Sensitively transforming others’ hearts – Analysis of Lord Chaitanya’s delivering Sarvabhauma

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
This is our function. So, today, we will discuss how one person can affect another person. When we are trying to share Krishna Consciousness with others, we are actually trying to influence others.
We will inspire others to voluntarily choose to love Shri Krishna. So, we will discuss pastimes of Chaitanya Chaitanya. This is the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya transformed in Sarvabhauma Bhaktacharya.
We will discuss how basically there are trying, how can one of one person influence another. What are the things that can be done. Through the example, we get an environment.
Essentially, we can do three things for anyone. We can provide knowledge. We can set example.
And then we can arrange facilities. So, knowledge, example and facility. These are three things that we can provide for others.
And based on that, others have to make their voluntary choices. This is Chaitanya Chaitanya, Mathurna, chapter 6, text 1. Chaitanya Chaitanya, chapter 6, text 1. Every chapter in Chaitanya Chaitanya, which is usually a prayer in Sanskrit. The whole Chaitanya Chaitanya is written in Bengali.
But it transfers to the liberal course from Sanskrit scriptures. Additionally, there are some original Sanskrit verses which Krishna has composed himself. Those verses come at the start of the chapter.
And they give the summary and the stress of the chapter. So, the summary. What is the point of the chapter? The chapter may have many points.
What is the point that Krishna wants to stress in that chapter? That is what he is talking about in this. And usually he does that, conveys that, in the form of prayer in Lord Chaitanya. So, Now we are in Chandigarh.
I offered a couple of businesses to Lord Chaitanya. So, what did he do? For what business? He offered a couple of businesses. Kutarka.
Tarka is logic. Kutarka is bad logic. Karkashashayam.
So, Ashayam means co-consciousness. Karkashashayam means that the consciousness of conception of life or the place where to use their heart, that had become very hard. Karkashashayam.
So, by bad logic, the heart had become hard. And Sarvabhauma. Talking about Sarvabhauma.
Sarvabhauma is a name which also indicates the knowledge. Sarvabhauma means person who has conquered all directions. Sarvabhauma.
So, Sarvabhauma is the lord of everything. Sarvabhauma is a title for a king. Sarvabhauma is for the king of all kings.
Bhakti-bhumana-acharat. Bhakti-bhumana. That lord who was the personification devotee.
Acharat. Brought him into the world of devotion. So, this was essentially says that the bhakti requires a soft heart.
A heart which melts with love for Krishna. Whereas, Sarvabhauma-acharat’s heart was hard. Hardened by bad logic.
So, I offer my obeisances to that lord, Chaitanya, who transformed the heart to Sarvabhauma. He transformed his hard heart into a soft heart. So, he was proud of his intellectual conquest.
But he brought him to the world of devotion. And then to that lord, who transformed the heart like this, I offer my obeisances. So, there are different kinds of conquests that define Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s preaching mission.
In 5,000 Navagri, his two most significant conquests were of Jagai and Madai, and Chandakasi. Jagai and Madai, both of them were degraded. But they were degraded in different ways.
Chandakasi was an oppressor. He had tried to oppress Krishna by oppressing devotees, by banning pilgrims. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had a collective display of strength, where thousands and thousands of people assembled on a what was called as the first civil disobedience movement, a non-cooperation movement.
And he, as Chandakasi, was intimidated by the sheer force of the numbers. After that, the argument between Chaitanya Mahaprabhu defeated him. On the other hand, with Jagai and Madai, this physical violence of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, actually by his power and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by his mercy transformed that.
After that, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to sannyas. Now, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s fame was well known in Navagra, in Navagri, in that day, Nadia, because he had done so much kirtan and he had transformed Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Jagai and Madai. But, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Puri, he was practically unknown.
It’s like, sometimes there is there is a district level championships there. In which, say, there is a tennis player or a chess player, and that person has become a champion over there. That person is well known over there, but once that same player comes to the national team and comes for some championship at the national level, there that person is not known at all.
When he is in session at home, but at the national level, he is somewhat there. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, when he comes to Puri, he is unknown. And no one recognises him at that particular time.
So, in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s post-sannyas preaching, there are many significant successors. Two of the most outstanding successors, among all his successors, are the successor in Puri against Arunabhattacharya. The second is the successor against Prakashanth Saraswati, and among the two, the more sustainably transformational, turns out to be his successor, Sarvabhauma.
Because, although Chaitanya Mahaprabhu transforms Prakashanth Saraswati, that relation comes twice in the Chaitanya Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. First, it comes in the 7th chapter of the first Leela, the Adi Leela, and then it comes in the 25th chapter of the Madhya Leela. So, right now, we are in the 6th chapter of the Madhya Leela.
So, Chaitanya Chaitanya Mahaprabhu describes this twice. Once, in its development of the conceptual flow, that gives the background of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s position. So, while that conceptual flow is going on, it is described in the 7th chapter of the Adi Leela.
Whereas, between the chronological sequence, it comes at the end of the Madhya Leela, last chapter of the Madhya Leela. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did so. The Adi Leela describes Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s failure only.
Actually, the first 7 chapters of the Chaitanya Chaitanya Mahaprabhu set up the philosophical background. Then, from 8th to 12th chapters, they set up the historical background describing the various associates of the various successors or various participants of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Leela. 13th chapter to 17th chapter describe Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes in Navami.
Then, 17th chapter ends the Adi Leela. In the Madhya Leela, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu prepares Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Sanyas. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Sanyas comes down from Navadvip to Puri.
So, right now, he has just entered Puri. Then, from Puri, he goes down to India. He comes back to Puri.
He stays in Puri for some time. Then, he goes towards North India. Actually, he goes towards Varanasi.
He goes to Vrindavan. Again, from Vrindavan, Varanasi, he comes back. So, now, when he first goes to Varanasi, at that time, he does not have much interactions with Mayavadis there.
He goes to Vrindavan. Again, he comes back to Varanasi. That time, second time, he transforms him.
So, in this whole journey which is happening, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has now come down from Navadvip to Puri. And, when he comes to Puri, he is an unknown element. And, suppose, you know, there is some… Suppose, there is a tennis match.
So, there is a defending champion who is playing in the first round. And, there is an unknown player, unseeded, who has just come for the first time to Urupeltan, having no seeding, having no name. And, the defending champion is playing in the first round.
And, the first round itself, this unseeded player upsets the defending champion. Completely upsets him. And, there are some sensational upsets that happen like that.
But, that means, quite often, when a top player is upset by an unseeded player, it’s just something which happens once in a while. I mean, quite often, that player who is upset in the second round, that player also gets defeated. The player cannot perform at such a high level.
But, imagine, in one round, an unseeded player defeats the champion. And, the champion is so amazed, so astonished. The champion says, you were such a great player.
I want to learn from you. And, this champion becomes a student of that unseeded player. The champion says, you become my coach now.
I’ll learn from you. But, this is what happens. But, this is what happens.
Tanu Bhattacharya is actually a nationally known scholar. He has pioneered. He was one of the pioneers of a school of thought called Nyaya.
Nyaya is logic. But, in the Vedic school also, in Indian history, there have been many different schools of thought. And, actually speaking, if you see, there is sometimes, we have a very very whitewashed idea of Hinduism.
We think that in the past, everyone was devotees. It’s not like that. Every time, there are always challenges to this spiritual truth.
So, actually, if you look at Greek, Roman, and all these languages, and compare the kind of literature produced in all these languages, the maximum number of atheistic books, that means books propagating atheism, have been written in Sanskrit. There are more books propagating atheism written in Sanskrit than any other classical literature. Why is that? Because, from the 5th century BC to around 5th century AD, the Buddhism and Jainism were ruling large parts of India.
And, the proponents of the scholars propagating these, they eventually, initially started with writing in Pali and Prakrit, but eventually they ruled in Sanskrit. So, all the Acharyas had to confer on that. Similarly, when the Bhakti movement was spreading in the mediaeval ages, mediaeval ages refers to around 12th century onwards, but especially 15th, 16th century, when Mahabharata was there and his followers were there.
