GAURA acronym – 5 glorious qualities of Lord Chaitanya
Hare Krishna This evening we are celebrating Gaur Purnima, the auspicious appearance of Shri Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu. I will talk about Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu in terms of five points, an acronym related to his name. Gaura, G-A-U-R-A discusses different attributes and how they relate with us when we are living in this world.
G, the most defining characteristic of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Am I audible there? The most defining characteristic of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is his generosity. As he said, Namo Mahavadanyaya.
Mahavadanya is generous. Mahavadanya is extremely generous. To understand generosity, we have to redefine our conception of wealth.
Normally, we think of wealth in terms of money. That is definitely one form of wealth. But in different contexts, different things are considered wealth.
If a person is very sick and there is no medicine available anywhere to cure it except at some remote place in some obscure country or whatever and somehow someone goes and gets that medicine and medicine might just be available on some tree somewhere. It might be a little cheap. But for a sick person, the medicine is the most valuable thing.
For a person who is uneducated and wants to be educated, at that time, the education becomes the most precious thing. So depending on our situations, depending on our expectations, what is wealth for us will vary. If a person is starving and is about to die, at that time, all the wealth in the world will not be of much use, of as much use as his food.
So, it is described that in this world, where we are currently living, this is Bhavasagar. It is the material existence, Samsara. It is a place where there is repeated birth and death.
Now, the nature of our existence here is such that there is disease and there is a deeper disease which makes one unaware of the disease. Like sometimes, nowadays many people have fear that maybe I might be getting some cancer or something like that. People keep periodically doing tests because the fear is that if there is a cancer, there may not be immediate visible symptoms of that cancer.
So, if there is a disease and there are symptoms, then they can be treated. But if there is a disease and there are no symptoms immediately visible, then it becomes difficult to treat them. So, material existence, where we presently live, what is the disease? The disease is that all of us are bound to mortality and misery.
All of us in this world are bound to firstly die. No one absolutely wants to die. Actually, even people who commit suicide, it is not that they want to die.
It is just that they feel that their life is more miserable than what they think that will be. So, it is their desire to live and to avoid misery. When we want to live, we also want to live and to not be miserable.
We want to be happy. So, for them, the act of giving up life is also an assertion of the wanting of a happy life. They feel that I will be more miserable when I am alive and if I die, I will be less miserable.
So, basically, even the act as extreme as ending one's life is actually an act which expresses the same longing for life and happiness that actuates all of us. So, all of us want to live and we want to live forever. And yet, all of us are sentenced to death.
It is not that we get a sentence, literally speaking, but when we are born itself, the body which we acquire, it comes with an expiry date. The only problem is we don't know what the expiry date is. But the body has an expiry date with it.
And this causes unlimited misery. And apart from the eventual misery of death, throughout our life also, there are many miseries which come up. Now, misery can be defined in a very simple way.
Sometimes people may say, Oh, I am happy. If we understand this two-point definition of misery, we can challenge anyone in the world, even the wealthiest person, the most powerful person, the most respected person, that nobody can truly be happy in this world. What is this two-point definition of misery? Misery means to get what we don't want and to not get what we want.
To get what we don't want and to not get what we want. And this happens to everyone. Prahlad Maharaj in 7th Canto, 9th Chapter in his prayers to Lord Narasimhadeva says, यस्मात् प्रियाप्रियवियोग संयोग जन्मशो काग्निनास कलयो निषुधयमाना So he says, प्रियाप्रियवियोग संयोग So he says, that which is dear to us, प्रिय, we don't get that.
From that there is वियोग. And that which is अप्रिय, that which is, we don't want it, that is संयोग, we get that. And therefore, because of this, शोकाग्निनास कलयो निषुधयमाना All living beings are burning in the fire of misery.
Relatively speaking, some people may get more of what they dislike and less of what they like. We may say they are more miserable. But actually, nowadays is the age of democracy.
Everybody wants to have a democratic form of government. We can make tremendous spiritual advancement in our lives if we understand that misery is democratic in this world. What does it mean misery is democratic? That means misery comes upon everyone.
Our mind makes us believe that okay, I am just not wealthy enough. Or I don't have a big enough house. I don't have a good enough job.
I don't have a good enough spouse. Or my child is like this. My health is like that.
Whatever, because of these we think that I am getting misery. Yes, there may be causes of misery. But everyone has their causes of misery.
And misery in that sense is democratic. So everybody is going to suffer misery. So what the spiritual traditions of the world tell us that our desire to avoid misery, our desire to become happy is natural.
But rather than directing the endeavours for happiness horizontally, we should direct them vertically. Horizontally means at the material level. When we try to seek happiness only through material improvement, we set ourselves for disappointment and frustration.
It is not that we are not meant to be happy. Yes, happiness is our natural longing and happiness is our natural right. But we need the right way to seek that happiness.
