Six Opulences of Lord Chaitanya (5): Strength Wealth Fame part 1

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Yes, Prabhu.
Yes, Prabhu. So, you all are there? Srinath Prabhu is also there? So, Srinath Prabhu? Yes, Prabhu. You are there? SRM boys are also there now? No, Prabhu.
I don’t suppose. I tried adding them, but I think they have not accepted the call. Oh, really? Because in my picture, in my Skype, they are showing them.
Maybe you can try making a phone call. Otherwise, we can drop it. Yeah, I am calling them on phone also.
They are not responding. Oh, really? Anyway, we will start then. Hare Krishna.
So, yesterday we discussed about Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s opulence of knowledge. So, basically, we have been discussing the six opulences of the Supreme Lord as manifested in Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, today we will discuss about strength as well as, if possible, time permits.
We will discuss about fame and wealth. And we will have one full class on renunciation next week. So, the six opulences are the defining characteristics of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
And Parashara Muni, in the Parashara Samhita, describes this So, the six opulences are things in this world which attract us. But the distinctive property or distinctive characteristic of the Supreme Lord is that He has His opulences not in a smaller or a greater quantity, but in the unlimited, not just unlimited, but all-encompassing quantity. That means all knowledge that anyone has, it ultimately comes from Krishna.
It is actually Krishna’s knowledge. So, like that, regarding strength, Now, we know, Prahlad Maharaj told Hiranyakashipu, when he was asked, what is the source of your strength? So, Prahlad Maharaj gave a very philosophical answer, which is, of course, also a factual answer. He said, the source of my strength is the same as the source of your strength.
And the source of the strength of everyone, that is Lord Vishnu. So, now, what incensed, incensed means enraged, made very angry, what incensed Hiranyakashipu was not that Prahlad said the source of my strength is Vishnu. Yes, Vishnu was his mortal enemy, and so naturally he would feel angry.
But what angered him all the more was that Prahlad considered Hiranyakashipu’s strength also to be coming from Vishnu. So, a demoniac person will never admit that his strength comes from the Supreme Lord. He may admit the devotee’s strength comes from the Supreme Lord, but not his own strength.
So, however, when we understand the six opulences of the Lord as they are manifested by Him, that increases our devotion, our faith and our attraction to the Supreme Lord. And it also enables us to see the opulences that we observe in the world, in different people, in proper philosophical perspective. So, now, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited His strength in a slightly non-conventional way.
Now, the previous incarnations of the Lord, most of them, if we see Lord Ramachandra, Lord Krishna, they appear, if they appear on the earth, they appear in the Kshatriya families. And they exhibit martial prowess in order to paritrāyā sādhūnā vināśyāyāya duṣkṛtāṁ dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yudhenuge. In the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, eighth verse, Lord Krishna described these three reasons why He appears.
Now, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, interestingly, appeared not in a Kshatriya family, but a Brahmana family. Now, of course, there have been precedents. Parashurama also appeared in a Brahmana family, but he took the role of a Kshatriya.
However, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu never took the role of a Kshatriya. The strength that He exhibited was not military or political. The strength that He exhibited was spiritual.
And the spiritual strength is always more powerful than any material strength. In this world, people have physical prowess, by which they can overpower others. Some boxer may have a very powerful punch.
One punch can knock out somebody else. So, he may be considered very powerful. Nowadays, science has developed some power.
We have the power of bombs. Now, it’s very sad that just yesterday, here in Mumbai, three bombs exploded and people are abusing the power which science has developed for causing harm to others. Now, we have, according to scientific studies, enough weaponry in the world to destroy the whole world several times over.
So, this is an exhibition of power, which is done for selfish, egoistic purposes. Now, interestingly, significantly, the power that is exhibited by even a nuclear bomb is only external. A nuclear bomb can destroy an entire city or maybe an entire country, but it cannot destroy the anarthas of anyone.
So, it can destroy the anarthas. A single bad habit of anyone cannot be destroyed even by a nuclear bomb. In the 12th canto of Shiva’s Bhagavatam, there are different kinds of pralaya.
Pralaya is destruction, right? Now, generally, power is associated with two functions. Power is associated with protection and destruction. So, generally, protection also entails destruction because when you have to protect somebody, the word kshatriya means kshatrayate, one who protects others from harm or hurt.
But in order to protect the innocent from hurt, one has to sometimes destroy those who are vicious. That’s why we are discussing power initially in terms of its destructive potency. So, the power which may be there in this world can destroy even an entire city or country, but it cannot destroy a single bad habit of anyone.
And that’s why all this power is internally useless. And the power that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibits has this significance. Internal transformation.
Actually, I was talking about four different kinds of pralaya. So, there are different kinds of pralaya. There is mithya pralaya, naimittik pralaya.
Mithya pralaya means that which happens every moment. Every moment, the cells in our body are dying, new cells are being created. Similarly, matter is in a state of flux, being destroyed and created.
Naimittik pralaya is the pralaya that happens at the end of the day of Brahma. Similarly, the pralaya that happens at the end of the life of Brahma. So, like that, there are different pralayas.
But the atyantik, the ultimate pralaya, pralaya means destruction, and atyantik means ultimate. So, the Bhagavatam describes what is the ultimate destruction, the atyantik pralaya. That is the destruction of the conditioning of the soul.
Only this pralaya can liberate the soul from all suffering. All the other pralayas cause suffering because the soul is attached to many worldly things and illusory and all those things. But this atyantik pralaya is caused by the destruction of all attachments.
And this does not cause suffering, this liberates the soul from suffering. That’s why the atyantik pralaya is listed last in the list of pralayas, and it is considered to be the most significant from the utility point of view. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu comes as Mahavishnu.
He is the cause of all these pralayas, including the atyantik pralaya also. But when he comes as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he comes not to do any of those pralayas, either at a universal level or at a national or a regional level, destroying the upstarts, but he comes to do the atyantik pralaya, to destroy the bondage of the living entity. And the holy name has such power that no other process of self-realization has that kind of power.
Now, the holy name, we may wonder, did it not have power before Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared? And if it had power, was Krishna’s name non-different from Krishna only after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared, or was it non-different before also? Now, if Krishna and his name were non-different before also…