So, at that time, Nyaya, or logic, is one of the schools of thought. One of the six systems of philosophy. But, in that Nyaya, the fundamental propositions of Nyaya were dismantled by one abstract scholar.
And then, to re-establish Nyaya, another school of thought was brought up, which is called Navanya. And, Gangadhar Chakravarti and others were pioneers. So, one of the prime proponents of this Navanya Nyaya was Sarvabhama.
And, Sarvabhama had originally lived in Navadvipa. But, his scholarship had been so great that Pratap Rudra had personally invited him to come to Orissa. And, he had settled in Puri at that time.
So, usually, the scholars required some patronage from the kings. And, when the rulers were Muslims, at that time, the scholars would not get much patronage. Rishi Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he told Rupal Sinha and Goswami to build temples in Rudra.
But, he never told any of his associates to build temples in Navadvipa. Already, India is around it. There were such associates as Gyandana and others.
But, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu never instructed them to build a temple. And, they all had usually their own temples. And, the main form of bhakti was to kill them.
Why? Because, although Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself was devoted to V.T.F. Jagannath and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But, Bengal was not hostile to temple worship over there. Because, the Nitya rulers would have destroyed temples.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not expect that from his associates. So, Bengal was not very hospitable to certain forms of bhakti culture. So, one of them was that temples could not be built.
Other was that scholars were not patronised much. So, Sarovarma was invited. Sarovarma accepted.
And, when he came there, his scholarship was so great that he was not just invited to Pratap Mudra’s kingdom. But, he soon became an intimate associate of Pratap Mudra. And, Pratap Mudra started relying on him for guidance on his issues that involved especially anything to do with dharma.
And, in one sense, Jagannath Puri was already an established, very established religious place, very important religious site. It already had Jagannath Puri as its Jagannath deities were there. Jagannath deities, they already had their pujaris and others.
But, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu placed Sarovarma as one of the in-charges of looking for, looking after the temple. So, Sarovarma made that sense. He was not just a great scholar, but he had very great proximity to the king.
And, on top of that, he had an influential position in the Jagannath Puri temple. So, he was, point I’m making, he was a very influential person overall. And, normally, we say that when we are trying to preach, we can preach to some students.
And, one by one, there may be devotees. But, if there is some, say, in the college or the hostel, there is some very influential club. Say, if you have Mensa’s club or some other club with intelligent students.
And, you get the chairman of that club to become a devotee. Now, that itself is a big achievement. But, along with that, that will also attract others.
Because, he became, how did he enter? What happened to him? Through him, many others become attracted. So, similarly, what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu achieved was, you know, his very first preaching venture, major preaching venture, you know, it was a sensational success. And, he, through his transforming Sarovar Bhattacharya, he laid the foundation not just for what he would achieve all over the country, eventually, but not just precursor for that.
But, he eventually made Niranjan Puri his stronghold. At one level, when we see the Lord’s pastimes, we see them as his leela. Everything is happening, it’s his pastime.
He is omnipotent. And, he can do anything. And, that is true.
But, another level, when the Lord acts in this world, you know, he does not always use his miraculous potency. He also does other things. So, we can study the Lord’s activities also from the strategic perspective to understand, okay, at this point, what is the strategy that the Lord is using? And, how did that strategy produce effects? So, we will look at the pastime from that strategic perspective.
So, the, how this pastime starts is that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu comes to Puri. So, he comes alone. He has come actually with four of his associates.
But, Nityanand Prabhu has broken his ganda. Okay, most of you know these pastimes. Most of you have heard of Sarovar Patacharya’s conversion.
How many of you have heard, heard of the pastime for the first time, entirely? Okay, no. So, most of you know the pastime. So, I will not go into the details of the pastime.
Our focus will be to analyse and understand what is the strategy that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is using to transform the heart of Sarovar. So, when he comes, because Nityanand Prabhu has just broken his ganda. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is extremely upset with him.
And, he says, I will not travel with you. Either you go ahead, or I will go ahead. The associates say that, you cannot go ahead of your order.
Or, you go ahead. And then, the devotees plan to follow him closely. But, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu becomes so excited at the prospect of seeing Jagannath, that he just charges ahead.
And, the other devotees are left far behind. And then, he just charges straight. He sees the spire of Jagannath, the chakra of Jagannath, offers obeisances, rises and runs into the temple.
And, right now, he is sitting here and having a serious class. And, somebody just comes running into the temple. And, normally, there is a particular decorum to be followed.
People come in normally sober, brave. They don’t come running into the temple. And, suppose somebody just comes running into the temple and, suddenly, falls down.
What is going on here? He just falls down. So, now, even at that time, although it had not become very great, but there was this sahajiya tendency. So, what is this sahajiyaism? Sahajiyaism has many aspects to it.
But, one of the aspects is that they take advanced states of devotion very cheaply. And, they imagine that we are up to advanced states of devotion. Not only do they imagine that, but, actually, they suffer immediately.
So, for example, they may imagine that Radha and Krishna perform exalted pastimes. Some sahajiyas imagine that Radha has entered into me. Some female things like that.
Krishna has entered into me. And, through us, they are performing Rastis. And, in the name of that, they do all kinds of immoral activities.
So, this sort of activities were happening. So, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu just came charging in, he was so transcendentally excited to see Jagannath, that he just was not aware of anything. Just came charging in, and, when he saw Jagannath, he just ran towards the altar.
They imagine that, normally, any kind of altar, it has some sort of separation. That people cannot go right close to the altar. Now, if you see Jagannath, you can actually, if there is not a lot of crowd, you can go very close to Jagannath.
Although, now, some sort of separation is there, but, at that time, people just ran, go up to Jagannath. And, he started charging right up to Jagannath. Everybody in the temple hall, they were surprised.
He went charging right up. And, suddenly, in so much ecstasy, he lost consciousness. He just fell over there, crashing down.
All the guards who were there, they had been assigned to look after the disciple. And, they said, who is this person who has come and disrupted? They went up, and then, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was completely unknown. They thought, who is this person who has come and disrupted? So, they were about to pick him, and just put him outside.
So, just at that time, by divine arrangement, so, Sarovam was there. And, Sarovam said, who is this person? He was also surprised. But, it takes one to know.
So, when he went close to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he saw him. This doesn’t look like just a disruptor. He looks like a very fungible, advanced spiritualist.
And, he further went closer, and he looked at the symptoms. And, he saw the symptoms. He was himself a knower of advanced spiritual prasad.
So, he realised that this person is actually in a very exalted spiritual state. And, this is not a state that can be achieved by any ordinary person. So, he put some cotton strap near his nose, and he saw that he was still breathing.
So, he felt very advanced. It was just an observation that he is exhibiting an advanced spiritual prasad. It piqued his curiosity.
Who is this person? How did he fall unconscious? What is he doing here? He saw that from his robes that he is an Annyasi. So, he told his soldiers. So, he told the guards over there.
Pick him up, and take him to my house. So, circumstantially, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, his entry worked out in such a way that Sarvabhauma unknowingly rendered service to him. You know, he said the guards are about to punish Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
They might have beaten him or thrown him away. But, he stopped them. And, he took them to his own house.
And, just the sight of Sarvabhauma, of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was so attractive that Sarvabhauma’s heart began to pound. And then, after he was taken there, now anything the temples were cultural centre points for the communities at those times. So, anything that happens in the temple, then everybody starts talking about that.
So, at that time, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s associates came. And, they heard some people talking about the Annyasi who came and painted in the temple. And, now he has gone through.
He has been taken to the house of Sarvabhauma. That is also news. Not just his painting, but he has been taken to the house of Sarvabhauma.
Who? Why would Sarvabhauma take some unknown person to his own house? They were all discussing. Immediately, the associates referred to Lord Chaitanya. And, that very time, another person came there.
That was Gopinathacharya. He was a local resident. He was also from Navadvip.
And, he had also settled over there. And, he was related to Sarvabhauma as his father-in-law. And, both of them? Then, Sarvabhauma saw that Nityananda is here.
