Pastimes of Lord Caitanya and His associates. Seminar 2
Divnomorsk
1 October 2003

We continue our discussion of Caitanya Caritamrita and the pastimes of different as-sociates of the Lord. Yesterday we had a little bit of discussion about Lord Caitanya, how He defeated the prominent Sanskrit scholar, Digvijai and  we also gave some of Lord Nit-yananda’s pastimes. There are one or two pas-times of Lord Nityananda which we did not have time to cover that we can just continue with. Once Lord Nityananda went to the house of Raghava Pandit. Raghava Pandit was a great devotee of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He told Raghava Pandit, ‘Give me a garland made of Kadamba flowers’. But Raghava Pandit said, ‘Where will I get these flowers from? Kadamba flowers don’t grow there’. Lord Nityananda said, ‘Go and see. You will find them in the tree in your garden’. When he went there he was surprised. There was a tree on which kadamba flowers were growing. All the devotees were surprised at Lord Nit-yananda’s miracles.

Lord Caitanya as you know took sannyasa and after that he wanted to go to Jagannatha Puri to have darsan of Lord Jagannatha. He went to take bath before darsan and left his danda with Lord Nityananda. Lord Nit-yananda broke it into three pieces and threw it in the river. There are many reasons why Lord Nityananda did that. One reason He did all this, Lord Caitanya had taken sannyasa from a mayavadi-sannyasi and the mayavadi-sannyasis have what you call eka-danda. The Vaisnava-sannyasis have three dandas. You cannot see that because that’s covered with a cover. But there are three dandas, three sticks. The Mayavadis have only one stick – eka-danda. The three sticks for a Vaisnava-sannyasi indicate control over body, mind and senses. Lord Nityananda knew that Lord Caitanya had taken sannyasa from Keshava Bharati who was a mayavadi-sannyasi.

Another reason He throw His danda was that Lord Nityananda knew beyond doubt that Lord Caitanya is none else but the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And as the Supreme Personality of Godhead He felt He did not need any symbols. And there was another reason. He wanted to anger Lord Caitanya because He knew that Lord Caitanya wanted to go and have darshan of Lord Jagannatha all alone. Because externally, when the danda was broken and Lord Caitanya discovered that He was very angry. He said, ‘Why did you do this? I am a sannyasi!’ Externally the Lord acted as if He was very angry and he went straight to Lord Jagannatha.

Lord Nityananda is an eternal associate and Lord Nityananda makes Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes even more relishable. There is just one more pastime of Lord Nityananda that we will discuss and then we will go back to Lord Caitanya. And then we will come back to Advaita Acarya because we are still continuing from the yesterday’s pastimes.

Amongst Lord Caitanya’s many devotees there was a devotee called Raghunatha das Goswami. You have all heard that Raghunatha das came from a millionaire’s family. He was the only son of his father. His father tried his best to keep his son away from Lord Caitanya’s association. He got him married to a very beautiful girl, gave him all kinds of facilities but Raghunatha mind was only in serving Lord Caitanya.

Once Lord Nityananda arranged a very opulent festival in Panihatti. Raghunatha das was determined to serve the Lord. Even though so many impediments were put he continued with his determination to serve the Lord. Lord Nityananda organized a special festival in which curd, cira, bananas were offered and thousands of devotees would come for that festival and the whole festival was funded by Raghunatha das. Actually, this festival is still going on and ISKCON devotees are regularly participating in this festival.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyasa and then came to Lord Jagannatha’s temple. Lord Caitanya had a devotee called Nrisimhananda Brahmacari. Have you heard of him? Nrisimnananda Brahmacari was a very dedicated devotee. Materially he was poor but material poverty is no impediment for spiritual progress. Nrisimhananda Brahmacari heard that Lord Caitanya wanted to travel from Navadvipa to Vrindavan. Fiver hundred years ago Navadvipa had another name known as Kuliya-grama. Nrisimhananda Brahmacari decorated the road on which the Lord was going to travel very opulently. Mentally, he decorated the road with jewels and on top of that there were flowers. He constructed lakes with lotus flowers on the side. The entire road was decorated with jewels, diamonds, lakes and flowers.

Nrisimhananda Brahmacari did that whole exercise mentally. Physically he could not afford it but mentally he decorated the whole road very-very opulently. Why? Because the Lord was going to walk on this road. It is explained in Caitanya Caritamrita that the Supreme Lord is also known as bhava-grahi Bhava-grahi means, He understands the sentiments of the devotee and if you are in a position where you cannot serve the Lord physically, you can serve the Lord mentally. This brahmacari mentally decorated the road on which Lord Caitanya was going to travel.

