Six Opulences of Lord Chaitanya (2): Beauty part 2

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare krishna yes so we were in the middle we were we were discussing about lord chaitanya mahaprabhu’s six opulences and we were in the middle of discussing his beauty so we’ll continue that so when lord chaitanya mahaprabhu came out of the house in kulinagaram madhava’s house to see uh to give his darshan to everyone there’s thousands of people were there and it is described that they all wanted to see so now that was not a stadium where it’s uh very strategically arranged so that thousands of people can see just ordinary house so people were climbing on the trees they were going on the treetop they were on the branches they were practically on the leaves and still nobody was falling down everybody was just molding the beauty of lord chaitanya mahaprabhu so the beauty of lord chaitanya mahaprabhu attracted hundreds and thousands and thousands of people lord chaitanya mahaprabhu exhibited this beauty wherever he went and the amazing aspect of lord chaitanya mahaprabhu’s beauty is that it attracted one and all you know chaitanya mahaprabhu went to uh jahannath puri at that time the mayavadis sarovam bhattacharya was initially a mayavadi so the mayavadis generally are not attracted to anything worldly but rishabh dhagatam describes how krishna has such qualities that those who are not attracted to any material qualities are also attracted to him atma rama shimunayo nirgrantha purukrame nirgrantha purukrame what are the guna of hari that that actually those who have no attraction to any material qualities they also are attracted to him therefore his qualities are spiritual so sarovam bhattacharya was a renowned mayavadi scholar and he would not be attracted to anything material but even he would attract lord chaitanya mahaprabhu and lord chaitanya mahaprabhu exhibited great humility and gentleness with him and he was attracted by his beauty.
So it’s one thing to attract common people, the common people they get attracted even to worldly beauty. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s beauty was divine, he attracted thousands and thousands of common people, not only when he came to Mayapur but when he went to South India and North India but more than that he also attracted the hearts of those who are not attracted to anything material or worldly. So Sarovam Bhattacharya was also attracted to his tender, sweet beauty and the Lord has different ways of attracting the hearts of everyone.
So we’ll see how he attracted the heart of Sarovam Bhattacharya and later on we’ll see how he attracted the heart of Prakashana Sanskriti. So Sarovam Bhattacharya, when he initially saw Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the first meeting was very dramatic. He was in the temple of Jagannath and suddenly Chaitanya Mahaprabhu rushed in.
At that time he was an unknown sannyasin, he came and he ran straight into the temple and fell unconscious. As soon as he saw that and now the guards of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they often see, guards of Jagannath, they often see people swooning like this, falling unconscious and most of the time it is a pretext. So they thought this person was also pretending like that, so they came to beat him.
Sarovam Bhattacharya saw this extraordinarily beautiful young sannyasin and he stood very well. He stopped the guard and when he tried to, he tried to check for the signs of life, he was completely unconscious. He put a flower of cotton on his nose and then he saw that actually this flower of cotton was slightly getting wet and so he was still breathing.
He realized that this is a sign of a very great and profound trance and then he had Sarovam Bhattacharya taken to his home and then when he came to know that actually this sannyasin is also from Navadvip and Nilambar Chakravarti, he is Sarovam Bhattacharya’s father. Sarovam Bhattacharya’s father was Maheshwar Visharada and Nilambar Chakravarti was also a great scholar. Nilambar Chakravarti was the grandfather of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the mother, the father of Sachi Mata.
So, they had been friends and Purandhar Mishra, Purandhar Mishra or Jagannath Mishra, they and he and Sarovam Bhattacharya knew each other very well. So, for him, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was like his son in one sense because his father was the friend of the grandfather of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, this was a sort of mundane connection.
So, mundane connection was that, oh, he is from my same town and he is the son of my friend. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exploited that mundane connection for him because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had told Drupada Goswami to write, somehow or other we have to get our mind attracted to Krishna. So, he felt a sort of vatsalya bhava towards Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
This is known as sannyasa. How will he be able to resist the temptations in this world? He is so attracted. Even if we don’t get attracted to anyone, people will get attracted to him.
Even women will get attracted to him. So, he told Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that, you should hear Vedanta. By hearing Vedanta philosophy, your mind will become strong.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu very obediently, like a son. He even told Sarovam Bhattacharya, you are like my father and you are my protector. Please tell me what I should do.
