu coming to the house of Advaita Acharya and then we know Nityanand Prabhu and Advaita Acharya Advaita, Nityanand Prabhu at the house of Advaita Acharya, how that sweet pastime happens. So, initially Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, just give me some laffrava and gin, just give me some boiled vegetables and Advaita Acharya feeds him so opulently and similarly, there is a 15th chapter of Madhya Leela is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sitting in Prasad at the house of Sarovam Bhattacharya and there also he cooks so many items and he feeds him and similarly, later on in the Madhya Leela also, there is I think chapter 14 where Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tastes the nectar of Krishna’s lips and what is that nectar of Krishna’s lips? That is actually the saliva that is there in the Prasad.
That is what is being talked about. So, there is a pastime of Jaddu Thakur over there also about, which is all about Prasad. So, there are so many chapters about Prasad over there and interestingly, we see that this aspect of Gaudiya Vaishnavism of Krishna Bhakti as mentioned by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is easily misunderstood.
And we see two pastimes about this. There is the 8th chapter of the Antya Leela where Ramachandra Puri comes and criticises the Vaishnavas for eating so much. And he criticises first the Vaishnavas.
He would feed them a lot and the devotees, that was the culture over there, they would eat and they would say, oh, Sr. Vaishnava is serving. How can you say no? They would eat, eat, eat and then after that, he would say, oh, I had heard that the devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu eat a lot. Now, I have seen it myself and then eventually, he found the same fault with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
He saw some ants in the Gambhira, the house where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was staying and he said, oh, this sanyasi is eating sweets at night secretly. So, he strongly criticises Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and similarly, we see that there is Amogha in the 15th chapter of the Madhya Leela when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has been invited at Saro Bhattacharya’s house. So, Amogha comes in over there.
Amogha is his son-in-law and he says, this food is enough for 10 or 12 people. And this one sanyasi is eating this. What kind of sanyasi is he? He is eating more than a grasta, more than 10 grastas and he criticises it.
So, this aspect of Krishna can be easily misunderstood and criticised. So, how do we understand this? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as a renunciate, he would always, like I was telling, Achyut Bhattacharya told me, give me some dry vegetables. And similarly, when he came to the house of Saro Bhattacharya, he said, oh, you have offered this nice food to Krishna.
I am so grateful for that. In fact, he told Achyut Bhattacharya, somebody who can offer this kind of food to Krishna, I will take the dust of his feet on my head. But then he told Saro Bhattacharya, okay, now you allow me to sit in some other place and I will take some simple food.
Saro Bhattacharya said, please take what Jagannath has taken. And similarly, now when, so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself expresses some hesitation to take opulent food. And when Ramchandra Puri criticises him like this, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu reduces his food to practically nothing.
And devotees like a thunderbolt striking them on their hearts. And at their repeated request, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu increases his food a little bit and he starts taking a fraction of what he used to take earlier. And finally, when Ramchandra Puri goes away, then all the devotees feel as if a big burden from their head has gone away.
And then they all started cooking opulently and feeding Chaitanya Mahaprabhu opulently. So, now interestingly, if you see further, when Haridas Thakur passes away, that’s the 11th chapter, very, very touching chapter of Danti Leela, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu again he exhibits his principle higher than renunciation. What is the principle higher than renunciation? Generally, a dead body is considered to be very contaminated.
And even grahasthas, if they come after touching, they don’t want to touch a dead body. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as a sanyasi, not only touch the dead body, Haridas Thakur would even dance with it. So, he is exhibiting something higher than renunciation.
He is exhibiting spiritual or devotional affection. So, now generally when a person passes away, it’s a period of mourning, it’s a period of sadness. But what does Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do after Haridas Thakur passes away? He arranges for a big feast.
He arranges for a big feast for everyone. And in the entire Chaitanya Chavitra, not just Chaitanya Chavitra, Chaitanya Mangala, Chaitanya Bhagavata, all Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s biographies, this is the only time when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally goes to ask for charity. Now, whether Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is travelling in North India, South India, he would never go to the house of any grahastha, please give me some food.
Some brahmana would himself come and invite, please come and take prasad at my house. And when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, there was a practical competition among the devotees, please come to our house for prasad. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would never go and ask anybody for food.
But this is the only time when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally goes to the shopkeepers in Ananda Bazaar near Jagannath Puri and he says, please I want to celebrate a feast on the occasion of the departure of Chaitanya, of grahastha, so please give me some charity. And now all the residents of Jagannath Puri know how exalted Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is. So, they think what an opportunity this is, that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself is coming for begging.
So, he comes to beg a palmful, but they come with sackfuls and they want to give so much charity. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at that time as he is going from shop to shop, Sarudamudra comes and says, my dear lord, you don’t have to beg charity, we will arrange everything. We will arrange an opulent feast with all of you in Haridasa Thakur.
And then he says, Sarudamudra goes to the shopkeepers and tells them that, you know, there is no need to give so much because we want to take from everyone. So, you give a small quantity and he takes a small quantity from all the shopkeepers. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu here wants to exhibit a higher principle.
Bhakti is not just about enunciation, it is about spiritual affection. And interestingly, you see that, how is affection expressed? How is affection expressed? How do we know that two people love each other? In our days, love is talked about in a very mundane and sexual sense, man and woman loving each other. But how can that is a very limited and restricted understanding of love, it is a perversion of love, actually.