Gadadhar Pandit is here. Who is Gadadhar Pandit? Nityananda Prabhu is there. Jagadhar Pandit is there.
That’s how the Jagadhar associate Mukunda is there. So, like that, there are some associates of Lord Chaitanya. Four of them were there.
And, they discussed. They offered respects to each other. He said, what are you doing? Lord Chaitanya has come.
He knew about Lord Chaitanya. He had heard that Lord Chaitanya had taken Sannyas. Now, where is he? In Sarvabhauma’s house.
And, there, Lord Chaitanya was in still in dream. And, Sarvabhauma’s anxiousness was not coming back to consciousness. Then, he said, we know what to do.
And, he started chanting Hare Krishna. Loudly, he chanted Kirtan. Sarvabhauma observed this.
Because he is very strange. Associates are very strange. And, somebody is unconscious.
Unconsciousness is not a very pleasant state. If somebody is unconscious, some people come and shout, loud Kirtan. What is going on? He started saying.
And, suddenly, he said, loud Kirtan is going on. He is just observing. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu jumps out.
Hare Krishna. He is intrigued. And, there, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in ecstasy for a few moments.
Then, gradually, he comes back to his unconsciousness. Then, he starts saying, where am I? Then, he sees Sarvabhauma. And, then, he takes a very simple look.
He says, yes. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, that, actually, I have come to Jagannath Puri just for your association. Just for your association.
He says, that, you are just like my father. So, I have come over here to get instruction from you. Now, we see that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at one level, the reason why he had come to Puri was because his mother had told him.
He wanted to go to Vrindavan. But, his mother had said, Vrindavan is so far away. Who knows, when I will get to hear from you.
So, how it had been was that Vrindavan was not just physically far away. Physically far away was one thing. But, another thing was that there was this was Bengal itself was Muslim rule.
North India was also Muslim rule. So, going through that area itself was very dangerous. And, that’s why, even the Bengali Vaishnavas would not very often go to Vrindavan.
Whereas, Puri was a Muslim. Puri was ruled by Hindus. So, going there was not all that difficult.
So, along with the distance, it was also safety that was concerned. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had come to Puri primarily because his mother had asked him to come and stay there. Now, when we are preaching, we always have to present ourselves in a very sensitive and intelligent way.
Because, when nobody people usually no one likes to be converted, thinking that somebody is going to come in my life and is going to tell me that you are wrong and is going to correct me. Even people have their own sense of identity and integrity which they have got from whatever world views they have had, whatever culture they have come from. And, we need to respect that.
So, Bhaktivedanta Thakur says that there are two kinds of preachers. One is preacher who goes around saying that whatever you believe is all wrong. Reject it.
And the other, he says to show that wherever people have come he says from there move onwards towards Krishna. So, he gives an example. Suppose Krishna is here and this is material consciousness.
Now, in material consciousness, suppose people are going on a marathon race. This is the way they should be going. But some people may go this way, some people may go this way.
Some people may go this way. So, he says a critic should not just tell people how they are wrong, but should appreciate where they have gone and then redirect them from there. So, there may be people who are studying science, there may be people who are studying literature, there may be people who are studying music, people who are studying different fields.
So, our goal is to show that the perfection of whatever you are studying, the perfection of what you have learned, that comes when it’s connected to Krishna. When you appreciate the wisdom of Krishna and thus you come closer to Krishna. So, there is the mode of preaching which involves rejection and there is the mode of preaching which involves connection.
So, rejection means all that you have done is wrong and you start afresh. The other is what you have done. Build on that, connect with Krishna.
But that connection also involves some rejection. Because some misconceptions to that you have to reject it. But the focus is not.
It’s not that everything that you have got is a waste. See, sometimes we get the example of 1 and 0’s. Everything without Krishna is just 0, 0, 0. That is true at one level.
From the ultimate transcendental perspective, everything without Krishna is a 0. But once people come to Krishna, every 0 that they have adds up. That person’s knowledge, that person’s charisma, that person’s wealth, that person’s communication skills, whatever they may have, they have to understand it. And, from the transcendental perspective, they may be 0, but that person doesn’t think that they are 0. So, for them, whatever they have learned, that gives them some sense of self-worth.
And that has to be appreciated. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, although he says, that if you hear mayavadis, you will be destroyed. But, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu does not go about bad, bad mouthing mayavadis.
He has come to Sarovar Bhattacharya. Sarovar Bhattacharya, he is not just a subscriber to impersonalism, but he is a proponent of impersonalism. So, the word impersonalism is a catch-all term.
Within impersonalism, there is Brahmavad, there is Mayavad. Technically, actually, the philosophy is Advaitavad. Advaitavad was not Shankaracharya propagated.
And, when Advaitavad was refuted by Ramacharya, then Advaitavad itself branched into different kinds of schools of thought, which tried to continue the theory of impersonalism. So, one of the branches of Advaitavad is Mayavad. So, there is Mayavad, which talks about how everything is maya, and then there is Parichindavad, which is called reflection, everything is reflection.
So, for our practical purposes, we use the word impersonalism over here. So, Advaitavad. So, he was a proponent of Advaitavad.
And, sometimes, when we are, say, sharing Krishna Varsha, somebody says, that person starts speaking something which sounds impersonal. Oh, we have to merge in it. We have to merge in that.
And, immediately, you will say, hey, he is a Mayavadi. He is a Mayavadi. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu does not deal with people like that.
So, when I was in college, at that time, I had just given my GRE and I had topped in GRE. So, when I started taking Krishna Consciousness, it created a minor sensation in the hospital. I was not able to start taking Krishna Consciousness, but the weekly programme was happening in my room itself.
So, many students were coming. So, I was one of the intellectual leaders in the hospital. There was one other student who was like a social leader.
So, he was a social leader. And, he came for a couple of programmes. He liked the programme.
He was spiritually minded. And then, one day, he was asked to, I invited him to come to the temple in Pune. Now, the temple was small.
It was a festival. So, when he came to the temple, at that time, we didn’t have cell phones. So, I couldn’t meet him over there.
So, he met some other devotees. Some other Brahmachari. I don’t know whom he met.
But, that devotee, he asked him, he talked about some famous spiritual teachers from India. And, practically, any Indian young person comes to know about spirituality, he knows about these spiritual teachers. So, he said, what do you think about them? And, this particular Brahmachari, he told him that, Oh! He will not get a place even in hell.
He will not get a place even in hell. First of all, you know, I wonder, philosophically, has this devotee become Paramatma that he knows where he has gone? Even if he knows, that’s not the way to speak. This boy was so sure.
He just went back and told everyone, this is what this Ayurveda people say, all the great spiritual teachers. For the next three weeks, practically, no one came for the programme. No one came for the programme.
Now, this devotee will say, Oh! I spoke the truth. But, that same devotee, that same boy, he never came for the programme. Not only did he not come for the programme, he actually went to that very mission.
And now, he has become a sannyasi in that mission. He is also an international preacher also. I am still in touch with him.
But, so, you know, our point is not just to speak the truth. Truthfulness doesn’t mean just speaking the truth. Truthfulness means speaking in a way that brings people closer to the truth.
Truthfulness means speaking in a way that brings people closer to the truth. If we say, I spoke truthfully, and that sends people away from the truth, then we are not fulfilling the purpose of truthfulness. You remember I said that? Even then, in the mornings, when I spoke about what is right and what is wrong, it’s not just categorical.
This is right and this is wrong. There are three things, Mahabharata says, which determines rightness and wrongness. Do you remember those three things? Intent, content and consequence.
Intent, content and consequence. So, in terms of contents, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying over here, that, oh, I came to Puri just to have your association. This is not true.
This is not true. He didn’t come to have Sarovar. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is following a strategy over here.
Intent, what is it? He wants to develop a loving relationship with Sarovar. And, the consequence we see is Sarovar eventually becomes transformed. So, preaching requires a great amount of sensitivity presenting oneself.