So, in this way, what he did was, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, triggered some affection in the heart of Sarovam Bhattacharya. And that affection became the seed of eventually his developing love of God. Pure love of God.
The Mayavad, the Advaitavad had completely covered his heart. It was like a stone wall. But within that stone wall, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu created a small crack.
A crack of affection. Affection by his beauty, affection by his village connection, and affection by his humility. And eventually, just a crack opened there.
And Sarovam Bhattacharya completely surrendered. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited eventually. Miraculously, his hand had come to him.
And we will see how he was totally transformed afterwards. So, initially, what he was attracted to was all those sannyasis, such a beautifully, strong and gentle sannyasi. Similarly, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Varanasi, at that time, in Prakashanan Saraswati, there was no such connection.
There was no connection of either family ties or village ties. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had to use another strategy. He softened his heart.
Sarovam Bhattacharya had never been offensive to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But Prakashanan Saraswati had already offended him. He was a sentimentalist.
He has a magical power by which he makes everybody think that he is God and everybody falls prey to him. Sarovam Bhattacharya was earlier a very learned man. But by his association, he became spoilt.
He became foolish. But what did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do? One aspect of his all-attractiveness is the Brahmin qualities. So, when he came to the house of the Maharashtrian Brahmin, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sat at the place where everybody else washes their feet.
That was his unity. And then he greeted the Brahmin qualities. And by that, he attracted everybody.
He attracted especially the Mayavadis and among them, Prakashanan Saraswati. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to South India, as I said earlier, which is described in the Maddalila, 6th chapter. So, there he met Ramananda Raya.
Ramananda Raya was initially very attracted. He was defiantly into these sannyasis. And then they had an extraordinary conversation where the revelation of spirituality, the revelation of freedom, the revelation of devotion, it evolves higher and higher and higher to the ultimate culmination.
Ramananda Raya and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, it is described that they discussed three things. They discussed Krishna Tattva, Bhakti Tattva and Radha Tattva. So, these three things they discussed in great detail.
And towards the end of that conversation, Ramananda Raya starts saying, O Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, there is some mystery. There is some doubt which is troubling my mind. Can you please answer this doubt? He says, what is it? He says, when I initially saw you, I saw you as a refuge of sannyasis, I was attracted to you.
But as our conversation was proceeding, I started seeing you in a bluish-black, very attractive complexion. And now, as we are going deeper and deeper into Radha Tattva, I am seeing you as a golden dog. You know, it is such a captivating, golden refuge.
What is this mystery, O Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? Please tell me. So, Lord Chaitanya first tried to test him. He said, actually, because you are such a great devotee.
So, a devotee, by his devotion, sees everywhere whatever is in his heart. So, that is how he speaks. Indirectly, what he was meaning is, because you are so conscious of Krishna, so you are seeing Krishna everywhere.
So, you are seeing me also in a bluish-black complexion. And then later on, when you were so much absorbed and conscious of Radharani, you saw me also as Radharani. But actually, it is the greatness of your devotion that you are seeing these things.
So, Ramachandra does not fall for this. He said, no, no, no, don’t evade the topic like this, my dear Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Please tell me, what is this mystery? You know, why I said that one moment I am seeing you in a bluish-black complexion, another moment I am seeing you in a golden complexion, in a female form.
What is this? And it was that time that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu revealed, for the first time. And as far as we know in the revealed past time, it is the only time when Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu revealed that form. Shri Krishna Chaitanya, Radha Krishna Rani.
So, we have that picture in Radha Gopinath temple also. In Shri Krishna Chaitanya temple also. How in the middle there is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, on the two sides there is Radharani and there is Krishna.
So, that is actually the combination. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Lord. And the Supreme Lord, you know that, actually the Supreme Lord’s all-attractiveness is there in Krishna.
He is Madan Mohan. But although he attracts the whole world, and his beauty is so powerful, that hundreds and thousands of Kamadas are attracted to him. That is his great beauty.
But even he is attracted by the beauty of Radharani. And that beauty, we can imagine how great it is. Because we are in worldly constitutions, we don’t imagine Radharani’s beauty.
But we can just think how much that beauty must be. Radharani is called as Madan Mohan. So, actually Krishna’s beauty is, or attracts everyone in this world.