But if we want to know that there is a deep bond between two people, how can we know that? One is, you know, if we see two devotees talking with each other for a long time, sitting and affectionately talking for a long time, not just chit-chatting, very intense intimate talks there, then we can understand, oh, these two devotees have a very intimate relationship. So, that is one way, you know, when devotees share their heart with each other. So, this is one of the ways in this, one of the, two of the six ways in which Rupa Goswami says, love is exhibited.
Symptom of love is, confidentially enquire and share our heart. So, just by spending time talking with devotees, not just talking chit-chat, but talking in serious intimate things, you know, our relationship develops, reciprocation of emotions and affections develops. That’s one, that’s one thing he says, sharing one’s heart.
Second is, sharing gifts, sharing gifts, giving gifts and receiving gifts. Now, a sanyasi has no possessions, what gifts can he receive and can he give? So, actually, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also expertly exhibits this, when Raghunath Das Goswami is very pleased with him, he gives him a shaligram shila. He gives him, not shaligram shila, govardhan shila.
He gives him a dunja mala. You know, he sends prasad to the devotees of Navadvip. Whenever the Navadvip devotees come for four months to Puri and when they are going up, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sends prasad back for mother Shachi.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also gives gifts and receives gifts. And interestingly enough, the third set, or rather the fifth and sixth symptoms of love are what, according to Raghunath Das Goswami, giving prasad and receiving prasad. So, it’s interesting that he, or prasad, more specifically, is not seen here as a material object.
It is seen as an object for the expression and the receiving of love. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, when he would offer prasad to devotees and he would take prasad, he would be exhibiting this higher principle of love. The devotees would be expressing their love for Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by cooking the best possible item and serving it.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu could receive their love by taking that prasad and he would also want to serve devotees, have devotees take the prasad which they like personally. So, here is the principle of expression of love at a spiritual level. So, generally, interestingly, from a material point of view, or even from a mundane Vedic culture point of view, mundane in the sense that not devotional, Vedic culture point of view, non-devotional Vedic culture point of view, Ramachandra Puri and Amogha were right in criticising.
How can a sannyasi eat so much? But, actually, they are, in one sense, spoken of negatively. Generally, it is said that if a devotee goes away, other devotees feel separation from him. But when Ramachandra Puri goes away, devotees feel relief.
How is that? That means Ramachandra Puri was not a very much loved person. I described Amogha just for criticising Chaitanya Mahaprabhu like that. What happened? He got jaundice.
No, he got cholera. And he was practically on the verge of death. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, of course, went and forgave him and redeemed him.
So, the point is that where there is a reciprocation of love, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu values that love more than just the material renunciation. So, this is a very mysterious and very sweet aspect of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu s pastimes. And this is a very important aspect which we will continue discussing tomorrow.
So, a devotee is simultaneously detached and attached. He is detached from material things and attached to Krishna. So, prasadam can be material, prasadam can be spiritual, depending on our consciousness.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu associates a single prasadam spiritually. So, a sannyasi should be detached from food because it is material. But a devotee should be attached to Krishna because a devotee should be attached to Krishna and all manifestations of Krishna.
And one manifestation of Krishna is prasadam. So, devotee should be attached to prasadam. So, that is why this is a very sweet aspect of the renunciation of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that renunciation is overflowing with spiritual affection.
And we will continue this discussion about the affection of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu despite his being renounced tomorrow. And we will see how this applies in our life. In our life, we are at a level where we generally see prasadam materially.
And therefore, we should try to control our senses as much as possible. And eat in a regulated, modest way. But generally, if we see some other devotee eating too much, we should not see that material.
We should not offend that devotee. Especially, if we are serving prasadam to someone, at that time, if that person asks for some more puris or some more sweet or something like that, we should not say that, Prabhu, we are doing sense gratification. That is very, very inappropriate according to devotional culture.
Of course, as devotees, we are sadhakas and we have to carefully balance. So, how we balance renunciation at a material level and affection at a spiritual level, we will discuss tomorrow. To summarise what we discussed today.
So, we started by talking about how people may not be attracted to renunciation, but they are attracted to the fruit of renunciation, that is, peace. And this is how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibits renunciation in terms of women. He would always keep a distance from women and also from wealth.
He did not want to associate with wealthy people. And then from there, he was also renounced about his own bodily facilities. He did not want fragrant oil or a soft bed.
But while talking about his renunciation of wealthy people, we talked about his affection for Ramananda Raya, although he was wealthy and aristocratic. Wealthy and in a governmental post. And then we saw, elaborately, with respect to the discussion of prasadam, the renunciation at a material level has to be counterbalanced by affection at a spiritual level.
And those who stick to that lower level of wanting to see renunciation at a material level and not see the affection at a spiritual level, they are spoken of negatively in Chaitanya Chaitanya Tamil and condemned, like Ramachandra Puri and others. So, that is why renunciation is a very fine art. And we need to learn that very carefully.
Sometimes some devotees become brahmacharis and they break the hearts of their parents and they break it in such a, it is going to be painful, but sometimes they make it extra painful by being very insensitive and very harsh. So, we see, if you read Radha Maharaj’s book, we see how he is so loving towards his parents. So, that renunciation has to be always balanced with affection.
And how the two can be balanced, we will discuss more tomorrow. So, thank you very much. Is there any one question? We are a little over time today because we started a little late, adjusting the Skype to time.
So, should we stop here and we will have question answers tomorrow after the class? So, is there any question or should we take question answers tomorrow then? There is already a little time. Okay, just check with other devotees. Any of you want to go, we can continue tomorrow in case you have college today.
So, please note down your question. Please note down your question and we will have more time for question answers tomorrow. Thank you very much.