And the right way is we elevate our consciousness. We can control our circumstances to some extent. But that cannot give us happiness.
Much. Because circumstances can at any moment go out of control. But when we raise our consciousness, when we understand that we are different from the world that we live in, we understand that we are different from the body that we live in.
And we understand that we have an innate source of happiness that doesn't depend on our body, that doesn't depend on the world, then our longing for happiness can be satisfied steadily and eventually eternally. So just as suppose there is a storm or there is floods. A storm has caused floods in a particular place.
And the floods are there, people will all be in anxiety. Now, if the same person who has been in anxiety is lifted by a helicopter above and the person is watching the same ups and downs, same turbulence caused by the flood from the helicopter, then although one is seeing that, one doesn't feel immediately threatened by that. One does not feel disturbed by that.
Why? Because one has raised oneself above. So what is the immediate and great threat when one is at the ground level, the same flood or the same chaos, when one is high above, that is not a threat. So similarly, when we raise our consciousness upwards, then material ups and downs, material problems don't trouble us so much.
And Krishna exists at the spiritual level of reality. And we exist at the material level of reality. So avatar, it means one who descends.
So Krishna descends from the spiritual level to the material level to raise us up to the spiritual level. To raise our consciousness to the spiritual level. And that is his first level of generosity.
That he doesn't have to come here to this world to elevate us. It is by our own desire that we are caught in this level of reality. But he is a compassionate parent.
He loves all of us and therefore he descends. Now, the concept of God descending or God intervening in this world, that is talked about in various religions. For example, Christianity, they consider Jesus to be some kind of an incarnation.
In fact, the word incarnation is used primarily in English, it was first used for Jesus. So, the word incarnation actually precisely doesn't apply to Krishna's descent to this world. Because incarnation means karna.
Karna is like we have carnivorous animals. Carnivorous animals which eat flesh or carnal desire. Desire related flesh.
So incarnation, that word in English literally means to come in flesh. So, Krishna doesn't come in flesh. The more precise word for incarnation is actually descent.
For avatar rather, the more precise word for avatar is descent. Krishna descends to this world. So, Srila Prabhupada, he, when he was speaking to a western audience, he did not introduce too many new words.
He used familiar words but then he imbued them with special meaning. So, he would use the word incarnation but then he would say Krishna does not have a material body whenever he descends to this world. So, the point is, this is an act of Krishna's compassion.
So, this idea of God being compassionate is talked about in various religious traditions. Jesus is also said to be incarnation. Mohammed is said to be a representative.
But in the various religions of the world, while God's love is talked about, God's love is limited to particular representatives. This particular manifestation has come and the only way to God is through him. But the Bhagavatam explains that God's love for us is unlimited.
And therefore, he descends unlimited times. And it is said that how many are the avatars of the Lord? There are as many avatars as there are waves in an ocean. Means they are unlimited.
This is because his love for us is unlimited and that's why he keeps coming again and again, intervening in this world to help us and to elevate us. So, there are various ways in which God can help us. So, actually when Krishna descends to this world, his primary purpose in the Bhagavad Gita, four chapters, 7th, 8th and 9th verses, Krishna talks about why he descends to this world.
And 7th and 8th are the verses which people who know the Bhagavad Gita, the general Hindu community, they often quote. Varshila Prabhupada would quote the 9th verse. 4.7 and 8 are यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत अभ्युत्थानम धर्मस्य तदात्मानं सुझाम्यहं परित्राणाय साधूनाम विनाशाय चुद्श्कृताम् धर्मसं स्थापनार्थाय संभवामे युगे युगे युगे युगे Krishna comes again and again.
What for purpose? For elevating, for establishing dharma. For removing those who are disrupting dharma. And for blessing those who are striving to live according to dharma.
Now he does this. However, even when Krishna descends to this world, the nature of this world is not going to change. So the purpose of Krishna is to establish dharma.
What does dharma mean? Dharma just doesn't mean that there is order, there is peace, there is harmony. Yes, all these are important, but they have a purpose. And that purpose is pointed out in the next verse.
In 4.9 Krishna says, जन्मकर्मचमेदिन्वियम् एबंयोवेत्तितत्वतः त्यक्त्वादेहं पुनरजन्मनैतिमामेति सवर्जुन That those who come to know about my attractive activities, my appearance and activities, how they understand them to be transcendental, then they become attracted to me and then they attain me. Then they don't come back to this world. So the purpose of spiritual life is to make spiritual life our purpose.
The purpose of spiritual life is to make spiritual life our purpose. In our life presently at the material level of existence we have material life and we have spiritual life. And we practise spiritual life.
Nowadays many people are trying to practise meditation, they practise some kirtan, they practise some yoga. The reason why they practise it is that they want spirituality to act like a shock absorber for their material life. That means, oh there is so much stress, there is so much tension, I want some de-stressing mechanism.
