Antya 9.1-12 How beholding Lord Chaitanya filled people with ecstasy – Chaitanya Charitamrita study

This is Antilya, Chapter 9. aganya-dhanya chaitanya gananam prema-vanyaya There are countless associates of Lord Chaitanya, gananam, prema-vanyaya, that actually, they bring about the inundation of ecstatic love, aganya-dhanya. aganya-dhanya is those who are unfortunate people, svanta-maruhu.
Those who are unfortunate, their hearts are like a desert. In the desert of the heart, anupatam, that state becomes filled with water. So, here, like in other chapters, Krishna’s Kaviraj Goswami starts by describing how a particular pastime of Lord Chaitanya can be best understood in the summary right at the beginning.
So, essentially, we can understand the purpose of the author by looking at what the summary is. If the same incident can be understood in many different ways, and one way to understand it effectively is to look at the angle that author takes for explaining it. This angle enables us to move forward in a constructive direction without ourselves getting misled in many of the details.
So, the direction over here is that it is actually how the devotees of the Lord enrich those who are non-devotees. That how they bring the flood of love to those who are not devoted to others. Those whose hearts are dry because of the absence of devotion.
So, like many other verses, there is a rhyme over here. Lord Chaitanya is merciful and so Nityanand Prabhu is also merciful. And here, the overall mood is of glorification, which goes on usually for the first few verses.
Jaya Advaitacharya, Jaya Jaya Dayamaya, Jaya Gaurabhaktagana, Sabarasamaya. So, while mercy is attributed to Advaitacharya, Rasa is attributed to Gaurabhaktagana. To experience spirituality is much easier than it is one thing to explain spirituality than other things.
And not everyone who experiences spirituality can explain spirituality. And we could say that there are these four distinct quadrants. Some people explain, neither explain nor experience.
They explain but don’t experience. They experience but don’t explain. And they explain and experience.
So, those who want to share their experiences with others, they are merciful. They are compassionate. And that’s what is being talked about over here.
That here he is being described as the combination of these two things. Dayamaya, those who are merciful, they will share their experiences with others. Rasamaya, they may not share their experiences but still they do have those experiences.
And they relish them. Text 4, E Matta Mahaprabhu Bhaktaganasange, Nilachale Vasakarena Krishna Premarange. E Matta, in this way, Mahaprabhu Bhaktaganasange, which is the Mahaprabhu with his associates.
But what did he do? Nilachale Vasakarena Krishna Premarange. He resided in Nilachal and he delighted in Krishna Prema. So, Sange and Range is the right, in the association, to experience the satisfaction, spiritual satisfaction.
So, after the invocation, the glorification, the summarization, now the narration begins. Narration is about Chaitanya Mahaviraha in Nilachala. Antare Bahire Krishna Viraha Tarang, Nana Bhave Vyakula Prabhu Ramana Ara Anga.
So, Antare Bahire Krishna Viraha Tarang. Inside and outside, there is separation. From the Lord, Krishna Viraha Tarang, that was, he experienced that.
And Nana Bhave Vyakula Prabhu Ramana Ara Anga. And this way, in various ways, his Vyakul, it was agitated, his mind and his body. So, Tarang is significant here, that this came as waves, ecstasy.
The separation, just like waves are undulating, they go up and they go down. Similarly, in this case, the experience of ecstasy and of lack of ecstasy, or rather, it could be also difference in the intensity of the experience of ecstasy, of emotion was there. In ocean, there are always waves, but sometimes those waves are very strong, and sometimes they are not that strong.
So, that’s what is being described here. Vyakula Prabhu Ramana Ara Anga, Dinindutya Kirtana Jagannatha Darshan, Prathiraya Swarupa Sannilasa Asavadhan. So, holding these waves at one level, the movement of the waves is described in terms of his, the effect on the body and mind, and now, the movement is described in terms of the duration of time, how things are flowing.
Dinindutya Kirtana Jagannatha Darshan. So, in night, in the daytime, Lord Chaitanya would do things, do things. He would dance, and he would sing, and he would go and have Darshan of Jagannatha.
At night, he would Rasa Swarupa Sannilasa Asavadhan with intimate associates. Just like Ramananda Raya, he would relish ecstasy, he would relish deep spiritual emotions. So, although Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s life overall was reclusive, but at least within that, there were some things which were public, and some which were not at all.
The things which were for the public were one thing, that is, in the daytime, he would sing, while holding the Darshan of Jagannatha, he could have his Darshan. But at night, he would experience such elevated emotions that most people couldn’t understand. Thus, he would do that with his intimate associates, like Ramananda Raya.
