The Advent Of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
BY SRILA GOUR GOVINDA SWAMI SRILA GURUDEVA
Lecture given on the Auspicious Appearance Day of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in Bhubaneswar, India, March 17, 1992, original transcript with English translations added
Desiring to understand the glory of Radharani’s love, the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes through Her love, and the happiness She feels when She realizes the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord Hari, richly endowed with Her emotions, appears from the womb of Srimati Sacidevi as the moon appears from the ocean.
When we speak of the advent of Gauranga Mahaprabhu we should understand what is the cause of the appearance of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. There are two types of causes, external cause and internal cause. The external cause is to spread nama-prema, love of God through the chanting of the holy name, harinama-sankirtan, pracare-yuga dharma-pracara.
kali-yuga dharma haya hari-sankirtana
etad arthe avatirna Sri Sacinandana
(Caitanya-bhagavat, Adi, 2.22)
“The religious principle for the age of Kali is the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord. Sri Sacinandana incarnates to establish this principle.” (Caitanya-bhagavat, Adi, 2.22)
To fulfill this purpose, Sacinandana appears:
ei kaye bhagavate sarva-tattva-sara
kirtana-nimitta gauracandra-avatara
“It is stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam that the Supreme Absolute Truth, Lord Gauracandra, incarnates to propagate the chanting of the holy names.” (Caitanya-bhagavat, Adi, 2.23)
He is the father of hari-sankirtan,sankirtana-ike janakau . He is Gauranga Mahaprabhu:
kali-yuga sarva-dharma hari-sankirtana
sarva prakacilena caitanya-narayana
“Lord Caitanya inaugurated the congregational chanting of the holy names as the essence of all religious principles for the age of Kali.” (Caitanya-bhagavat, Adi, 2.26)
This is a quotation from Caitanya Bhagavata:
kali-yuge sankirtana-dharma palibare
avatirna hoila prabhu sarva-parikare
“In Kali-yuga the Lord incarnates with His associates in order to maintain the religious principle of sankirtana.” (Caitanya-bhagavat, Adi, 2.27)
With all His associates, paraphernalia, His dharma, Gauranga Mahaprabhu appears in Kali-yuga, especially this Kali-yuga, to fulfill this purpose ? yuga-dharma, nama-prema-pracara, (Cc Adi 3.40) and prema-dharma, the chief result of this harinama-sankirtan is to achieve Krsna-prema and to get Krsna. He is offering and distributing this Krsna-prema freely, indiscriminately, apamaram yo vitatara. “The most munificent Supreme Personality of Godhead, known as Gaurakrsna, distributed to everyone„even the lowest of men.” (Cc Madhya, 23.1)
brahmar durlabha prema saba kare sache
dina hina patita pamara nahi bache
(Srila Locan Dasa Thakura)
It is very difficult even on the part of Brahma to get such prem but Mahaprabhu gives it freely, indiscriminately. Even patita-pamaras, Jagai and Madhais, most degraded, most sinful persons also get it. Therefore He is known as Prema Purusottama Sacinandana Gauranga.
Five thousand years ago Krsna came in His own svarupa and in His Kuruksetra-lila He gave His message in the form of Bhagavad-gita through Arjuna to all mankind. There He gave confidential, more confidential and most confidential instruction. His most confidential instruction is man-mana bhava mad-bhakto, mad-yaji mam namaskuru : “Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.” (Bg. 9.34) That is His most confidential instruction. The concluding instruction is, sarva dharman parityajya, mam-ekam saranam vraja, giving up all varieties of dharma, just surrender unto Me. (Bg 18.66) He only said this theoretically, He never taught how to surrender practically.