So, from the point of view of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s point, he has social positions. That, he is a young, unknown person. Sarovaracharya is not only elderly in age, he is of the generation of his father.
But, he is also in a very respective position in society. And, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu adopts a deferential position. If you see in his full interactions, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself never once refers to Sarvabhauma as a Mayavati.
Later on, when the philosophical discussions happen, that time we will see. But, prior to that, he is completely very, very deferential. Deferential means respectful.
So, he is very deferential. So, the point is that people are not just defined by their philosophy. Yes, even if somebody is Mayavati, that’s one part of their identity.
But, culturally, socially, politically, organisationally, they may have certain positions. And, we have to consider all those things while we deal with them. We cannot just say, even if we see that way, there are many factors which shape our interactions with others.
Like, today, we live in a world where dharma has multiple enemies. So, for example, there are atheists who are attacking dharma. There are many Christian missionaries who are trying to convert people away from dharma, towards dharma.
We have no problem if somebody feels inspired that Jesus is the way to God for me. We have no problem with that. But, quite often, people get converted because of monetary allurements.
Oh, if you get converted, you will get a job, or you will get some financial security, you will get free treatment for your children. And, when people get converted like that, they also become hostile. They become hostile towards their parent dharma.
Because, what happens is, many times, Christians, when they converted people to material allurements, they noticed that people, except the material allurements, get nominally converted, but continue practising Hindu dharma. So, then they said, we have to make sure that people get truly converted. And, they developed tests for conversion.
And, what is one of their tests for conversion? You have to be truly converted. You have to prove your conversion by eating meat. You have to prove your conversion when you come into the temple, come into the church.
When you come into the church, on the steps of the church will be images of all the Hindu gods. And, you have to put your foot on those gods. That is the idea that you have rejected all those false leaders.
You reject all the false gods, and then you come to the true god. So, the point is, when people do like this, then their whole community, their family becomes enraged. How can you step on the gods like this? And, the whole family gets ruptured.
And, these people have to become very defensive. And, because of their defensiveness, they become hostile. And, then they become very hostile to the Sanatana Dharma.
So, the point which I am making here is that even if we say ideologically Mayavadis are opposed to Vaishnavism, but the ideology is not the only factor that is important. Culturally, the Mayavadis have very similar beliefs. Culturally, even if a person is a Mayavadi, that person respects the Deities.
At least there is a Deity virgin. No Mayavadi is going to destroy Deities like say Muslims would do. They respect and take care.
They respect the Vedas. They respect and protect cows. So, we have to see based on time and circumstance what is going to best promote the cause of Dharma.
So, although we see that there have been centuries upon centuries of conflicts between Tattvavadis, the Madhava followers and the Advaita Vaishnava followers. But eventually when Muslims were practically conquering all of India under the kingdom of Krishnadevaraya He was a famous king in South India. So, under him the Advaitavadis and the Tattvavadis both of them came together and they supported this king.
And that king actually created in the Vijayanagara kingdom he created a golden era for the protection of Dharma. So, we cannot just consider ideology as the only factor when we are dealing with people. There are other factors involved in terms of that person’s position in terms of what is overall beneficial for the cause of Dharma.
And based on that we have to deal very sensibly. So, here Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is very deferential to Sarvabhauma. And he is like just like my father and I. His mood is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu evokes some kind of Vatsakya Rasa Sarvabhauma.
And then he Sarvabhauma asks So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Sanyasi. So, normally he is deferential. He is Sanyasi.
Normally, if you want to ask someone like if you meet someone, you ask who are you? But if you understand that person is a very big person then you don’t ask that person who are you? We ask his associates. Can you tell me something about him? So, like that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asks Sarvabhauma his associates, please tell me about Prabhu’s Purvaashya. Who was he in the past? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is already very respectful.
So, Sarvabhauma, the first attraction comes. Oh, he seems to be a very exalted saint. He has very advanced spiritual symptoms.
And now he says Oh, he has come to take… He has come to learn from… Please tell me about his Purvaashya. And they tell him that he is from Navadvip. Oh, he is from Navadvip.
I am also from Navadvip. Another similarity. Another similarity.
So, essentially, we have if we are to preach to someone the first thing that we have to do is create some kind of bond with them. Without creating a bond with them we cannot connect with them. So, at the very least if people’s if people’s thoughts go towards the defensive then nothing can penetrate no matter how much philosophy we give it will not penetrate.
They are saying a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. A man convinced against his will. We can use all powerful logic and be really forceful in the logic.
But a person will say still, okay. It’s alright. But it’s just one more way of thinking.
I don’t accept it. We will be of the same opinion still. So, we have to create some emotional connection with people.
And he says, oh, you are also from Navadvip. And then please tell me about his parents. And then he says, oh, his father was Jagannath Mishra.
And then, now Jagannath Mishra. His father was Maheshwar Mishra. And he says, oh, Jagannath Mishra I knew.
At some time we were together students in class. Oh, so he is like at that time, the villages or the towns were like a joint family, an extended family. So, if you see in traditional culture, if you have some person who is of the age of your father, you call them as uncle.
If you have some woman who is the age of your mother then you call them aunt, something like that. So, the whole idea was like a large family sort of culture. So, he said, oh, he is the son of someone who was my friend in college, in the school.
So, then that also further connection develops. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very pleased. And then they start talking.
And they start talking, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is very gentle and humble. And he says, actually I took sanyas, but I don’t even know what is the duty of sanyasa. So, therefore, I have come to you for instruction.
So, there he starts thinking. Where have you taken sanyasa? So, he says, I have taken in the Bharati Sampradaya. Now, we do not know much about the technicalities.
But it is just like, somebody may ask, okay, you are an engineer? From which college are you an engineer? He says, oh, okay, you are from NIT. NIT is a good college, but IIT is a higher college. So, he says, there are like that, there are different sampradayas in which one can take sanyas.
So, he says, that actually I can arrange for your sanyas in a higher sampradaya. So, you see here, he starts saying, oh, you have sanyasa ashram, but you should have respectable sanyasa ashram. So, I can arrange for your sanyas from a higher sampradaya.
So, now, at this point, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu associates. Gopinathacharya, throughout his pastime, he is like the mediator. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his associates all come from Navadvipa.
Sarvabhauma is from Puri. Now, Gopinathacharya is also from Puri. Gopinathacharya is of the same generation.
He is his brother-in-law. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his associates, they are all one generation younger. They are known.
When I was initially introduced to Krishna Consciousness, I wanted my parents also to become Gangotis. So, I tried. Everything I said was free.
They just seemed to alienate them more and more. And finally, I asked one Manapal Singh, Jai Jai Maharaj. Maharaj, how should we preach to our parents? So, Maharaj said, by letting anyone except you preach to them.
So, he said, they have seen you as a small baby. They have grown you up. They cannot see you as a spiritual teacher.
So, you let others preach to them. And actually, that’s what I did. I took my father to the temple and he met some people of his own age group.
He started going to programmes. And he became very faithful over a period of time. So, there are you know, a person becoming a devotee, it’s not just a matter of giving knowledge.
I have philosophical knowledge. My parents, my family members don’t have any philosophical knowledge. They’ll become devotees.
It doesn’t work like that. Knowledge is only one of the principles, one of the things that changes people. I said, what can we do? To help others come to Krishna, share knowledge, set an example, and provide facilities.
To provide facilities means that people often need like-minded associations. So, our parents, or whoever they may also need like-minded associations. So, if they find people of their age group practising, and then they say, oh, they’re coming for a programme, they talk, get a developer relationship with them, through that they will link to Bhakti.
So, here, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he does not respond at all. When Sarvabhauma says that, oh, I’ll give you a decision, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is non-committal about it. He neither disapproves it, nor approves it.
But, but, Gopinathacharya, he becomes upset. When he becomes upset, he says, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God. He’s the supreme being.
He does not need any ratification from his Ampradaya to establish his position. He’s transcendental to all such things. So, Sarvabhauma, he is, he’s liking Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but he’s not yet accepted Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s position.