So for that they practise spirituality. This is good. But the purpose of spirituality is not just to help us absorb the shocks of material life.
It is meant to act as a life transformer, not just a shock absorber. It transforms our life by giving us a higher purpose and by raising us to the spiritual level of reality. So this is the mission with which many avatars come.
In fact all avatars come ultimately to elevate us. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is especially generous. What is this generosity? Suppose there is a charitable person and that charitable person will naturally, if anybody goes and asks for charity, that charitable person will give charity.
But suppose there is a catastrophe in the area, suppose there is a famine. At that time the natural charitability of that person becomes increased all the more on seeing how much there is suffering all around. So like that Krishna is always merciful and he always generously descends to this world and offers people an opportunity for elevation.
But Kali Yuga, the present age that we live in, is a period of spiritual catastrophe. What is the catastrophe? That in this age people don't know anything about spiritual life. Once a devotee in Russia was giving a talk and he was telling, you are not your body.
So one person asked a question of that. If I am not my body, then whose body am I? So the idea is that I am my body, so if I am not my body, then I must be somebody else's body. But the bodily conception is so deeply rooted that people just can't understand that there can be something beyond the body.
So there is total spiritual ignorance in many parts of the world. And even where there seems to be spiritual knowledge, the spiritual knowledge is very superficial. So for example, many people think that I am the body and I have a soul.
There is some part of me which will continue to exist afterwards. But this gets the whole thing wrong. It is not that I am the body and I have a soul, rather I am the soul and I have a body.
My spiritual side is my essence. So because there is so much spiritual ignorance in this world, and because of the spiritual ignorance there is so much suffering, when the Lord descends to this world in Kalyuga, He is especially merciful. Just as I said, that charitable person.
When there is a catastrophe, the charitable person becomes more charitable. So like that, the Lord becomes more charitable when He descends in Kalyuga. Now sometimes in the scriptures, the Lord is called as Triyugi.
Triyugi means one who descends in three ages. Satyuga, Tretayuga, Dvaparyuga. And the idea is that does He not descend in Kalyuga? Actually He does descend.
And we will talk more about His descent later. But the principle is to be understood here. That sometimes in some big cities where there is very strong mafia, and if some people go there and they are robbed, and after they are robbed they go to the police, and they complain to the police, I was robbed there, please do something.
And in some cities the police will tell, you know, why did you go there? Even we don't go there. So there are some areas which are filled with such lawbreakers that the law itself abandons them. So the external understanding is, when Lord Vishnu is said to be Triyugi, it is that Kalyuga is such an age of lawbreakers that the law doesn't come only in this age.
That's why the law is called Triyugi. However, that is only an external understanding. The internal understanding is that the law does come in this age also.
But He comes in a special manifestation. Special manifestation, you know, Prahlad Maharaj in the 7th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam says, channa kalau yad abhavas triyugodh sattvam. That Lord who is Triyugi, He comes in Kalyuga.
But channa kalau, He comes in Kalyuga as channa. Channa means concealed. He does not come directly.
He does not directly proclaim himself to be God. He comes as a devotee. He comes in the mood of a devotee and teaches how to become a devotee.
Channa kalau. That's how He descends in this Kalyuga. So His generosity is that even when people are not interested, it's one thing for a person to go to a charitable person and please give me charity and that time the person gives charity.
But when people are not interested itself, imagine a wealthy person going to a beggar and telling him, you take the charity. The beggar says, I don't want it. And still the wealthy person insists, take the charity.
So that requires a very charitable instinct. You need it, I don't need it. If you are not interested, why should I give it to you? But Lord Chaitanya is so merciful that He gives the process for spiritual advancement to the people who are not interested.
He strives to make them interested. And He strives to give them the process by which they can become rapidly spiritually elevated. So we'll talk more about rapid elevation a little later.
But we're discussing GAURA. So A, Lord Chaitanya is especially affectionate. He is actually the Lord who has manifested to relish spiritual affection and to demonstrate in this world.
Shri Krishna Chaitanya, Radha Krishna, Nahi Anya. That Krishna and Radharani, they are the divine couple. And they have enormous love for each other.
And that love is so intense that when Krishna sees how much Radharani loves me, how much she's attracted to me, how much happiness she experiences in her love for me, Krishna desires to taste that love. And therefore, Krishna comes in the mood of Shri Radharani. Radha bhava niti suvalitam naumi krishna svarupam.
So Krishna takes the mood of Radharani and descends to this world. So Radharani has immense love for Krishna. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has immense oceanic affection for Krishna.
He's Krishna himself, but he's come in the mood of a devotee. And his affection is not just for Krishna. The process of bhakti is a process of not just individual spirituality, it is communal spirituality.
As a community, we practise bhakti. The spiritual world, it is not just the soul and Krishna alone. There are many, many devotees together.