And Radharani’s beauty attracts Krishna. And the beauty of Krishna and the beauty of Radharani are both combined together in the beauty of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. That is unparalleled.
Anarkika Charanjiraat Karunayau Teerthalai Simar Paitha Munnat Ujjwalasam Bhakti Shri Ram Purat Krijupe Padam Kuchinditika Sadarve Kandare Sulatu Vashishtha So, Krishna said, I go Swami, in the first chapter of the Adi Leela, which is called as Purushal Masters, he offers a very beautiful verse. So, he says that the invocation has three purposes and the first purpose of the invocation is to define the objective, then second is to offer prayers and third is to offer blessings. So, he says the only blessing that I can offer, I am not powerful enough to offer blessing that is what his mood is, but the blessing that I offer is that may this Lord be invoked in our heart.
What is his speciality? He has come to restore that which is Anarthic Charanjeeva Pranayama, our Peer Nakalo, that which is not restored for a very very long time, he has come to restore that. And what is that? Swabhakti Shrnama, the treasure of his own bhakti. Sometimes in the Vedic Yajnas, like Vishwamitra Maharaj would perform that huge Yajna to the Putra Kamesh Yajna to get a son and at the climax of the Yajna, right out of the fire appears a personality and that personality is carrying a pot which contains the Amrut in that case it was a payasam by which they would get children.
So, just as this Kali Yuga is like a fire, so within that fire, Pratyekar Mahaprabhu is appearing. And what is he doing? Swabhakti Shriyam. He is giving bhakti to himself.
But how is he giving that bhakti? He is in Chaitanya. Purat Harivrtti Kadamba Sandita. So actually he is Hari.
But he is really extraordinarily attractive. So, that is why Krishna’s beauty, Arjuna’s beauty, both are combined here. And Krishna Svarupa is saying that, he is concluding this verse by saying, Sadarudaya Spiritu.
Rudhaya Kandare Spiritu Bhashachinandana. May the Sachinandana be always invoked in, this is the cave of your heart. Kandara.
Kandara is actually the cave. The cave is a very interesting analogy. Actually, this earlier cave is considered to be a very dark place.
So, our heart is very dark because Krishna’s beauty, Krishna’s presence is not manifested over it. And just as in a dark place, there are fumes, there are wild animals, there are insects. So, like that, in our heart, there are so many anarthas.
There is lust, there is anger, there is greed. They are all like fumes, just stealing away our heart’s energy and heart’s desires away from Krishna. Actually, the anarthas, lust, anger, they are like parasites.
Just as a parasite sucks away the energy from the organism where it stays. So, like that, lust stays in our heart and sucks away our mental energy. So, just as a parasite does not do any good to the organism where it stays, but it simply causes harm.
So, like that, the anarthas stay in our heart and simply cause us harm. But, he is saying that in this dark cave, if Satyakuni manifests himself, then what will happen? All the anarthas which can reside only in darkness will all be away. So, this is, there are many many more pastimes which we can discuss about Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu’s supreme duty.
But, the principle is important. The principle is, how do we get attracted to Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu’s duty? Yes. One thing is that we can behold the darshan.
We have these pancha-tattva deities in Mayapur. So, they are not just life-size deities. They are larger than life-size deities.
Majestic. So, they fill our eyes and they can fill our heart, if we behold their form. But, along with that, the attraction to Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu comes not just with beholding his form.
That is important. But, it is beholding his form with the mood of service. It is beholding the form of the Lord with service.
The mood of service. So, therefore, when we try to fulfill Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu’s wish, One time, when Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu came to Mayapur, at that time, he just went straight to our Mayapur Chandrodhaya Mandir. And, some of his god-brothers criticized.
They said, if he is a devotee of Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu, then when he came to Mayapur, why did he not come to Yogapeeth? Take darshan of the place where Satyakuni Mahaprabhu was born? So, Vaishnava Prabhupada was reported this criticism. So, Vaishnava Prabhupada simply replied. Vaishnava Prabhupada said, where Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu is not as important as why he appeared.
Where Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu appeared is not as important as why he appeared. He appeared to flood the whole world with love of God. कित्याच्यतनगरादिग्रां सर्वत्तुर्पुचार्वुदेनरणाम् So, Vaishnava Prabhupada said, you know, the Mayapur Chandrodhaya Mandir is going to fulfill the purpose why Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu appeared.