So, he says, okay. And he doesn’t want to have a conflict. But Sarvabhauma also has his disciples.
He’s not just an influential person, but he also has his students. He has his disciples, but he’s a very influential person. So, his disciples, they start arguing.
Where is scripture if it says that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God? you know, the scripture says that Vishnu is tri-yuga. Vishnu comes only in tri-yugas. And then there’s an elaborate discussion.
It goes this way, that way, this way, that way. And then, Gopinathacharya says, it is because you have not received the mercy of the Lord. Athapite deva padamujato.
Prasad tesha anugruhite vahi. Janathatvam bhagwan mahinno. Vachanyam eko pichiram vichinman.
He quotes Brahmaji’s prayer. In the 14th chapter of the 10th canto. He says that, Oh Lord, I saw your pastimes right in front of you, but I did not understand you.
Athapite deva padamujato. Padamujato means Prasad tesha anugruhite vahi. Even a lesha, a fragment of your mercy, if somebody gets blessed by anugruhite vahi, janathatvam bhagwan mahinno.
Then one can understand the truth of your glory. Vachanyam eko pichiram vichinman. Otherwise, just by one’s own contemplation and speculation, even done for a long time, one will not be able to understand.
So Gopinathacharya says that, Because you have not received mercy, so although the Lord is staying in your house, you are not able to recognise that he is the Lord. Sarvabhaumai, if you see throughout his past life, Sarvabhaumai was also very cultured once. He doesn’t get angry.
He says, okay. He says, okay, if you say I have not received mercy, what is the proof that you have received mercy? So, then Gopal Gopinathacharya realises, he says, that I have understood Lord Caitanya to be divine. That is itself the proof that I have received his mercy.
And I am sure he will be merciful to you also in the future. And then Gopinathacharya is still agitated because he is a devotee. He wants the Lord to be respected.
And he is thinking you want to have him reinitiated. What is this? So, he is agitated by Sarvabhaumai. Sarvabhaumai says, hey, don’t be so worked up.
After all, we are just friends and relatives. We are just joking among each other. Cool down.
And he resolves the issue over there. He tries to calm him down. And then, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, when they meet again, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stays with our family.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu regularly serves the prasad. Sarvabhaumai wants to wash his feet. Now, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is embarrassed.
He is an elderly person. But then he says, no, no. I am a gravesta.
You are a sanyasi. Let me do this. And then eventually, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, I am a sanyasi.
What are the duties of a sanyasi, you tell me. So, he puts himself in the position of being a student. Then he says, actually, you are a sanyasi.
You should study Vedanta. So, Shankaracharya has composed some verses. Vedanta Vakyesha Sadaramantha.
What should a sanyasi do? Vedanta Vakyesha Sadaramantha. One should study Vedanta and one should dive deep into Vedanta and delight in the many meanings of words in Vedanta. So, when he speaks like this, at that time, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is aggressive.
So, there Chaitanya Mahaprabhu now, he has stayed at Sarvabhauma’s house for some days. And then he says, now let us go to Jagannath temple. And there we will sit and discuss Vedanta.
And they start discussing over there. It is supposed to be a discussion. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu does not speak.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, what he does is, Sarvabhauma is speaking. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has a strategy going on. The strategy is that he wants to soften the heart of Sarvabhauma.
And after softening his heart, he wants to transform. So, Sarvabhauma speaks Vedanta and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu just keeps on talking. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is just commemorating Krishna.
And he is not, he brings a strategy. It is not that when somebody is speaking something wrong, immediately we have to refute that. At different times, different strategies may be required.
So, our point is that we have to have cumulatively an effect of transforming. For seven days, Sarvabhauma speaks about Vedanta based on Shankaracharya’s Charaka Vastakam. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu just heals.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tunes off. He doesn’t go to sleep. He is awake.
He is awake, he is living. And Sarvabhauma is also living immediately. But there is no response at all.
And then after seven days, Sarvabhauma says, you know, what is happening? See, they are neither asking any questions. They are neither commenting whether the explanation is good. Imagine, suppose somebody is giving a class.
And the student is completely impassive. Attentive, seems to be attentive, but there is no response at all. Neither appreciation, nor puzzle.
You know, just like you are speaking to a stone or something. Wonder what is going on. So, then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that, actually I have not understood anything about you.
But Sarvabhauma says, you should have told me earlier. Why did you tell me you didn’t understand? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that, actually I have understood Vedanta Shukla. But I just can’t understand your commentary.
Your commentary is Vedanta Shukla is like the sun. And your commentary is like a cloud that is covering the sun. Now, you may have heard this metaphor Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is answering.
But it is a very serious charge Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is giving. Suppose a student, a teacher is teaching a minors student. And if you take it in that mode, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying, the subject is clear.
That means, I understand the subject without your explanation. So, you are redundant. I have already understood the subject.
Secondly, he says that, the teacher’s purpose is to make the subject understandable. The student is saying that I have already understood the subject. But your explanations are like the cloud covering the sun.
That means, your explanations are not only not needed, but they are not correct also. It is one thing to tell a teacher you are not needed. It is quite another to tell the teacher you are not correct.
Sarvabhauma is shocked. Nobody has spoken to him like this. He is a famous scholar.
But still he controls himself. And he says, okay, if you feel my explanation is not right, then you give a better explanation. Do you have a better explanation? And this is the impact that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu starts speaking like that. And then he starts explaining the sutras. And he starts explaining sutras in a personal way.
From a personal perspective. So, now if you see the Vedanta Sutra, it is a very complex book. In this one we have one of our leaders, Bhanu Maharaj.
Who has translated Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s commentary. Baldevi Devji’s commentary on the Vedanta Sutra. Called as Govinda Bhaji.
So, when he translated it, I did the editing of that book for him. So, that was the toughest book I read in my whole life. Even in my engineering days, in my pre-devotional days, whatever books I had, no book was as tough as that.
What is Vedanta Sutra essentially? It is, suppose, you know, there are two expert brain surgeons. And they are discussing a case. Okay, in this case, the brain is damaged like this.
There is this over here, there is this over here. How do we deal with it? Now, they will use so many terms, which an ordinary person cannot understand. So, if an ordinary person goes and starts a discussion between two brain surgeons.
Who are discussing which surgery, how to do the surgery. Something completely lost. So, like that, Vedanta Sutra, it is essentially a discussion among people who are Upanishadic scholars.
These are people who know, it is a discussion meant for Upanishadic scholars. Who know already the Upanishads in and out. And their discussion is, okay, what does this section of the Upanishads mean? What does this section of the Upanishads mean? So, for example, if all of us know Bhagavad Gita very well, inside and out.
And then suppose, somebody giving a class, you say, you know which words I am talking about. I don’t even have to quote the words well, you know it. But others, they don’t even know, what are you discussing? So, when the Vedanta Sutra discusses, what is it trying to discuss? They are discussing the meanings of certain sections of the Upanishads, which are very difficult to understand.
And while discussing these sections, it assumes not only knowledge of the Upanishads, it assumes such detailed knowledge of the Upanishads, that the Vedanta Sutra does not even mention which sections are being referred. So, it is extremely difficult to understand what is going on here. There is a certain one philosophical discussion and suddenly, that discussion ends, you go to another philosophical discussion and why did this come up here? So, unless one has background in the Upanishads, one doesn’t understand, it is very difficult to understand the Vedanta Sutra at all.
So, anyway, the point I was making is that, there have been, when the western scholars came to India, they tried to study the Indian scriptures. There is a film and there is a sacred book of the series that was edited by Max Muller. And he had different scholars translate different books.
So, he had one scholar translate the Vedanta Sutra. And this scholar, he translated the Vedanta Sutra done by Shankar, commentary of Shankar and he translated the commentary of Ramanujan. And then, in his foreword, he said, as far as I can see, if you just look at the sutras, the Vedanta Sutra, it is a personalism.
So, Ramanujan’s explanations are much more coherent than Shankar’s explanations. Now, then, when he had the second edition of the book printed, he said, you know, I got such a furore of my introduction. So many people wrote critical letters to me saying that, Shankar was a great philosopher.