So bhakti is demonstrated not just by how we love Krishna. It is also demonstrated by how we love and care for devotees. And that is what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu demonstrates and it descends to his world that he is sublimely affectionate to his devotees.
And there are a few things that demonstrate Lord Chaitanya's affection as the interactions which he has with his devotees. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came around 500 years ago in Bengal. He was born in a place called Navadvip, Mayapur, which is even now there and that is the headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
That is the place where now a magnificent temple is being built. That is the place which Prabhupada envisioned as the international spiritual headquarters of Lord Chaitanya's movement. So when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descended over there around 500 years ago, he appeared in 1486 and he lived for around 48 years till 1524.
So while he was there at that time, India was under Muslim rule and Bengal especially was under Muslim rule. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, there was rigid separation at that time between the Hindus and the Muslims. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu cut across these external barriers and he said that where there is love of God, that is what is the defining characteristic.
And when we see love for God, that is what we should value, that is what we should appreciate. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also had that same mood. And when he travelled all over the world, he said, we have not come here to convert people from one religion to another.
See conversion is horizontal. Whereas elevation is spiritual. Purification is spiritual.
People may convert from one religion to another religion. A Hindu may become a Christian. But if a person was earlier a Hindu materialist and later becomes a Christian materialist, there is not much difference.
That is actually, one has to be elevated spiritually. So there was one intimate associate to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Haridas Thakur. And he was born in a Muslim family.
But he had immense love for Krishna. In fact, one devotee has written a whole book about how throughout the Indian history there have been many Muslims, Muslim saints who became great devotees of Krishna. And they wrote songs, they wrote bhajans.
So Haridas Thakur was foremost, not just among such saints, he was the foremost among the chanters of the holy name. So much so, that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu turned aside all social hierarchies of that time. And he declared Haridas Thakur to be the Namacharya.
Sometimes Indian society is labelled as very casteist. There is a lot of caste discrimination there. And when we share spiritual culture, people say, why are you now, that caste discriminatory society, why are you spreading it all over the world? Actually, the bhakti tradition was throughout reformist and revolutionary.
The bhakti saints have repeatedly opposed the caste discrimination. Caste discrimination was there originally because of a misunderstanding of the Vedic literature. But the bhakti saints have strongly opposed it.
So Haridas Thakur, what did he do? He chanted the holy names constantly and everybody could appreciate what a great saint he was. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's affection cut across all sectarian barriers. So at one time, Haridas Thakur, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu arranged, so normally in a stratified society, the Brahmins, if there is a big programme, the Brahmins would be given feast first.
And then afterwards, everyone else would take one by one. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's associates, they recognised that Haridas Thakur was such a great saint, that even before all the Brahmins, they had Haridas Thakur have the food first. So there they demonstrated that bhakti is the most important.
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself demonstrated this in the most dramatic way. Haridas Thakur was so much older than Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And he departed from this world because of old age before Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
And when he departed, what did Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was by his side throughout, you know, giving him his darshan, helping him to remember Krishna. And after Haridas Thakur departed, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took the body of Haridas Thakur in his hands and he performed Sankirtan with the body. Now, normally, according to traditional conventions in Hindu society, a dead body is considered to be impure.
But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu recognised that this material purity, impurity, these are okay. They are social conventions and they are important. But when there is devotion, all such conventions are transcended.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he not only touched the body, he picked up the body and he performed Sankirtan with the body. He was dancing for a long, long time. He said that this body, soul of Haridas Thakur lived here, this has become completely spiritualised.
Practically all day Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was dancing, holding that body. And finally, the devotees had to tell him that the last rites are to be performed. Please, now we have to do the last rites.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu finally agreed and he himself said, we will have a magnificent feast. And he himself went and started asking alms from the various merchants. He said, Haridas Thakur was such a great saint.
Please give me some charity, so that we can celebrate a feast for him. So this was the extent of his affection. And that affection was seen, Mayamrugam daitaya ipsitam anvadhavad.
Mayamrugam, the souls in this world, they have become deluded by Maya. And they are chasing after Maya. So what does Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do? He chases after them.
Mayamrugam daitaya ipsitam anvadhavad. Gaunitai Bhagwan ki. Shiganath Baldev Subhadramaya ki.
So his affection is such that, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had gone to Varanasi, at that time, he shared the message of love of God. But people thought that he was just a sentimentalist. So they were not ready to take the message of bhakti.
So at that time, Chaitanya, he called his associates and he told them, that here, I have got these fruits of love of God. They are ripe, delicious fruits. But people are not able to understand their value.
He said, therefore, you take all these fruits, and you share them with others. You share them profusely with others. That was his mood.
Just like a mother, a small child may not be willing to take a medicine. Although the medicine is essential for the child's health. The child is not ready to take the medicine.
The mother doesn't say. If you don't want to take, you don't take. You get lost.