And that is why, that is the most important reason, that is why I came here directly. So, Vaishnava Prabhupada’s mood was not that this is my temple and I have been in this and I am going to come here. No, Vaishnava Prabhupada felt that definitely one of his mission has to be fulfilled.
And because that was the place where all the devotees who were actually vibrantly fulfilling the mission were staying, that means Vaishnava Prabhupada came directly here. So, Vaishnava Prabhupada also, of course, goes to take darshan of Lord Shiva. And we also, when we go to Mayapur, we go to take darshan of Lord Shiva.
But the important thing is not just to take darshan of Lord Shiva or to take darshan of Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu. It is actually to make his desire, his mission as our life’s mission. To make his mission as our desire.
As Lord Krishna says, Karishye Vachanam Guru. So, when we do that, when we want to make the world attracted to Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu, naturally Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu will make our heart also attracted to him. So, in this way, by becoming attracted to Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu and by making, helping others to become attracted to Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu, we can forever go beyond the gravity pull of the material desires.
You know, when we are practicing Krishna consciousness, constantly the material desires keep dragging us down. But we know that around the earth, there is an area where the gravity pull is there. And as long as we are in the gravity pull, any object will flow up and come down.
And if an object keeps rising, rising, rising, eventually it will go outside the gravity pull of the earth. And then there is no more with us. So, like that, the more we keep, although everyday we keep practicing Krishna consciousness, still it may appear that still the worldly forms, the worldly apparent beauty, the worldly desires are still disturbing us.
But everyday that we are chanting Hare Krishna, everyday that we are trying to serve Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu, we are rising upward, upward, upward. And eventually, one day we will break free from this gravity pull of material desires. And foundation of that breaking free is to bind ourselves to the beauty of Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu.
And this beauty of Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu is very beautifully depicted by Sarvam Bhattacharya in his Siddhistha study. So, the common denominator in all of this is Nava. Nava is new.
So, it is new beauty, new laughter, new rasa, new dance, new golden complexion. Actually, the Mayavadi, their whole focus is on trying to understand that there is nothing new in this world. Everything is old.
Yes, in this world everything is old. But if we speak to Lord Krishna and Lord Satyakuni, everything is new. Nava, Nava, Rasa, Yama, Nama.
So, everything is new. So, when we meditate on the expressions of the beauty of Lord Satyakuni Mahaprabhu, described by His great devotees, then the meditation on those songs, on those verses, on those poems, on those pastimes, our heart can also become attracted. So, today we discussed the beauty of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
So, like this we will be discussing in six classes over the next three, next two weeks. We will be having classes alternate weeks, alternate days rather. So, the next class will be on Wednesday, on Tuesday when we will discuss the next opulence of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
So, I will quickly summarize what we discussed and then we have a few minutes when we can have questions. So, we started by discussing about, we started by discussing about how, if we are, as a preparation for our pastime, we want to meditate on Krishna. But the way to meditate on Krishna is through Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
So, first we will be discussing the six opulences of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Then we will be discussing the six opulences of Krishna in one-one classes. So, today we will discuss the beauty of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
And Jiva Goswami says that the weapon which Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu comes with is his beauty. And then we discussed from Lokilastra to Chaitanya Mangal how Radharani covered Krishna’s form with her own complexion. So, that that beautiful form will be protected.
Then he would soon in ecstasy and fall. That’s why Krishna came with the rule of Radharani, that is Radha Bhava. And Radharani gave her own complexion.
And then we discussed how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu attracted one and all. When he came to Navadvipa, especially he attracted all those people who were, all the common people and then all those people who were earlier disrespectful or offensive to him. Then we discussed how he attracted Sarumbattacharya and Prakashanth Saraswati.
And lastly, we discussed how he revealed that magical form where Sri Krishna Chaitanya and Radha Krishna are one. Where the combined beauty of Krishna which attracts the whole world and the beauty of Radharani which attracts the attractor of the whole world. Both those beauties are present in the one form of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
And lastly we concluded that we can attract Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s form. Yes, one by meditating on his form, by taking darshan of that form and also by fulfilling his instructions. By rendering service to him by which he has revealed that beautiful form within our hearts.