“I Have To Go Again”
So after winding up His lila after Dvapara-yuga, He went to His own abode, Goloka Vrndavan and because He’s the only well-wishing friend of all living entities, suhrdam sarva-bhutanam, therefore He is thinking, “I have given confidential, more confidential and most confidential instruction to Arjuna for all mankind, but after Dvarpara-yuga there is Kali-yuga, the most sinful age. Due to an increase of sinful activities the consciousness of the people is most polluted consciousness. All are engaged in sinful activities. They cannot understand what I said, they cannot understand this saranagati-tattva and I have only said theoretically, I have not demonstrated it practically how to surrender. Therefore I have to go again.” So He came again as Gauranga Mahaprabhu. This is the purpose, this is the reason why He comes.
yuga dharma pravartaimu nama-sankirtana
cari bhava-bhakti diya nacamu bhuvana
“I shall personally inaugurate the religion of the age„ nama-sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the holy name. I shall make the world dance in ecstasy, realizing the four mellows of loving devotional service.” (Cc. Adi 3.19)
I’ll go and preach this yuga-dharma, nama-sankirtan and I’ll give the four forms of bhakti: dasya [sevitorship], sakhya [friendship], vatsalya [parenthood], madhurya, [conjugal love] (santa, neutrality, is discarded in Sriman Mahaprabhu’s line), and make the whole world dance with that bhava-bhakti.
apani karimu bhakta-bhava angikare
apani acari bhakti sikhaimu sabare
I’ll accept bhakta-bhava, the mood of a bhakta and I’ll teach bhakti . Unless I practice it Myself I cannot teach.
apane na kaila dharma sikhana na yaya
ei ta’ siddhanta gita-bhagavate gaya
(Cc Adi, 3.20-21)
If I don’t practice bhakti,sarangati (surrender) in My own life, I cannot teach it. So His mood is bhakti-bhava, the mood of a bhakta . This is the purpose and this is the external cause (bahiranga karanam). Then there is the internal cause (antaranga karanam). The external cause is for others, it is for the people of Kali-yuga, kali-yuga jiva. Therefore it is bahiranga, or external. Antaranga is mean for Himself. These two causes are there and then that calling of Advaita Acarya which I’ll speak about tomorrow morning, is there. That is also one of the causes, but the most internal cause is to fulfill the three desires.
radhayah pranaya-mahima kidrso vanayaiva
svadyo yenadbhuta-madhurima kidrso va madiyah
saukhyam casya mad-anubhavatah kidrsam veti lobhat
tad bhavadhyah samajami saci-garbha-sindhau harinduh
“Desiring to understand the glory of Radharani’s love, the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes through Her love, and the happiness She feels when She realizes the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord Hari, richly endowed with Her emotions, appears from the womb of Srimati Sacidevi as the moon appears from the ocean.” (Cc. Adi. 1.6)
Svarup Damodara Gosvami has said this and this quotation is mentioned by Rupa Gosvami in Lalita-Madhava . Three types of desires remain unfulfilled in Krsna-lila. What is radhayah pranaya-mahima kidrso vanayarva, what is Radharani’s love? Svadyo yenadbhuta madhurima kidrso va madiyah, what is my rupa-madhuri, excellent beauty, My beauty that Radharani relishes? What is My extra-excellent beauty and how can I relish it? In other words this veti lobhat, three desires, three types of greed developed in the Supreme Lord Krsna. Therefore, saci garbha-sindhau harinduh, to fulfill these three desires, these three types of greed, He appeared from the womb of Sacimata, that is Gaura-avatara.
Greed
Here this word lobha ? greed, is very, very significant. The Lord has greed. It is quite natural that we have greed. We are greed persons, materially greedy. This greed of the material world is condemned, it is considered as one of the enemies. In the 16 th chapter, 21 st verse of Bhagavad-gita you’ll find Lord Krsna has said:
tri-vidham narakasyedam
dvaram nasanam atmanah
kamah krodhas tatha lobhas
tasmad etat trayam tyajey
(Bg. 16.21)
Lord Krsna says, give up these three, kama, krodha, lobha – lust, anger and greed. If you become influenced or affected by these three then you will open your door towards hell, so give up these things. This lobha (greed) is very bad. Those persons who are materially greedy, definitely they suffer. For example, one very small story is there.