How can you say that he is wrong? How can you say that he is not correct? So, he said, I am not commenting on the philosophy of Shankar. I am simply translating the Vedanta. So, he said, Shankar’s philosophy might be very great.
I have no secrets to leak about it. I am saying that, I stick to my position, that if you look at the sutras themselves, they are more amenable to a personal interpretation than an impersonal interpretation. And if you look at the coherent explanation of the sutras, it is the personalist explanation of Ramanujan that is much more coherent than that of the impersonals.
So, the philosophy is a school of thought. I am not commenting on whether Shankar’s philosophy is right or wrong. I am saying the Vedanta Sutra has a personalist explanation, which makes more sense.
Sarvabhauma here, she shows his open-mindedness. What is open-mindedness? When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu starts giving a personalist explanation, he just hears. Initially, I was teaching him, what does he know? But when Sarvabhauma starts speaking, this person has a lot of knowledge.
And it makes sense. See, sometimes, when even a good person says they are proponent of a particular school of thought, so, if you are very expert, if somebody is an expert proponent, that person also knows bones in one’s own argument. And when there are bones in one’s own argument, one tries to cover them up.
Try to go around them. So, although he is giving explanations, and okay, now, in the logic, this is a weak point. Then he tries to bypass that or fix that or explain that, whatever.
So, he is observing the way Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is explaining. And the important thing is that he is not argumentative. Why is he not argumentative? Because there is already a relationship developed.
He has affection for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu starts speaking, see, logic works when the person is not clamped down emotionally. If the person has clamped oneself emotionally, closed down emotionally, then logic cannot open the heart.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has opened the heart of Sarvabhauma by his fast conduct, by offering respect to him, by being submissive to him, by being gentle with him. So, now when he starts speaking logic, also based on scripture, of course, Shastra, Rudra, Kanuman, then Sarvabhauma starts thinking, this makes sense, this makes sense, this makes sense. And then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu keeps speaking, keeps speaking, keeps speaking.
So, in some of the Gaudiya Vaishnava traditions, they say that Gopinathacharya was secretly hearing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s speech. He saw, he heard everything. And he was also very impressed.
And that same Gopinathacharya, they say that he reincarnated as Baldevidya Bhushan. And then he wrote the commentary Vedanta Sutra. But Prabhupada does not, with the second date does not disprove this, nor rejected it.
But the point is, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gives a very interesting lecture. And Sarvabhauma is impressed. He is impressed.
So, here, both we have to say that correct to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, correct to Sarvabhauma also. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu arranges in such a way, he doesn’t give him Sarvabhauma on the first day. Seven days it goes on.
So, on the first day when they are discussing, other people are also there. But second day, you know, it’s a deep philosophical discussion. How many people will stay over? Manushyaman Sarasvesh.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu does not defeat Sarvabhauma completely. Does not disgrace Sarvabhauma. That day, actually, on the seventh day when this happens, there are actually just the two of them over there.
And Sarvabhauma’s students are not there. So, there is no description that there was anyone else at that time over there. And then, finally, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sees that Sarvabhauma is weary.
Sarvabhauma is not just arguing for the sake of arguing. No, he is weary. And he himself appreciates that this makes sense.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is pleased by that. And now, he has asserted his authority through his scholarship first. He showed that.
He also ruled with Arjuna. He can explain it well and not only well, but better than others. And then after that, what does he do? After that, he gives a mystical darshan.
Reveals his own divine form. Has six hundred forms he has chosen. And there is Lord Chaitanya, there is Sanyasi, there is Krishna and there is Rama.
And Sarvabhauma sees that he stands, he offers his obeisances, but he waits. And he gets a riser and he starts offering prayers. Beautiful prayers he offers.
And then after that, he is completely soothed out. There is one thing which is intellectual acceptance. So, intellectual acceptance is itself difficult.
Because one is often proud of one’s own intellectual knowledge. It becomes difficult. So now here we see, from outside perspective, Sarvabhauma could say he is a hard nut to crack.
Not very easy to convert. He was not a fallen person like a Jagayamadai. He was himself very cultured.
And very elevated in his own way. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu converted him, he did not tell that, Oh, I am God, I have come to bestow mercy on you. No, he adopted an appropriate strategy.
And then the text of the conversion was not just that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu offered obeisances or offered respects. But then, after that what happened? The Denuma. Denuma means the subsequent confusion that is there.
So, another night Sarvabhauma comes. And he meets Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And there are two different incidents.
I will just talk about both of them. Briefly. So, first incident is that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu comes to his house, Sarvabhauma’s house.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is going to early morning for Mangala Aarti. He is going to Mangala Aarti for darshan. And then while coming back, he goes to Sarvabhauma’s house.
And Sarvabhauma is just waking up at that time. And then he comes out and he says, Oh, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is going to offer obeisances. And then Sarvabhauma goes and says, I have got some prasad for you.
So, Sarvabhauma takes that prasad. Now, normally speaking, there is normal civilised conduct is you don’t eat in the morning. First brush your teeth at least.
So, brush your teeth. So, even from a hygienic point of view, brush your teeth. And from a Brahminical point of view, not only your one, brush one’s teeth, take a bath, do Gayatri, do the Sanjav, and then after that one can eat something.
This is normal conduct. But when Sarvabhauma sees the prasad, he says, he quotes a verse from the Puranas, which is, As soon as you get prasad, you take it. And immediately he takes the prasad and he orders it.
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he says, Oh, Sarvabhauma, how is it that you have not been Sanjavarnanakalam, you have not taken bath, why are you eating like this? He says, Oh, prasad is the mercy of the Lord. When prasad comes, we should not keep prasad waiting, we should take prasad immediately. That’s why I ordered prasad.
And then, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was so happy, he embraces Sarvabhauma, and he says, Oh Sarvabhauma, today I feel as if, you know, I have conquered the world. Today I feel as if I have ascended to Vaikuntha. Today I feel as if my mission for descending to this world has become successful.
And we say, what is all this? Just we made someone eat prasad. I can eat prasad also. What is the great in that? You get prasad for me when I wake up, I immediately eat it.
But here, the primary lesson from this pastime is not just that whenever you get prasad, eat it. Laughter You know, what does prasad represent? The impersonalists, they may also do beativorship. But for them, beativorship is primarily a tool for elevation.
Their idea is that when we are in embodied existence, we cannot think about the impersonal ground. So, therefore, we need something to think about. We need some form to meditate on.
Therefore, we can meditate on some deity form. But they think that because the deity is just a conceptualised, conceptualised, formulised, conceptualised manifestation of the impersonal Brahman in a particular form, they do not consider really the deity to be the source of mercy. The deity is primarily a tool for meditation.
And by using that tool, one centralises and elevates one’s consciousness. Eventually, one goes to the level of meditating on the impersonal Brahman. That is their idea.
Even if they worship the deity, they see the deity more as a tool for meditation, not as a source of mercy. And they feel that what elevates us is our own diligent practise of rules and regulations. So, to the extent we discriminate, like this is not, this is matter, therefore let me reject this, let me reject this, let me reject this.
So, their faith, they think that the primary sadhana, the primary source of elevation is our rigid following of rules and regulations. So, Sarvabhauma had come from that school of thought. But, now when he took prasad, his immediate accepting of prasad, not his immediate accepting of prasad, but his flouting the rules of Brahmanical conduct and cleanliness for the sake of taking prasad immediately.
What this represents is his changed understanding of the reality. His recognition that the deity is a source of mercy. His implicit acceptance of the potency of mercy and of recognising that mercy is more important than following rules and regulations.
This indicated that he had actually got converted in the heart. It was not as an intellectually accepted that the personalist explanation of the Vedanta Sutra is better than the impersonalist. No, in his heart, he accepted the absolute truth as personal and that I should besiege the mercy of that absolute truth.
And this inner transformation, this inner conversion that happened, that was what this Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did. So, it is not just his taking prasad, but what his choosing to take prasad at the cost of flouting the rules of Brahmanical conduct, what that represents, that is what this Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did. He has done so much.