The mother, her love is so much, that even if the child opposes something which is good for the child, the mother somehow makes sure the child takes the medicine. So that is Lord Chaitanya's mercy. That somehow or the other, he runs after the souls, and he attracts them, and he ensures that they take the mercy of Krishna.
They take the process of bhakti, by which their consciousness can be elevated, and then they can become liberated gradually. Liberated from misery. So, you is unassuming.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was extremely humble. He, as I said, he is God, and he doesn't act as God. He descends to this world and acts just like an ordinary person.
As an ordinary person, he manifests great devotion. And by manifesting great devotion, he attracts everyone. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he demonstrates that God, sometimes people think that God, some religions also have this conception, that God is a great being, and we have to bow down to him.
Yes, that is true. But that is all that everyone has to do for all of eternity. You know, all that we have to do for all of eternity is bow down to God.
Then we would be bored, and God would also be bored. Isn't it? So, actually speaking, Krishna, and of course Lord Chaitanya also, Krishna is a God who does not delight in his Godhood. You know, I am God, you bow down to me.
Krishna subordinates his Godhood to his affection. And thus he takes a very humble position. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a great, great scholar.
Just when he was at the age of 16, at the age of 14 itself, he not only finished his education, but he started teaching. And by the age of 16, he was such a great teacher, that his teacher who was still alive, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at that time was Nimai Bandit. Nimai Bandit had more students than his teacher had.
And yet, he remained extremely humble. And later on, he manifested his devotion. And sometimes scholars would come and debate with him.
They would challenge him for a debate. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would remain very humble. And by his humility, he would attract people's heart.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had many famous debates with many different scholars. So, when he was in Navadweep, he had a debate with Keshav Kashmiri. And Keshav Kashmiri was a great scholar.
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was Nimai Bandit. His name was at that time Nimai Bandit. So, he was sitting at the banks of the Yamuna with his students and he was teaching them.
At that time, Keshav Kashmiri came there. When Keshav Kashmiri saw this Nimai, he was like a moon among the stars, looking so attractive, so effulgent. So, he was attracted.
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nimai Bandit, immediately welcomed him. And he said, oh Pandit, we are honoured to have you here. So, he said, are you Nimai Bandit? He says, I am Nimai.
People call me a Pandit. But, actually, I don't have much knowledge. We are fortunate, now, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying this in front of his students.
You know, to admit that one doesn't know, in private is okay, but in front of those who think one is very learned, to admit that I am not learned, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu does that. And then, he says, we are very fortunate that you are here with us. So, please, speak some praises of Mother Ganga.
And then, Keshav Kashmiri, when he is praised for his scholarship, he becomes very proud, and immediately starts speaking. He composes extemper verses, and not one, not two, he composes hundred verses glorifying Mother Ganga. And all the students of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, their mouths fall open, amazed.
What kind of scholarship is this? So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, Oh, Pandit, your verses are so amazing, your scholarship is so great, that only you can understand it. Then he says, we can't understand it, we are all grammar students. So, we would like to understand your poetry from a grammatical perspective.
He says, can you please review your poetry, and tell us what are the strong points, and what are the faults. So, now, Keshav Kashmiri, all that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was speaking till now, his ego was becoming bigger and bigger. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, tell what are your good points, and what are the faults.
So, Keshav Kashmiri said, there are no faults in my poetry. So, Nimai Pandit said, no, no, don't get angry, actually, even great poets, Bhoja, Bhatrari, all of them, their compositions also have faults. So, please review your poetry, and tell us what are the strong points, and what are their faults.
So, Keshav Kashmiri said, there are no faults, but if you think there are faults, you can tell. So, then he said, so, let us consider the 64th verse that you spoke. And then, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spoke the 64th verse.
Now, Keshav Kashmiri was stunned. He said, I spoke those verses like the flow of Ganga. How did you remember the 64th verse? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he was slowly making a plan.
He said, by the grace of Lord Krishna, you can speak 100 words extemporarily. And by the grace of that same Lord Krishna, I can remember whatever I heard. So, Keshav Kashmiri, he started sobering down.
This is also a formidable person. So, then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu started examining his words. And he said, he had used a word over there, Bhavani Bhartuhu.
Bhavani, Bhava is Lord Shiva. Ani is wife. So, Bhavani is the wife of Lord Shiva.
And Bhartuhu is the husband. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, what does this mean? The husband of the wife of Lord Shiva. Do you mean to say that Parvati Devi has some other husband? Are you implying that she is unchaste to her husband? What do you imply? And he said, he took this and like that he pointed a dozen faults in one verse itself.
And then he said, actually if you examine, every verse has faults like this. If you want, I will tell. Keshav Kashmiri just couldn't tolerate it.
He said that, he was trying to speak something, but no word would come out. And finally, somehow he struggled and spoke something. And when he spoke, at that time also, what happened? He just couldn't, just couldn't, great sound arguments.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu easily refuted those arguments. So, you know, in those days, the scholars would have debates. And debates were considered a very glamorous and popular form of entertainment.