In the Nectar of Devotion there is a nice story of a poor brahmana who was once hearing a lecture in which he heard about the power of serving the Lord mentally. This brahmana was materially very poor. When he heard the discourse that he can even serve the Lord mentally, mentally he installed an altar made of gold and silver in his house. He installed the Deities and he started very elaborate worship of the Deities. He started regular offerings for the Deities. Mentally he would go every day to the sacred rivers and bring water to bathe the Deities. He did this so carefully and strictly that just by serving mentally he went back to Godhead.

If you are in a position where you cannot physically serve the Lord you can always serve the Lord mentally like we heard in the case of the poor brahmana and Nrisimhananda Brahmacari. Someone may say, ‘Oh! That’s good! I am going to start serving mentally now, not physically’. You can serve mentally when you cannot serve physically. You cannot say, okay, have you chanted your rounds? Yes I chanted thirty two rounds mentally. The point is the scriptures give us enough stories to show how mentally also you can serve the Lord even if you are in a position where you cannot physically do so.

Lord Caitanya went to Jagannatha Puri temple to have darshan of Lord Jagannatha. As soon as He saw Lord Jagannatha, He said, ‘Jaga, jaga, jaga…” and He fainted in front of the Lord. The pujaris needed to close the door of the altar. They did not know what to do. There was a handsome sannyasi lying unconscious right in front of the altar. Then they carried the Lord to the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was a very prominent Sanskrit scholar, very respected but he had one weakness. He was a staunch impersonalist. He was lying unconscious in his house and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya did not know what to do with Him.

A little later Nityananda Prabhu along with the other associates came looking for Lord Caitanya. They over heard that a very handsome sannyasi had come and was carried away for rest to the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Lord Nityananda at once knew that this was Lord Caitanya. They went over there and they clapped and they did a Hare Krishna kirtan to which the Lord woke up and took part with them in dancing and chanting.

This Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya would greet Lord Caitanya by saying, namo narayana. Namo narayana means, ‘You are a form of Narayana, God, and I offer you respects’. The mayavadis’ concept is we are all God. Namo narayana, so they offer respects to each other, call each other Narayana. When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, namo narayana,  what did Lord Caitanya say? Krisne matir astu – let your attraction be to Krishna. This is the difference between a personalist and an impersonalist. The personalist, his philosophy is, let our attraction be towards Krishna, the Supreme Lord. Actually all you devotees should learn these three words, krisne matir astu. When  you greet each other you can also say, krisne matir astu. It means, let your attraction be towards Krishna.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya certainly acknowledged Lord Caitanya as a great personality but in spite of advice given by his brother-in-law Gopinatha Acarya he could not accept Lord Caitanya as the Supreme Lord. He said, “He is a young, handsome sannyasi. He may not be bewildered by illusory energy. Let me protect Him’. How was he going to protect Him? by giving him a commentary on the Vedanta Sutra. For six days and nights Lord Caitanya heard this without uttering one word. Lord Caitanya did not say one word. Can you imagine how patient He was? For us to even listen to someone for hour is such a struggle. And here was Lord Caitanya hearing for six days and nights without uttering one word.

Finally, Bhattacharya inquired if the Lord was following what he was explaining. Just like yesterday we explained how Lord Caitanya defeated Keshava Kasmiri, here we see how Lord Caitanya defeated this very staunch impersonalist. Lord Caitanya said, ‘The message of the Vedanta Sutra is as clear as bright sun but your presentation is what is confusing it’. Then Lord Caitanya gave his explanation which convinced Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya that Lord Caitanya is none else but the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After this Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya composed hundred verses glorifying Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In the Caitanya Bhagavata it is explained that Lord Caitanya came to Jagannatha Puri mainly to deliver Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. He was a great devotee but an impersonalist. But by the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu he got converted. As Lord Caitanya was going to Jagannatha Puri He also heard two very wonderful stories that were given to Him by Lord Nityananda. One was a story of Madhavendra Puri. The other was the story of Saksi Gopal.

Madhavendra Puri became the spiritual master of Advaita Acarya whom we are going to discuss a little later and he was a spiritual grandfather of Caitanya Mahaprabhu as he was the spiritual master of Isvara Puri. Madhavendra Puri’s special characteristic was he was always totally absorbed in meditating and glorifying the Lord. He would never ask anyone for anything. If someone gave him something to eat he would eat. Otherwise he would go hungry. It was due to his great devotion that the Lord inspired him in his dreams to do so many wonderful acts of devotional service. Because before Jagannatha Puri Lord Caitanya went to Khir-cora Gopinatha which is a temple located in Remuna.