A greedy boy was in his house when his mother put some nice berries into an earthen pot, like a water pot that has a very narrow opening. The boy developed greed to get some of those berries so he put his hand into the pot and grasped a handful of those berries. When he tried to get his hand out of the pot, it got caught because the opening was so narrow and caused some pain as he pulled but it wouldn’t come out so he was crying. This is suffering out of greed. Though he’s suffering, he’s not allowing any berries to get out. A simple story showing the consequence of greed is suffering. Therefore Bhagavan Krsna in Gita says to give up this greed.
But this greed can be utilised in Krsna’s service. This word lobha is a very ancient word, it is not a modern word. The seed of this greed is also there in Bhagavan and in bhakta also. So in respect of Bhagavat-bhakta, the devotee of the Lord will say, lobha sadhu-sange hari-katha . How can you utilise this greed? Develop this greed to have more and more sadhu-sanga, association of sadhus and hear more and more Krsna-katha . Develop this greed, this is very nice greed, this is spiritual greed, transcendental greed. One should not give up this greed. One should develop this greed more and more. The more you develop this greed the more you get spiritual relishment and spiritual advancement. One who is not greedy he cannot make advancement in the spiritual path in this respect. But material greed should be given up, whereas spiritual greed should be developed.
Again it is said:
Krsna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita matih
kriyatam jadi kuto pi labhyate,
tatra laulyam api mulyam-ekalam
janma-koti-sukrtair na labhyate
“Pure devotional service in Krsna consciousness cannot be had even by pious activity in hundreds and thousands of lives. It can be attained only by paying one price ? that is intense greed to obtain it. If it is available somewhere, one must purchase it without delay.” (Padyavali 14)
Laulya means lobha (greed). That means from this verse you can understand how the seed of greed is there. The purport is that if you have such spiritual greed you can achieve krsna-bhakti-rasa, mellow of Krsna-bhakti, otherwise if you are devoid of this greed you cannot have it, cannot achieve it. Sadhu sange hari katha . One should develop this greed of having more and more sadhu-sanga and hearing more and more hari-kirtan, hari-katha, than you will make advancement in bhajan-sadhana . Materialistic people don’t know the use of this greed, they abuse it, utilising it for material enjoyment, material possessions, they suffer. So when you speak about the advent of Sacinandana Gaura Hari, the Appearance of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, this greed is there.
This is Very Wonderful
In the beginning I explained that Krsna developed three types of greed that could not be fulfilled Krsna-lila, therefore Gaura-avatara. In Gaura-lila those three types of greed are fulfilled. This is very wonderful using this word greed. Has anybody used such word previously? No one has used such word previously. Svarupa Damodara Goswami has used it. Therefore, Vrajaraja-nandana Krsna became Sacinandana Gaura Hari because of the development of this greed. One who is purna-brahma, one who has no deficiency, no wanting anything, still He develops greed. Wonderful! Wonderful! He has no deficiency, He is purna-brahma, He is self-satisfied, He doesn’t want anything, there is no lacking there. Why such greed? Wonderful, so wonderful! One should understand its mystery, what is the tattva behind it? He who is aptakama (self-satisfied), atmarama, who is rasa-svarupa-purna-brahma, who is paramananda-maya, supremely blissful sacidananda-maya, He develops greed. What type of greed and to get what? Very wonderful! Very wonderful! Now you can understand how the seed of this greed gradually develops and the culmination is there in Gauranga svarupa. I’ll give you an example.