He said, I feel as if I have ascended to Vaikuntha. Three things he said. I feel as if I have conquered the world, as if I have ascended to Vaikuntha, as if the purpose of my descent has become successful.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, who lived this jubilant at this point? He embraced the Sarvabhauma. This is one indication of his Sarvabhauma’s conversion. And the second is, other times Sarvabhauma comes to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and then he quotes this verse again from the 14th chapter of the 10th Canto, Brahma’s verse, तत्तेनु कम्पांसु समिक्षमानु भुज्यानेवार्णु तम्यपापं रद्धवागपुर्गे विर्धं नमस्ते जीवोयत यो प्रिपदे सदाय। Now if you see, in the traditional circles, if you read Jiva Goswami’s Seva Sampalini, or if you see Satsang Darbha, they never quote worse numbers.
Because they are writing for people who already know the scriptures. So they may just go, In the Bhagwat, they may say like this. So now it’s understood that even if the reader doesn’t know, the reader can search in the Bhagwat and find the point of it.
Or they may add, So traditionally, whenever commentaries are written, and they quote verses, they never give specific worse numbers. It’s just assumed that you should know this for the readers. So, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sarovar Mahaprabhu quote this verse, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also knows that verse.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, Hey, this verse is स मुक्ति पदे सदाय भाग। He says, Why are you writing बक्ति पदे सदाय भाग? Why have you changed the world like this? So now, the verse has a particular focus. The focus is that whenever suffering comes in a person’s life, if that person accepts that suffering as the mercy of the Lord and offers obeisances with the heart, with the body and the words, then such a person will become entitled to attain the inheritance of the Lord. That means to attain eternal life.
सदाय भाग। That is the focus of the verse. But within that, while referring to the Lord, the word that is used, मुक्ति पदे सदाय भाग। So, now Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, Hey, this word is मुक्ति पदे. Why are you changing to बक्ति पदे? In Hindi, there is a mark of this.
So, सदाय भाग। So, Saha Baba says, Hey, you know, this word मुक्ति, it causes me to break into cold sweat. I start feeling the aversion to this word. And I will feel the 10th candle, Brahma is bringing to Krishna, Krishna is right in front of him.
Why would anyone talk about मुक्ति? You should talk about बक्ति over there. Krishna is right, it’s a prayer offered to Krishna. That’s why, I am changing it to Mukti.
Shri Satyam Mahaprabhu said yes. We don’t have to change the words of Vyasa like this. What Vyasa has spoken is perfect.
We just have to understand what he has spoken. So it says Mukti Pade. What does it mean? It gives multiple explanations of this.
One of the explanations is Pada means feet. So one at whose feet Mukti resides. And Mukti Pade also means one who is the source of Mukti.
And like this Satyam Mahaprabhu gives explanations. And then Satyam Mahaprabhu says, Oh, I didn’t think of these explanations. This is very good.
He says yes. Now I understand what is being said. But still he says I don’t like the word Mukti.
I prefer the word Mukti. So then Krishna’s Karanamayu says that such was the transformation that Lord Caitanya brought in Sarovarma that he actually started treating him. He actually developed such a great attraction of Bhakti that that which he is a proponent of here.
He says no, I don’t want to talk about this. Conception of Mukti means that one is deprived of Mukti. Because if one goes into the impersonal Brahman, then one cannot render Bhakti.
One cannot render Bhakti over there. And then one gets deprived the nectar of Bhakti. And so I do not want to do that.
This is how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu transforms Arjuna. And now if you see the next chapter after this. This is the sixth chapter.
Seventh chapter is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu decides to go on a South India tour. When he is about to go on a South India tour, first he breaks the news to his associates. The four associates have come from Puri.
From Navdeep to Puri. Vidyananda Prabhu, Jagadananda, Mukunda, Sarvamanda, like that. Some of them have come.
Damodar Pandit. And so they have come there. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu talks with them.
Then they protest. But eventually they relent because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu insists. Then after that he goes to Sarovar.
So when he goes to Sarovar, he says, I want to go and I have come to take your blessing. I have come to take your blessing. And now Sarovar says, he has become so emotional, he says, if a thunderbolt falls on my head and I die, I can tolerate that.
If my own son dies, I can tolerate that. If my house gets burnt, I can tolerate that. But my dear Lord, how can I live in separation from you? I cannot do that.
After great, after many many lifetimes, now I have got your association and got your mercy. And now you leave me. He says, but you are the Supantra, you are the independent Lord.
Whatever you want, you do. But I have one request. Please stay for a few days.
And stay in my house and let me serve you. And he says that, for about a week or nine days, he says, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu agrees to stay at Sarovar’s house. And then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu departs.
But the point is, now that Sarovar has become a devotee, we could say, among the whole devotee community, he is a purified devotee. Just become a devotee. A subdued devotee will become a devotee.
It’s a few months away. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu still treats him differently. Although Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God, Sarovar, except that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu treats Sarovar very respectfully.
And he says, even if Sarovar is angry, Sarovar is very angry, Sarovar is very angry, then Mahaprabhu goes and seeks blessings from him. Please give me your permission so that I can go and serve you. And he says, by your worshipping Lord Krishna over here, you please pray that my service to you becomes successful.
And I will come back to you. So he not only seeks his blessing, but when Sarovar says, please stay for a few days, he agrees to stay also. So, it is not that, you know, after some time, Before a person becomes a devotee, we are respectful to that person.
But after he becomes a devotee, I think it’s one of us. It’s undefended. We have to actually be sensitive.
People are in an influential position, even if they become devotees. They also have… If you use the word ego, it creates a negative conception. The point is that everybody has certain needs.
And if a person is in an influential position, what are the ways? If someone is a topper, if you are meeting someone who has already achieved something in their life, they are habituated to a certain level of deference, a certain level of respect, because of their position. And we cannot expect that just because they have become devotees, immediately they will give up that need. We have to respect people even after they become devotees.
No. Otherwise, when people are new, we give them fried pakoras. After they become devotees, we fry them like pakoras.
Do this and that, do this and that. Oh, I’m very tired, I can’t do it. Hey, you should be surrendering, you’re not the body.
Rise beyond all that. All that sort of stuff, we start sticking to that. We have to always have a healthy relationship with people, where we respect them for who they are, and engage them in the goodness of the body.
So, this is the first, and it’s a sensational triumph that Lord Shaitan Mahaprabhu has. Introspectively, Shaitan Mahaprabhu, after this, didn’t stay to consolidate his gains. He doesn’t rest on his laurels, saying that, now I have conquered Sarovarman, now everybody will offer respects to me.
Shaitan Mahaprabhu leaves this place. Actually, if you see, there are three chapters now. The 10th chapter describes South India too, then 8th chapter describes his meeting with Ramanand Raj, 9th chapter further describes Shaitan Mahaprabhu going to various places.
The 10th chapter, Shaitan Mahaprabhu comes back. And it is in the 11th chapter that Sarovarman Bhattacharya, he brings the various respectable citizens of… who need to meet Lord Shaitan Mahaprabhu. And then they all come and Shaitan Mahaprabhu is pleased, he meets them, interacts with them.
And then from the 11th chapter onwards, to the 13th, 14th chapters, is gradually how Pratap Mudra gets the mercy of the Lord. But the point is, through Sarovarman Bhattacharya, Shaitan Mahaprabhu attracts and transforms all the Illuminati of Jagannath Puri. All the influential people of Jagannath Puri become transformed and ultimately the king becomes transformed.
And yet then, after that, the Jagannath Puri becomes like a stronghold for Shaitan Mahaprabhu. Where Vaishnavas from all over the world at that time come and take his shelter and they learn. And then they become inspired, Shaitan Mahaprabhu recruits some of the people elsewhere.
So, the influential people of Jagannath Puri become a stronghold for the glory of Vaishnavism. And that all-encompassing Shaitan Mahaprabhu transforms Sarovarman Bhattacharya. So, this is the first major success outside Navadvipa, Shaitan Mahaprabhu.