When He went there the garland from the Deity fell on the body of Lord Caitanya. Then Lord Caitanya remembered the story that Lord Nityananda had told Him about Madhavendra Puri. He also went to the temple where the Deity of Saksi Gopal is there. The story of Saksi Gopal establishes that the Lord is a person and when He manifests Himself in His arca-vigraha form that Deity also sees. It all depends upon our vision. Some less intelligent people may say, here is a statue made of brass or wood or marble but a devotee understands, here is the Lord and this Lord can see, communicate, direct, depending upon our surrender.

When the devotee went to the Deity of Gopal and said, ‘My honor is at stake. Please testify that the old brahman have promised his daughter in marriage to me’. The Deity of Gopal said, ‘How can I walk. You want me to walk from Vrindavan to Remuna. It is not possible’. And what did the brahmana say? ‘If You can talk you can also walk’. Thus the Deity came to the rescue of that brahmana.

After staying in Jagannatha Puri and converting Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya Lord Caitanya wanted to go on His tour or South India. But Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya did not want the Lord to go. He said, ‘Please stay on a little more!’ And the Lord agreed to stay on for five more days. You see that after the battle of Kuruksetra Krishna wanted to go to Dvaraka but Maharaja Yudhishthira requested Krishna, ‘Please stay on!’ and Krishna postponed his departure for Dvaraka. What does this mean? Whom is the Lord controlled by? He is controlled by His devotee. You cannot control the Lord by wealth or beauty or any material facility but you can control the Lord by devotion. Therefore Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita said, patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhatya prayocchati – ‘If you offer me with love and devotion even a glass of water, leaf I will accept it’.

We get together in these festivals whether the Divnomorsk Festival or Mayapur-Vrindavan Festival, the whole purpose is to develop love and devotion. It is not a social gathering. It is a spiritual gathering. Of course you are happy to meet devotees but the real purpose is to enthuse each other to progress spiritually. Developing spiritually means developing devotion for the Lord. Many times devotees want to know, how do I know I am advancing. How do I know I get attached to the Lord. You measure advancement by seeing how attached you are getting to the holy name, how attached you are getting to the process of devotional service.

Lord Caitanya was God. He was able to inspire everyone to take to the path of devotional service. Lord Nityananda was so powerful, He would go house to house to preach and just by His looking at the other person’s eyes He made this other person get devotional service. He would become a devotee. I don’t think our eyes are so powerful but Caitanya Bhagavata explains how Lord Nityananda through His eyes he would preach, ‘May this person become Krishna conscious’ and he would become Krishna conscious. After all wasn’t it Nityananda who saved Jagai and Madhai? Even those criminals who were planning on plundering Him, they by Nityananda’s mercy became great devotees in the end.

When Lord Caitanya wanted to go to South India Lord Nityananda wanted Him to take the whole entourage with Him. But Lord Caitanya wanted to go alone. Actually whenever Lord Caitanya was traveling thousands and thousands of people, devotees would travel with Him. When Lord Caitanya was traveling from Navadvipa onwards there thousands of people following Him and everyone was saying, ‘Who is this great saint? He is a prophet who is attracting the attention of so many people’. So when Lord Caitanya was leaving for South India Nityananda insisted, ‘You cannot go alone. You see, Your two hands will be busy in chanting. You must take one assistant with You’. Lord Caitanya agreed to take one assistant only with Him.

In South India Lord Caitanya would travel from village to village and everyone who came and saw His chanting, they all got converted to the path of Krishna consciousness. And other people who would come to watch the Lord’s harinama party from a distance, they would also begin to chant and dance. And when they would return to the villages other people by seeing them would also begin to chant and dance.

During this tour Lord Caitanya went to a very famous temple called Sri Rangam. There was a brahmana holding a Gita and reciting eighteen chapters of it every day. This brahmana was instructed by his spiritual master to recite eighteen chapters of the Gita every day. Even though he was uneducated he would recite the eighteen chapters every day. Some he would chant properly, some slokas he could not recite properly. But because he was given this order he very religiously carried it out every day.

As a result many people would gather around him, some would laugh at him and some would praise him. While he was chanting these slokas he would display all the symptoms of ecstasy such as hair standing on end, tears coming from the eyes, body shivering. We see in today’s society people imitating these symptoms but these were genuine symptoms displayed by this brahmana. Lord Caitanya could recognize that these symptoms were genuine. So he asked this brahmana, ‘What is this that is causing you to manifest these symptoms of ecstasy?’ And the brahmana gave the whole story how he was uneducated but he was carrying on the order of his spiritual master.