The Greed of Lord Visnu
Vaikuntha-dhipati Visnu, He develops some greed. He develops the desire for fighting. He cherishes that, I’ll fight. When He is Bhagavan the six types of opulences are there completely in Him and one of the opulences is strength or bala . Incomparable strength is there, therefore it is quite natural to develop such desire that, I’ll fight and fulfill this desire, this greed. Whenever Bhagavan wants to fulfill some desire, His internal energy, potency, Yogamaya creates such an atmosphere. So when this desire developed in Vaikuntha-dhipati Narayan to fight, Yogamaya, the internal potency created the circumstances to fulfill that desire.
Another point is that the opponent should be equally strong otherwise one cannot get pleasure in fighting. So who is there? With whom will the Lord fight? Then the question of Jaya and Vijaya, the two doorkeepers, who were very strong came. By the desire or will of the Supreme Lord those two doorkeepers were cursed by the four Kumaras to become demons for three lives. Yogamaya did it. The first is Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu, the the second is Ravana and Kumbhakana and the third is Sisupala and Dantavakra. Three incarnations are there and Lord Visnu, Narayana fought with them and got pleasure in fighting. This is the greed of Narayana, Visnu, this is in Srimad Bhagavatam . So this is lobha .
The Greed of Lord Nrsimhadeva
Then came the greed of Nrsimhadev. Nrsimhadev has two types of forms, ugra (fearsome) and anugra (peaceful). One is a very fearful form and another is a very peaceful form. After killing Hirasnyakasipu, Nrsimhadev is very, very fearful, an extremely fearful form and He was dancing, like the tandava-nrtya of Siva at the time of annihilation. The whole world was trembling seeing such dancing and anger of the fearful form of Nrsimhadev. All the demigods are offering prayers to pacify Him, but it was all null and void. Then they requested Bhakta Prahlad, “You please go and calm down the anger of Lord Nrsimhadev.” Prahlad Maharaja is a very dear devotee of the Lord, so Prahlad went there to offer prayers and Lord Nrsimhadev became calm and then His form is a very peaceful form. Then Nrsimhadev put His dear devotee Prahlad, like a son, on His lap. At that time vatsalya-prem, parental love and affection developed in Nrsimhadev.
Both father and son relish this rasa, mellow. Father relishes, son also relishes by sitting in the lap of the father, so it is reciprocal but the relishing if this mellow of the son is greater than that of the father. One should understand this. So Nrsimhadev developed that greed, “How can I sit in the lap of My father and relish that rasa? In this incarnation My father is a stone pillar, I cannot have it.” So He developed that greed. Then all the incarnations after Nrsimhadeva came accepting father and mother, to fulfill that greed.
The Greed of Lord Rama
Lord Ram also developed greed, very nice topic you see. Vibhisana and Sugriva are friends of Lord Ram. That means sakhya-rasa is there in Ram avatara. But there are two types of sakhya-rasa,visrambha and sambhrama sakhya. Sambhrama means with awe and reverence and visrambha and sambhrama is without awe and reverence – equal. So the sakhya-rasa in Ram avatara is the sambhrama sakhya, with awe and reverence. There is no question of visrambha sakhya or equality. In Ram-avatara His friends Sugriva and Vibhisana cannot climb onto the shoulders of Lord Ram. They cannot snatch away the food from the mouth of Lord Ram, what to speak of climbing onto the shoulders of Lord Ram. They are afraid if even their leg will touch Lord Ram’s body. They are afraid and it will be offensive. This is sambhrama sakhya . That means sakhya-rasa with awe and reverence.
But affection that the friends think themselves equal with the Lord. There is no question of awe and reverence. If your own leg will touch your own body, is there nay agitation? There is no agitation at all because it’s your own leg touching your own body, not the leg of a different person. A different person is very cautious. If he comes near, he very cautiously moves. In Krsna-lila you will find this visrambha sakhya . The cowherd boys climb up to the shoulders of Krsna and they snatch away the food from the mouth of Krsna and Krsna snatches away the food from the mouth of the cowherd boys as if equal. The legs of the cowherd boys touch Krsna’s body and there is no agitation in Krsna because it’s as if it is His own leg, because priya-syasakha, is very dear. Therefore, there is equality and abhinnam (non-difference). But in Ram-avatara this sakhya-rasa is not relished. Therefore Lord Ram develops greed for it, how can I relish it? Then it was fulfilled in Krsna avatara.