Tri Jagat Tera Loka Asi Kare Na Darshan, Yehi Dekhi Seyi Paye Krishna Premadhan. So, Tri Jagat Tera Asi, from all the three words, people would come to have his Darshan, and on seeing them, they would be enriched with Krishna Prem, Seyi Dekhi Seyi Paye. So, actually, those who are experiencing Krishna are extraordinary, because that is not an experience that is easily had.
Some people may have experience of God, but to have experience of ecstasy in relationship with the most intimate manifestation of God, that is especially rare. And those who could experience this were so special that people would behold them, and just by beholding them, now, how would somebody else get love for Krishna? Just by beholding. This can happen at multiple levels.
When we behold someone who has spiritual experience, at that time, the seeing that, at the very least, it forces us to think about things we would normally not think about. So, if we don’t see things that challenge our existing worldview, then our existing worldview never expands. Of course, after we see some things, it don’t make sense.
We want to see somehow fit it into our worldview, and then move on with the same worldview. We might come up with some explanation for it. How sensible or satisfactory that explanation is may vary from person to person, but if we go where the evidence goes, where the evidence leads us, then we start realizing that, actually, this experience, this explanation is not sensible.
This explanation, I need to revise it. I need to make sense of this. And that’s how, by encountering people who are experiencing spiritual ecstasy, we at least expand our worldview to consider that there may be another kind of happiness, and maybe that happiness is much higher than the happiness that we experience normally through sensual gratification.
And then after that, further we start thinking, especially if that person is potent and also able to recommend a process by which we can get some similar experiences, then we start that and we also embark on our journey. So we could say first is when we encounter somebody having a spiritual experience, we actually discover a new avenue to life that was unknown to us, a new pathway. And if they give us a process, and if there is a process which they provide, and if we have some eagerness to experience, then we start off on that avenue that we have discovered, avenue that has opened up for us.
And beyond that, if that person is very potent spiritually, like Lord Chaitanya is undoubtedly, then just by their presence, by their purity, by their potency, at least temporarily we get pulled along that path so toward that experience, just like when an object with a heavy gravity pull comes near something, then it can pull that object towards it, pull other objects towards it. Similarly, at least temporarily our consciousness may get very elevated, and we also start experiencing high spiritual emotions, even if we are not at a high spiritual level, just by proximity to those who are at a high spiritual level. That’s why, whether it is just discovering the path, whether it is moving forward on that path, or whether it is a temporary mood way ahead on that path, whichever of these are the results, each of these results is beneficial and auspicious for souls in materialistic consciousness.
And that’s why the association of saintly people is emphasized so much. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is supremely potent, and thus He gives people the opportunity to experience spiritual ecstasy just by proximity to Him. But that time, higher beings came there, because for higher beings, there are higher experiences, but not the highest experience.
The celestial pleasures are different from the transcendental pleasures. So, the inhabitants of the higher or even the lower planets, they all, at least those who are wise among them, wanted the highest experience, and thus they came to have the darshan of Lord Chaitanya, and to not cause too much disruption on the earth by their appearance, they dressed as human beings. This capacity to change forms is there among the celestials, and in general, there is an order in the universe that governs different aspects of the universe, and that order is not to be disrupted.
So, that’s why usually when celestial beings, when beings from other worlds come over here, they often come in an inconspicuous way, especially when they are coming to the sea, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has come to the earth to bestow. He has not ascended to the heavens or any other planet. So, they take on the garb of… they come in a human form, they experience that spiritual ecstasy.
Text 9… So, now the same geographical scope goes on, that not just from the higher planets, but even from this planetary system, from the various islands… The point here is that from everywhere people came. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was so attractive, so potent, that people from far and wide came to have that Even great saintly persons like Prahlad, Vali, Vyasa, Ashoka, Adi, four examples are given over here, and we see that all these four examples, Prahlad, Vali, Vyasa and Ashoka, they are prominent bhaktas, they have a prominent role in the Bhagavatam, and that they are, these four are mentioned by name, Adi Muni learnt, along with other rishikesh. Specific names that are told also signifies how Chaitanya Chaitanya Tamrath is founded in the Bhagavatam, that those saintly people who are considered prominent great devotees in the Bhagavatam are experiencing, are seeking and relishing higher ecstasies, which are pointed to in the Bhagavatam, especially in the 10th Canto, but which are stressed on in this, in the descent of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
So when they came and they beheld, they fell unconscious, completely they became devoid of any consciousness. So, how do we become unconscious? It is when we experience something so intense that the body can’t sustain that experience, then the body or the mind need to switch off, so that that experience doesn’t devastate us. That’s how ecstasy at the spiritual level, when it becomes so overwhelming, then at the physical or mental level, the consciousness gets switched off for some time.