Lord Caitanya was so pleased that He embraced him and said, ‘You have really understood the message of the Bhagavad-gita’. In the First Canto of the Bhagavatam you read how Arjuna was missing the association of the Lord. The Lord had departed from this Globe and Arjuna was missing the association of the Lord. Arjuna started meditating on Krishna’s instructions from the Bhagavad-gita and by meditating on the instructions of the Gita he felt that Krishna was personally present there. Prabhupada explains that we should all endeavor to meditate on the instructions of Gita and by that we will feel the presence of Krishna in our day-to-day life.

As Lord Caitanya was leaving for South India Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya told Him that there is one very great devotee that He would meet. Who was that great devotee? Ramananda Ray who was externally acting as a Governor but internally was a dedicated devotee of the Lord. Just like the Lord is anxious to glorify His devotee, the devotee is anxious to glorify the Lord. And how did the Lord glorified His devotee? By asking him questions to which Ramananda Ray replied. Devotee is anxious to glorify the Lord. The Lord is anxious to glorify the devotee. This is a unique competition between the devotee and the Lord.

Just like when Bhishmadeva was getting ready to leave his body the Lord inspired Yudhishthira to ask Bhishmadeva questions about the goal of life. Krishna was present right there, the demigods were right there but to glorify and to show how his devotee is sound in mind in all situations – Bhishmadeva was lying on a bed of arrows – in response to Yudhishthira’s question explained about the goal of life.

Lord Caitanya asked Ramananda Ray many questions to which Ramananda Ray replied. His questions are very relevant. One question he asked was, ‘What should a living entity constantly remember?’ Ramananda Ray said, ‘A living entity should constantly remember the holy name, pastimes and qualities of the Lord’. Then He asked, ‘What should a living entity constantly sing?’ ‘Sing the Hare Krishna mantra that glorifies the Supreme Lord’. ‘What is the greatest distress that one can experience?’ Ramananda Roy said, ‘The greatest distress is being separated from the devotees of Krishna’. In this way they had a very nice question and answer session…

We discussed a little bit about Lord Nityananda yesterday, so we will discuss a little bit about Advaita Acarya also today. The word Advaita means ‘no difference between Him and the Lord’. Advaita Acarya appeared about fifty-two years before Lord Caitanya appeared. Advaita Acarya was fifty-two years when the Lord appeared on the planet. Advaita Acarya is described as an incarnation of Maha-Visnu. Advaita Acarya could see that the condition in society has greatly deteriorated.

Advaita Acarya and Haridas Thakur were living together in Santipur. All day they would discuss the Bhagavatam and chant the holy name. This was their only real business – Bhagavatam and chanting the holy name. Advaita Acarya was worshiping Saligram sila with sandalwood, tulasi and Ganga-jal praying for the Lord to appear. Just like yesterday we explained how Lord Nityananda when He was displaying His childhood pastimes he would perform Krishna-lila, Rama-lila even though nobody had told Him, Advaita Acarya also when He was a young child perform all these transcendental lilas of the Lord even though nobody had told Him anything. Even when Advaita Acarya was young He would only drink His mother’s milk when she would chant Hare Krishna, so his mother had to keep chanting Hare Krishna all the time to get her son to drink her milk. Lord Caitanya would stop crying when they would chant Hare Krishna as you know.

Advaita Acarya knew that Lord Caitanya was none else but the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There was a very special relationship between Advaita Acarya and Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya was giving maximum respect to Advaita Acarya. Lord Caitanya knew Advaita Acarya is expansion of Mahavisnu. But Advaita Acarya knew Lord Caitanya is God. Lord Caitanya was very respectful to Advaita Avarya. Why? Because He was older then Him in age and Advaita Acarya along with Haridas Thakur had prayed, ‘Lord! You please descend to save the fallen people of Kali-yuga!’

But Advaita Acarya was not happy that Lord Caitanya was giving Him so much respect. He wanted to be chastised by the Lord. What did He do? He started preaching impersonalism. He started preaching impersonalist philosophy because He knew this would anger the Lord. Actually the impersonalism philosophy is no better then atheism. It is actually an insult to the form of the Lord. Lord Caitanya first inquired from Lord Nityananda, ‘Is this a fact that Advaita Acarya is now preaching impersonalism?’ Nityananda said, ‘I have heard so’.