The Essence of Conjugal Mellow
Also another rasa is there, ie. conjugal mellow, madhurya-rasa. In Ram avatara, Lord Ram is maryada-purusottama, who very strictly follows Vedic rules and regulations. Never transgresses them at all, eka-patni-dhara . He accepts only one wife, not more than one wife. Very strictly follows. In Ram-lila, mahurya-rasa, the conjugal mellow is not relished there because when there is a question of union milan and separation, biraha between lover and beloved, the essence of that conjugal rasa is relished in the highest degree. We will find also in Ram-lila is union and separation of Rama and Sita. Ravana kidnapped Sita, took her away so there is separation and also to give pleasure and happiness to His citizens He, (Lord Ram) banished Sita, separation is there also, but there is no variegatedness in this type of separation, it is not natural, it is forced, so there is no question of relishing the essence of that conjugal mellow.
Rupa Gosvami has mentioned all these things (i.e. different types of virahas (separation) in Ujjvala Nilamani . There are many types of virahas: purava-raga viraha, mana viraha, prema -vaicitya viraha, and these virahas or separations are not there in Ram-lila, no. One type of viraha is there, pravasa viraha . You cannot understand but just hear this. This is in Ujjvala Nilamani. It is a big topic and very, very confidential and subtle point. I am not going to explain it but when some occasion will arise I’ll tell you. All these virahas are there Krsna-lila, this prema vaicitya viraha, purva-raga viraha, mana viraha . Therefore Lord Ram develops this greed, how to relish these types of viraha . In Krsna-avatara this greed is filled. The viraha, the separation between lover and beloved is highest platform of prema . On that platform both the nayaka nd nayika, lover and beloved, relish that mellow in their heart. Therefore in Krsna-lila, Krsna is Radha-kanta (the husband of Radha) Radha is His own wife, Gopi-kanta, (the husband of gopis), He’s the husband of gopis, He made them the wives of others to relish parakiya-rasa .
In Ram-lila only svakiya-rasa is relished. Svakiya means ones own wife, not the relishment of parakiya-rasa . Therefore Ram developed that greed. So Krsna made His own wives of others to relish parakiya -rasa. Therefore that greed is fulfilled in Krsna-lila but remained unfulfilled in Ram-lila; therefore Krsna-avatara. In this way, this is how the development of greed gradually turned into incarnation after incarnation of the Lord.
The Abode of Love
Now in Krsna-lila these three types of greed are there:
sri radhayah pranaya-mahima kidrso vanayaiva
svadyo yenadbhuta-madhurima kidrso va madiyah
saukhyam casya mad-anubhavatah kidrsam veti lobhat
tad bhavadhyah samajami saci-garbha-sindhau harinduh
“Desiring to understand the glory of Radharani’s love, the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes through Her love, and the happiness She feels when She realises the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord Hari, richly endowed with Her emotions, appears from the womb of Srimati Sacidevi as the moon appears from the ocean.” (Cc Adi, 1.6)
Krsna developed these three types of greed, as I previously mentioned. The first desire (or greed): What is the love of Radharani and how can I relish it? Second desire (or greed): What is My excellent all-attractive beauty? I cannot relish Myself. So how can I have it? And the third desire (or greed): What pleasure and happiness does Radharani get by relishing My all-attractive excellent beauty? How can I have it? These three greeds, these three desires remain unfulfilled in Krsna-lila, therefore Gaura-avatara. The fulfillment of three types of desires and greed is antaranga karanam, internal cause. Svarupa Damodara Goswami has used this word lobhat meaning, from greed. This word is so significant.
Thank you very much.
