Verse 1 – Saci Suta Ashtakam

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna so today we will discuss the meaning of the Sachisuta Ashtakam this is a set of eight verses composed by Shri Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya who was one of the most intimate associates of Lord Chaitanya especially in his later pastimes that means after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Puri he converted Shri Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya from impersonalism to pure devotion and then he stayed with him during the last 18 years so Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was an important associate of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for his last 24 years and he has composed many prayers Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was a great Sanskrit scholar and whereas earlier he had used Sanskrit scholarship for logic he was one of the prominent proponents of a system of logic new system of logic which he had founded and pioneered and he had also used that system of logic to establish impersonalism later he used that same system of logic to glorify the principles of pure devotion now Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya when he wrote this composed this Satchitsuta Ashtakam this was at a time when Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a sanyasi but the devotees delight in glorifying the lord as the supreme all attractive being who is relishing everything wonderful in this world so although Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya interaction with Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was as a sanyasi but in this verse he doesn’t glorify him as a sanyasi he talks about his beautiful dress and beautiful hair normally we don’t talk about beautiful dress of a sanyasi but he talks about it because he is envisioning Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the supreme lord now the tradition of composing Ashtakams Ashta is eight Ashtakam is eight verses it is a long tradition within the bhakti tradition as well as prior to that in the Vedic tradition of composing Ashtakas so there is Yamuna Ashtakam, there is Krishna Ashtakam, in the Puranas also there are many Ashtakams so Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya is carrying on this venerable tradition of glorifying exalted personalities using Ashtakams so here Shri Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya focuses primarily on the attributes of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in terms of his qualities and his mission so we will discuss each of these verses one by one and we will discuss their meanings so the first verse starts with Navagauravaram Navapushpasaram Navabhavadharam Navalasyakaram Navahasyakaram Navahemavaram Pranamami Shachisutagauravaram so now all these verses have this chorus of Pranamami Shachisutagauravaram as far as the records we have of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes there has been no interaction between Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya and Shashi Mata Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya used to live earlier in Navadvip and later on he went to Puri so when he was in Mayapur at that time Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was not even had not even appeared so he had practically no interactions of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the beloved child of Shashi but these relationships are eternal and these relationships don’t have to necessarily be experienced direct or observed by a devotee for the devotee to glorify accordingly so all this Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya has not seen Chaitanya Mahaprabhu interacting with Shri Sashi Mata but still he glorifies him as Sashi Yusuf the idea is that Supreme Lord who is the father of all who is the progenitor of all living beings he has accepted as a pastime to become the devotee become the beloved child of his devotee so Navagauravaram so this Lord has a golden complexion now what does this golden complexion signify the golden complexion itself is very striking, very beautiful but more than that what it signifies is even more enchanting the Vedic scriptures describe that God is the supreme enjoyer now this does not mean that the other living beings do not get any enjoyment in fact Krishna has arranged things in such a way that whereas he is the supreme enjoyer, those who assist in his enjoyment get greater enjoyment that means the Gopis who give Krishna the greatest enjoyment in the process get far greater enjoyment so in fact the enjoyment of the Gopis is so great that Krishna at one time felt bereaved, he said that the Gopis are relishing much more than me I want to relish and therefore so that Krishna took the form of Srimati Radharani and he took her complexion and he took the consciousness bhava and yuti so that’s how that Lord Krishna who is Shama Sundar has become Gauravaram so just as Krishna’s beauty is unendingly attractive so similarly Gauranga Mahaprabhu’s complexion is nava so all these are prefixed with the word nava in the 64 qualities of Krishna described in the Bhakti Samrasindhu it’s mentioned that Krishna is eternally fresh and youthful so that is not just in terms of Krishna’s age but is in terms of the various attributes of the Supreme Lord so nava gauravaram that gaura refers to how Krishna has assumed the complexion of Srimati Radharani and nava refers to his all attractiveness nava gauravaram nava pushpasharam so pushpashara refers to arrows so pushpashara is the arrows of flowers so flower arrows are the arrows which are used by cupid they are called as pushpabaan so pushpabaan are the arrows which cupid sends into the hearts of people often we may see on walls or in movies a heart with arrow piercing in it so that arrow is the arrow of cupid now pushpabaan what does it refer to now flower looks very appealing if somebody throws a flower at us it is often seen as a sign of honor if a flower comes at us, nobody will consider it to be a threat but cupid’s arrows are such that they appear like arrows but when they penetrate they appear like flowers but they cause pain like arrows now what has all this got to do with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu it is said that cupid’s arrows reside in the beautiful eyebrows of attractive people so just as a female’s eyebrows can attract males similarly Krishna’s eyebrows when Krishna casts his glance on someone, they attract people so pushpasharam refers to that when Chaitanya would glance at someone his eyes would shoot arrows that means his glances would be so endearing, they would conquer the heart of his devotees now a pushpasharam now a bhavadharam so he spiritual life is unlimitedly variegated in terms of the emotions that the devotees have, so he would have ever new emotions now a bhavadharam, now a lasyakaram one of the most astonishing aspects of the revelation of God that is given in the Vedic literature is that how personable he is, personable means personal and lovable its personable so the God dances and he is a extremely attractive dancer there was a German philosopher who got so fed up with the Abrahamic conception of God as a stern judge who sends thunderbolts on the sinful and cast them into eternal damnation he said I don’t believe in such a God I would believe in a God who knew how to dance Chaitanya Mahaprabhu not only knows how to dance he is ever fresh ever new dances so now a lasyakaram and then now after that there is now a hasyakaram now we don’t see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu being very humorous so its not that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would, Krishna was quite playful and he would make jokes, we have jokes of Krishna with Madhubangal but we don’t have so many jokes of Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu performing many jokes so what does this hasya refer to hasya at one level refers to humor but hasya at another level refers to overall cheerfulness so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu especially in his softer sweeter moments, especially in his pre-sannyas life he would often have lighter moments with his devotees but overall his disposition was always very cheerful so that is, so the overall cheerful disposition is what is referred to by now a hasyakaram and then now a Hemavaram but his complexion is again golden now sometime as Srila Prabhupada explains in the second chapter Bhagavad Gita purport that repetition of all certain points gives emphasis and brings about clarity so one of the most defining attributes of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is his golden complexion, that’s why it is repeated so to such a lord Sarvam Bhattacharya is saying pranamami sachisut gauravaram that lord I offer obeisances