So, just like we may have cricket matches. And thousands of people come to watch the cricket matches. So, like that, scholarly debates are considered to be matters of great excitement.
So, this was like a champion match. Imagine a tennis match is there and there is world's number one player. And some unknown, unseeded player comes along and defeats the world's number one player.
Huge upset. So, Nimai Pandit was just a 16 year old scholar and when he defeated Keshav Kashmiri, Keshav Kashmiri was mortified. And now the students of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they started laughing.
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, Stop, don't laugh. Don't laugh. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu defeated Keshav Kashmiri but he did not dishonour Keshav Kashmiri.
You know, if we dishonour someone in the face of argument, then that person becomes so hurt, so mortified, that their ego goes into the defensive. And once their ego goes into defensive, nothing can penetrate. A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very careful. He actually defended Keshav Kashmiri. He said, O Pandit, you know, you have come after a long day's travel and you already exerted yourself by composing 100 verses immediately.
Extemporally. You must be tired. Just go home, take rest, study your books and come back tomorrow and tomorrow we will continue the discussion.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not rub salt in the wound. He did not say that I have defeated you. He gave him a graceful exit.
Now, of course, Keshav Kashmiri also knew he had been squarely defeated. And everybody understood that it was a defeat. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not, as I said, he did not emphasise that point.
And it's very important for us when we sometimes discuss philosophy with others and sometimes we make the philosophical discussion into ego battle. I am right and you are wrong. Well, we may prove that we are right and they are wrong.
Even if we succeed in proving that, still, the result will not be right. They will get alienated. So, we have to, actually, even when there are debates, the debates have to be done in a respectful way where people, so the person is here, the person's opinion is here.
We are not attacking the person. We are countering the person's opinion. And when we help them, as well as others, understand that your opinion is different from you.
Your opinion may be wrong, but you are still a beloved part of Krishna. Krishna loves you. And by learning to love Krishna, you will become happy.
So, we don't equate people with, when we make a debate, a personal argument, that means we are equating people with their opinions. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not do that. His humility, the humility does, the humility doesn't just mean, oh, I am very fallen, I am so bad, I am good for nothing.
That is not necessarily humility. Humility is often seen in this converse. How much respect we offer to others.
And how we ensure that others are also offered respectful conduct. So, then this Keshav Kashmiri, he went back home. And he had actually got a blessing from Saraswati Devi, saying that, you will never be defeated.
You will never be defeated in any debate, debate by any human being. And he went and fell at the feet of his Saraswati deity. And he begged her.
Saraswati is the goddess of learning. And whomever she blesses, that person becomes profoundly learned. So, he fell at the feet of the deity of Saraswati and he asked her, I have worshipped you diligently, you have blessed me, and yet today I was defeated.
Why is that? Have I offended you in any way? If I have offended you, please tell me, please tell me, I beg you. And, like this, crying desperately, utterly mortified, he fell asleep. And when he was sleeping, Saraswati Devi came in his dream.
And Saraswati Devi, again he beseeched her and asked the same question. You know, why did you not fulfil your promise? So, Saraswati Devi said, I fulfilled my promise to you. But I was defeated.
Saraswati Devi, what was my promise to you? She said, I will not be defeated by any human being. Saraswati Devi smiled and said, the person who defeated you was not a human being. He is, he is not just my lord, he is the lord of my lord.
Saraswati is the wife of Brahma and Brahma's lord is Govindam Adipurusham Brahma says that Govinda is the supreme lord. He is the lord of my lord. He says, the perfection of my learning, of my blessing, is not just to make you a great scholar.
It is not just to make you a champion scholar. Throughout the history of the world, there have been some champion scholar or the other. They have all come and gone.
The perfect blessing, the greatest blessing that I can give you is to direct your knowledge and your learning towards its perfection. And the perfection of all our knowledge and learning is to surrender to God, to love God. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita 7.19 that bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate vasudevah sarvamiti samatmasu durlabham So those who are jnanavan, jnana is knowledge.
Just like we have dhanavan, a person who is rich with wealth. Like that jnanavan means a person who is rich with knowledge. A person who is jnanavan, what happens? The person, that person surrenders to Krishna.
Saraswati Devi told Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, told Keshav Kashmiri that my Pandit is actually Krishna. He has descended to this world and now that you have met him, you have the opportunity to surrender to him. And giving you this opportunity to surrender to him is my greatest blessing to you.
I have not I have not abandoned you. I have actually taken, given you my greatest blessing. So sometimes, when we worship the devatas, we may think there is a conflict between the devatas and Krishna.
It is not like that. The devatas, they are all there to help us in our bhakti for Krishna. And Saraswati Devi blessed Keshav Kashmiri that go and work, go and surrender to Nimaay Pandit.