So when people came to have darshan of the Lord and when they couldn’t have that darshan, then they made loud sound, phukare. Now, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was responsive, but he desired to respond to the Lord, although normally he was reclusive, still he was also responsive. So, whereas Lord Chaitanya preferred to be reclusive, but he deferred to being responsive when necessary, and thus he came out to give his darshan to the people who were fervently calling out for that darshan.
It’s significant that Lord Chaitanya was not always readily, easily available, but he was not entirely unavailable, and he was, we could say, reciprocal, depending on the eagerness of the people, and we see this is how it is in today’s world also. If there are lots of devotee seekers, then those who are devotee sharers, devotee preachers, they will go to those places more, because naturally they would like to give Krishna more and more. So, Krishna can be given more either when the audience is of quality or quantity or both.
There is a large number of people or there are many, many, very serious people, or best is if there is both. So, here we could have, this is always a tension between quality and quantity. So, if there is no quality, no quantity, then we can again draw four quadrants.
If there is no quality, no quantity, then that is one is not doing any outreach at all. Now, if there is quality, but no quantity, or high quality, less quantity, that is good. At least you are getting very seriously devoted people.
Then we can also have high quantity and low quality, that could be mass outreach, that could be, say, the way Sri Prabhupada did outreach in India, where mostly it was life members who were coming, and yes, they may have pious, they may have valued virtuous lives, but in terms of the quality of their commitment to sadhana, it was not much. So, Prabhupada still accepted them very warmly, and gradually we, the best is if, so we need to, we can have outreach to get people out of the first quadrant, and all three are outreach. That is, from no quality, no quantity, you can have quality, but no quantity, quantity, but no quality, and quantity and quality.
Now, we have to be clear that the third quadrant is the destination, but we also need to be clear that not everybody will be ready to get to the third quadrant. And, you know, it could be that maybe some audience is not ready, some preachers are not particularly potent in particular ways, but whichever, whatever it is, that some audience may move from first to third, fourth quadrant, or depending on how you name it, rather the goal is the fourth quadrant, that is quality and quantity. If we have quantity, but not quality, if somebody is moving from the first to the third quadrant, then that is also outreach.
And while Prabhupada did say, but Prabhupada was not fixated on that alone. In a sense, Prabhupada’s life membership outreach was creating, was focusing on the stars. If there’s a choice between a thousand stars and one moon, Prabhupada focused on the moon, but sometimes it’s not a choice between the two.
Some people are just going to be stars, they’re not going to become moons. So then do we extinguish the stars? No, except the stars also beautify the sky. So the challenge comes when people who could get to the fourth, say start in the second or the third quadrants.
So those who have quality, but they don’t scale so that they don’t get quantity, then they could, thinking that if they did some tweaks, if they presented themselves better. And those who have quantity, if they don’t create a structure for people to move toward quality, and if they don’t talk also about that there are quadrants that are higher, then it can be a problem. But otherwise, actually, there are various ways in which people can experience spiritual growth and we need to accommodate all of them.
In seeing the darshan of Lord Chaitanya, what happened? All people became inundated with ecstatic love for Lord Chaitanya. In this way, Lord Chaitanya spent his day and night. This is how he was, ecstatic constantly, not allowing himself.
He was ecstatic and he was inspiring others to become ecstatic. And such was his immense devotion that was experienced over here. So now, while this was going on at a routine level, the specific incident starts.
And this is the incident which is about Gopinath Pattanaika. This incident, we’ll start, we’ll discuss in our next session, specifics. So to summarize in this session, we discussed about, primarily, how spiritual ecstasy is transmitted by just by behold.
When somebody has darshan, beholds a great saintly devotee has a special experience. It is either the door or the path is opened, or the people are propelled down the path, or people are propelled way, way down or up the path to long distance. So the path opening, people getting, people moving on the path or people being propelled on the path, at least temporarily, way ahead.
All these are ways in which the ecstasy can be provided. And also we discussed about how Lord Chaitanya was reclusive, but he was also responsive. And how the thrust of this chapter is not so much Lord Chaitanya giving ecstasy, but also it is Lord Chaitanya’s devotees, they make the barren earth, barren hearts of those who are non-devotees flooded with love.
And lastly, that they talked about quality and quantity, that when, that ideally, we talk about how compassion is, that there are, we move from no quality, no quantity to either quality or no quantity, quantity or no quality, but eventually quality and quantity. And also we talked about spiritual experience, that while all the devotees are described as Daya Mai, some devotees also, all devotees are described as Rasamai, some also described Daya Mai. So we discussed about how four quadrants, people who have no spiritual experience or explanation, experience and experience, speaking but no explanation, explanation but no experience, and experience and explanation.