And how does he achieve it? Not just by brandishing his glory, but it is through strategy, through humility, through deference for others, and through appropriately bringing in his scholarly connections and abilities. So, we feel that, now I know the right message. And if people are ignorant, I will go and enlighten them.
If we go with that, people will say, I don’t need your light, get lost. People have to see that, we are a culture, we are respectful, we are gentle. And they see that, and gradually, they slowly know, what is it that makes you great.
And then we suffer the loss of it. So, certainly, we are there to share the loss of it, to attract them. But it is not just our world that we attract.
It’s not just our knowledge that we attract. Knowledge is important. But, giving knowledge is like sowing a seed.
And our duty is not just to sow the seed. Our duty is also to till the land, to make the soil, to make the soil receptive, by which the seed can fructify, germinate over. So, some people, they might already be submissive, receptive, they might already be requisitive of it.
So, we see that, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in his past time, he didn’t just sow the seed of knowledge, but he actually, how he tills the land, by creating a conducive atmosphere, a conducive setting, in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in which he can transmit that knowledge So, how we do that ourselves, will be, when we study Srila Prabhupada’s life, women, crooks, fools, rascals, they will condemn everyone else. Yes, that is at one level too. But, that was not the only thing that Srila Prabhupada did.
And that was not what attracted people to him. I was one week ago, last Sunday, I was in Sindh, in Lower East Side, where Srila Prabhupada started the preaching. So, in New York, it is, now it is, just one part of New York.
At that time, it was quite a decrepit place. It was, a place where, the Hindus used to live. One of the devotees was there, he said, it was a completely squalid place at that time.
And, Prabhupada, when he went there, he had come from Vrindavan, which is a capital of devotion. Now, from the point of a Vedic culture, America, Western culture, which is, which is very degraded. But, the Hippies, were so degraded, that even Americans had rejected.
So, the Hippies were considered degraded, even by the degraded, from the Vedic perspective. And so, Prabhupada went, from the capital of devotion, to the capital of degradation. And, when he went there, he was not judgemental, that, whoever came, whoever came, he was also on a team, he was also on a team, so and so.
No! Prabhupada was a genuine man, he was kind, he was loving. He was so much so, that, the Hippies would come, and they would attend the class, and then Prabhupada, initially he had no money, so he would just give them some apples, cut an apple, and he was more for peace of mind. But, as you did it, the local government, they were, the Hippies were in a big crisis for them.
They didn’t know how to deal with them, but then they saw that, the Swamiji needed their help, people are coming, and giving classes for them. So, they started supporting him, and they started giving some funds, and Prabhupada started cooking food for them. Of course, Prabhupada got funds from, sale of his books also, but then he started cooking food.
And now, he would cook food, and he would serve, and the Hippies there, they just come for lecture, they would dance, and go, for their presence in the audience. And, Prabhupada would actually serve food, Prabhupada himself, he was elderly, he was already 70 at that time, so he would carry all these buckets, and he would say, please serve me food, all of you, please take it, please take it, and they would just eat, and they would go away. And after that, Prabhupada would himself, he would wash the plates of the children.
So, now, what does this mean? He said, okay, what’s so great about it? But, from the traditional standards, one of my devoted friends, when we were in Puri, we were just in Yamunapur, for the Yatra, at that time, there was a lot of crowd, they were waiting. So, he just took a chandrari, on one of the Gauri Amrit, premises. And, at that time, Sanyasi came there, and Sanyasi was about to take Prasad, so he said, do you want to go out, let me do some service, they were Sanyasis.
So, he asked, can I serve Prasad? So, the Sanyasi assistant asked him, are you initiated? He said, no, no, if you are not initiated, you cannot serve food to a Sanyasi. So, this was the traditional standard, that a Sanyasi, should be served food, only by one who is initiated. And, here, Prabhupada, one of the Sanyasis, was a Mahabhag, one of the, top most of Sanyasis.
And, he was not taking food, for balance, he was himself, serving food, to others. And, not just to, food to be served, to devotees, which is an expression of Seva, but, he is, serving food, to people, whose only recruitment principle, is, breaking all the recruitment standards. And, not only, he is serving food, he is washing, their plates also.
And, how the devotees came to know, one day, he ate so much food, that, he just, sometimes, he eats so much, he didn’t have strength, to get up again, he does so much. And, I was sitting there, Prabhupada was talking with him, I said, how are you? There is some other class, Prabhupada will be socialising there. And, then finally, he was sitting there, and Prabhupada, after a long time, he came to Prabhupada’s house, and told him about the water.
He said, to all the people, start washing their plates. And, there he is. Even, although, he was still in a, a super, he said, what is this? He is learning, he is respecting, he is learning.
And, he is washing our plates. So, he put himself together, then he went home, and told other people. And, after that, people started coming, and assisting him.
So, Prabhupada, when he was preaching, he was not judgemental. He was no, not judgemental at all. He was simply compassionate.
Whatever little spark of Krishnamurti they had, they lent us their Krishnamurti, and, and. So, you know, our spirituality should make us more compassionate, not more judgemental. Compassion is, everybody is soul, everybody is Krishna.
And, my duty is to try to help them get Krishna in whatever way I can. Otherwise, you know, we can just, if we take up the high-volume advice, you are a Mayavadi, you are a Karmi, you are a Jnani, you are a Bodhi, you are this, you are that. You know, we can give labels to everyone.
Yes, we can do that, but that is not compassion. That is not what we are trying to do for the future. So, our standards are there meant for inspiration.
They are not meant for condemnation. We are meant, these are standards we should follow. I want to rise towards these standards.
But, if we use them for condemning others, then we are defeating the purpose of Krishna. Our purpose is to try our people towards Krishna. And, that means, we appreciate them for what they are and open their hearts and gradually bring them closer to Krishna.
As Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did in Sarovar. In summary, I started by talking about how Krishna transformed the heart of Sarovar into Bhakti Bhumana Mahacharya. He brought him to Bhakti Bhumi.
He made him into a devotee. He softened his heart. So, we discuss the context for this.
How Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, this was his first major treaty conquest after he came from the district level to the national level. He came to Devanagpuri. And, how did he start off? It was, he basically created favourable emotional connections.
So, then he fainted and Sarovar was Arjun at that time. He came to consciousness and Mahaprabhu respected him for saying that why come to learn? There is a need to speak. Truthfulness doesn’t mean that you just speak the truth.
It will drive the people a person away from Krishna. Rather, you speak that to bring the person closer to Krishna. And then, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu activated the position of the student.
No way did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu act judgemental and say, you are a Mahayaji, you are condemned by the Sarovar. So, people and our relationship with people cannot be defined just by their and our ideology. There are many other factors which come into the picture.
So, I talk about my opinion personally. Ideologically, we may have clashes, but culturally there may be similarities. And I discussed how Krishnadevaraya Sanjaya and Bhagavad Gita and Vaishnavas put aside their differences and they came together to help the king so that there was another bigger threat around there.
They countered the threat. So, when we do this, we cannot just label people according to their ideology. We have to sensibly see how the purpose of dharma can best serve.
Because he had submissively done Sarvabhauma, after that when he started speaking, after hearing him several days, then Sarabhauma was open to the other. So, if people’s egos are in the defensive, no logic will work. Logic works when they are not emotionally crowded.
They are emotionally open to it. They should at least feel that we are their ambitions. We have to show the seed of knowledge but we have to till the soil of the heart so that the seed of knowledge will germinate over there.
And Chakran Mahaprabhu does that. And the transformation that resides is Sarabhauma not just accept ideologically but rather he puts his faith in the personal understanding of the law and is willing to flout rules and regulations to accept mercy. And also he no longer has any attraction to Brahma and Mukti as is demonstrated by Chakran Mahaprabhu.
And Chakran Mahaprabhu after Sarabhauma is one of the devotees. He still respects Chakran Mahaprabhu as he seeks his blessings and stays on and changes his plan for a few days after becomes a devotee. session with Thank you very much.