Next morning, you know, early morning, Nimaay Pandit, Keshav Kashmiri woke up, took a bath, and he went to the house of Nimaay Pandit. And he fell at his feet. When he fell at his feet, Nimaay Pandit said, Oh Pandit, what are you doing? You are a great scholar.
He said, my scholarship is useless because I did not recognise you. You are the supreme God and I surrender to you. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told him that you are fortunate that you are, you are realised, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not say that I am God, you surrender to me.
He said, you are fortunate that you have realised the glory of Krishna. Krishna has given you great learning. Use this learning to glorify Krishna.
Don't use your learning, just become proud. And Keshav Kashmiri went on to become a great devotee. He has written a famous commentary on the Srimad Bhagavatam also thereafter.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very humble in his own way. But humbly, it is not just scholarship that transforms people's hearts. It is what the nature of the scholarly person is.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very profoundly scholarly, but he was unassuming, he was humble. And with that humility, that transformed the hearts of people. So, G-A-U-R R is renounced.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Sanyasa kuchchama shanto nishtha shanti paraya raha In the Vishnu Sahasranam, there are thousand names of Vishnu which are described. And one of them is described as Sanyasa kuchchama shanto and that supreme lord who took sanyas. So, it is, now in many of the incarnations of the lord, the lord is usually a Kshatriya king.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the avatar in which he takes sanyas. So, this verse of Vishnu Sahasranam refers to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taking sanyas. So, his taking sanyas is special because actually people in this world, they think that oh, I am entangled in this world, so I have to get out of this world.
Therefore, I am taking sanyas. But, the lord is already disentangled. He is actually supremely liberated.
So, why does he have to take sanyas? Why does he have to perform whatever austerities are there in the sanyasi's life? And, 500 years ago, sanyasis, if they had to travel, they had to actually walk from one place to another. It was a very austere life. So, why did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu take that? That was actually to benefit people.
Vande Mahapurushate Chalana Ravindam In the 11th Canto, Akshayamad Bhagavatam, it says, Tyaktva Sudustyajya Surepsita Rajya Lakshmin Dharmishtarya Vachasayada Gaada Ranyam Maya Mrugam Daithaya Ipsita Mandhva Dhavad Vande Mahapurushate Chalana Ravindam So, it says, Vande Mahapurushate I offer my obeisances to that Mahapurusha to his lotus feet. What did he do? Tyaktva Sudustyajya Surepsita Rajya Lakshmin That, that which is very difficult to give up. Rajya Lakshmin Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had all the comforts and joys of life in this world.
But he gave it all up. For what purpose? Dharmishtarya Vachasayada Gaada Ranyam Dharmishtarya He was devoted to Dharma and therefore he wanted to share Dharma with others. Gaada Ranyam He went into the forest.
Now, this refers to two things. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Vrindavan after he took sannyas. But Aranyam also means, this material world is like a forest and all of us are lost in this forest.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came into the various parts of this material world and what did he do? He took sannyas so that he could share Krishna Bhakti with the whole world. So, God is himself the supreme enjoyer. Everything that is there is meant for his enjoyment.
In this world, we beg and crave for a little favour of Lakshmi Devi. We get a little money, we feel very fortunate. But, Krishna, he has Lakshmi Devi as his consort, as his wife itself and that same Rajalakshmi Lord Chaitanya, he gave it up for the sake of sharing spiritual wealth with everyone.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lived as a sannyasi. He was not just a renunciate, he was actually a devotee and wherever he went, he flooded people with love for Krishna. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went on a South India tour.
At one time, this is how normally it would happen, that he would come to a village and he would perform kirtan. And in his form, his dance and his complexion, all of them were captivating and hundreds and thousands of people would come and when they would come to see him, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in his ecstasy, he would embrace one person and when that person would be embraced by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu just by his touch, that person would become electrified with devotion and that person would start chanting loudly and dancing and singing and he would run into the crowd of people and whoever he would touch, all those people would start becoming electrified with devotion and everybody would start chanting, dancing, singing. And not at that time there were some wild animals in the forest.
There were lions, there were tigers, there were elephants and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in such a state of ecstasy that he had not seen the body before. He saw that underlying the body there was a soul and the soul in the animal body also longs to love Krishna and he talked to that soul and he said chant the names of Krishna. Normally we would say that somebody is mad, who can chant the names of Krishna? Animals chant.
But actually the animals they started in their own ways. So the lion would start roaring but it would not just be roaring. It started chanting Hare Krishna, it started dancing, it started singing.
Now it was amazing the lion and deer, they are naturally antagonistic but they embraced each other and they were all chanting and dancing and singing. Now this is a miracle. But miracles are not against science.
Miracles are above science. Science describes the laws of the world as they naturally work but God is above those laws and according to his will sometimes those laws act according to his will and those laws can sometimes be suspended. Now we know that Krishna lifted Govardhan on his little fingers, actually it was not even on his fingers, it was on the nail of his little finger.
Ek din mana Indra kumaro, nakam upara Govardhan dharo, naam paro Giridhari, Radhe Shyama Shyama Shyama. So he lifted Govardhan on his nail. Some people may ask how did Krishna find the centre of gravity of Govardhan to put his finger right at that point.
Now Krishna does not have to find the centre of gravity because he is the source of gravity. So whenever he wants the laws of nature act, whenever he wants the laws of nature can stop. So this is not when Mahaprabhu was renounced, but in his renunciation, he manifested supreme devotion and attracted everyone.
And that is the last point, he says, this is all attractive. G-A-U-R-A. His attractiveness is firstly his beauty, splendid golden complexion.
Krishna is Shama, Radha is Suvarna, she is golden. Tapta Kanchena Gaurangi, as it is said. So Krishna took the complexion of Radha Rani.
Radha Rani is known as Gaurangi. When Krishna comes with the complexion of Radha Rani, he becomes Gauranga. Gaura means golden and hanga is body.
So it is captivating golden complexion and just seeing him, people will become attracted. Jiva Goswami says that there are different avatars, they all come with their weapons. Krishna has Sudarshan Chakra, Ram has his lanushya and bahana, he has bow and arrow.
So what is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's weapon? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's weapon is his beauty, it is his sweetness and by that sweetness, he doesn't destroy demons, he destroys the demoniac mentality in the hearts of people. By destroying the demoniac mentality, he attracts them all towards Krishna and that same Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy was brought to the world by Shila Prabhupada. Shila Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made a prediction.
In every town and village, my holy name will be chanted. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's prophecy remained unfulfilled for 500 years. Some people thought, maybe, you know, this must be the earth, India only.
But Shila Prabhupada said, no, this holy name will spread all over the world. And that is what has happened. In 2006, a prominent temple was inaugurated in Delhi.
At that time, the Times of India published an editorial called the rebirth of Krishna. And what was the editorial theme? They said that, actually, if you go into what is India's biggest export commodity, is it Indian software engineers? Or is it Indians speaking English who serve as relatively cheaper labour? If you go to Bolivia, if you go to Botswana, if you go to Somalia, you won't find Indian software engineers there. You won't find Indians speaking English.
But you will find Krishna temples over there. So, Krishna is India's number one export commodity. And Krishna has been exported all over the world by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, by Shila Prabhupada primarily.
So, Shila Prabhupada fulfilled the prophecy of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by sharing Lord Chaitanya's message all over the world. And that same message is, that same message is available to us today, that same mercy of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is available to us today, all over the world. And all of you are fortunate that here in Canberra, there is a beautiful temple.
We have beautiful Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Jesus, Buddha, Raghavan and their deities. And here also, whichever part of the world we are in, we can get Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy, purify ourselves and be as happy as possible in this world by practising Bhakti and ultimately become liberated from this world. So, I will summarise.
I talked about Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's advent in five primary points. G was, does anyone remember? Generosity. So, I discussed, what is the generosity? We are, it depends, what is wealth, that depends on what condition is.
So, we are deceased and we have forgotten that we are deceased. So, we are in material consciousness, where we, no matter how much we try, we cannot have lasting happiness because everything is temporary over here. So, the mercy that we need is to raise our consciousness to the spiritual level.
So, the Lord's generosity is that he descends to this world and he descends not just once as one representation, but he comes many, many times. And as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, when he comes, he comes not as God, he comes as a devotee of God. And he makes the process very, very easy.
So, we discussed 3 UD means that he doesn't, not that he doesn't come in Kalyuga, but he comes in a hidden form in Kalyuga. And then we discussed A was affectionate. So, his affection was, it cut across all worldly designations.
His affection was universal. He manifested the affection of Radha for Krishna and at the same time he manifested the affection of the Lord for all living beings. And that affection was demonstrated in his, Haridas Thakur after he passed away, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took his body and danced, something which was radically opposed to the caste conventions of the society at that time.
So, his love was universal. U is a new UD. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God, but he comes in the mood of a devotee.
He defeated Keshav Kashmiri, but he did not dishonour Keshav Kashmiri. And that way he demonstrated that we may have the highest knowledge, but we should not be proud of that. R is renounced.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he, although he is God and he is the Lord of the Goddess of Fortune, but he renounced that so that he could share the pure spiritual love of Krishna with everyone. And he infused everyone with devotion. Just touch people and they will become ecstatic.
He could make even animals dance in ecstasy. And he was attractive. It is his beauty, it is the sweetness of the bhakti that he offers, that is his attractiveness.
And that attractiveness was by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu s mercy shared by Prabhupada all over the world. And that is available for us today also. Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu Ki Jai.
The Prabhupada Ki Jai. Gaur Bhakta Binda Ki Jai.