Then Lord Caitanya confronted Advaita Acarya and asked Him, ‘Are you talking about jnana, that jnana is superior to bhakti? You’ve prayed to the Lord that I should appear to establish bhakti and now that I have appeared You are propagating that jnana is superior to bhakti’. Lord Caitanya severely chastised Advaita Acarya and when He was severely chastised by the Lord Advaita Acarya was very happy. Then He revealed that it was just a plot to get chastised by Lord Caitanya.

There are many wonderful pastimes between Advaita Acarya and Lord Nityananda. Once in anger Lord Nityananda threw some prasadam rice on Advaita Acarya’s body. Advaita Acarya jumped in ecstasy and said, ‘Now I am getting purified’…

Within Sacimata’s mind there was a little anger at Advaita Acarya. She thought it was due to Advaita Acarya’s influence that her eldest son had left home and she also thought that her youngest son Lord Caitanya took sannyasa because of His influence also. In her mind there was some anger. Devotees would tell Lord Caitanya, ‘You are blessing everyone. Why aren’t You blessing Your mother to get love of God?’ Lord Caitanya said, ‘My mother have offended a great Vaisnava. Unless she begs forgiveness from the great Vaisnava she will not be able to develop love of God’.

Advaita Acarya would say, ‘No! No! No! She has not offended Me. She is a mother of the Supreme Lord. How can she possibly offend someone insignificant like Me?’ So whenever His mother would apologize Advaita Acarya would never accept that. One day when the Lord had revealed His transcendental form and Advaita Acarya and the other devotees were offering obeisances, Sacimata came from behind, touched His feet and when Lord Caitanya saw that He was very pleased. What does this show? It sends an important message to all of us that however great a devotee you may be but one should avoid Vaisnava-aparadhas. We should avoid Vaisnava-aparadhas if we want to realize the gains of chanting the holy name. As Lord Caitanya said this is comparable to a mad elephant spoiling a beautiful garden.

Advaita Acarya was a very good cook. Once Advaita Acarya invited Lord Caitanya for prasadam but in His heart He wanted Lord Caitanya to come alone and not with other sannyasis. Whenever Lord Caitanya would come with the other sannyasis the normal pattern was that He ate a little bit and let the other sannyasis eat the rest. But Advaita Acarya wanted Lord Caitanya to eat everything. He did not know what to do. He was too embarrassed to tell Lord Caitanya to come alone, but He wanted Lord Caitanya to come without the other sannyasis.

Indra, the demigod in charge of rain knew want was Advaita Acarya’s desire. So as the sannyasis left their homes to come to Advaita Acarya’s house for lunch it started pouring, thundering, lightning. Sannyasis could not even see each other, they did not even know which way to go – it was raining so heavily. But in the area where Advaita Acarya’s house it was not raining so heavily. All the other sannyasis got lost – they could not find Advaita Acarya’s house because it was raining so heavily. Lord Caitanya however came there to eat prasadam.

When Advaita Acarya saw Lord Caitanya coming alone He was in ecstasy. He started praying to Lord Indra, ‘Thank you very much for pouring rain so heavily and this thundering and lightning’. Lord Caitanya heard this prayer of Advaita Acarya. He said, ‘You are so dedicated. Indra to oblige you created this situation’. Then Advaita Acarya personally fed Lord Caitanya prasadam and Lord Caitanya finished everything, emptied all that was given to Him. Advaita Acarya lived on the planet till materially He was 125 years of age. You see Advaita Acarya with a white beard. Sometimes devotees wonder why this white beard is there. Because He was very elderly. He was fifty-two years of age when Lord Caitanya appeared.

Once when Lord Caitanya was a new-born baby, He stopped drinking milk from His mother’s breast. Sacimata was in great anxiety. Sacimata and Jagannatha Misra consulted many people what’s the course – no one had the answer. Then they went to Advaita Acarya and Sitadevi, His wife. Advaita Acarya said, ‘Your son only wants to drink prasadam’, and He initiated Sacimata and Jagannatha Misra.

Advaita Acarya is another eternal associate of the Lord. Lord Nityananda, Advaita Acarya and Lord Caitanya are the Lords. Advaita Acarya had very great respect for Haridas Thakur. There was a ceremony once in which many brahmanas would have to be fed. Haridas was born as you know in Mohammedan family. Advaita Acarya said, instead of feeding thousands of brahmanas I am just going to feed one person, Haridas Thakur. Haridas said, ‘If you feed me you will become an outcaste’. He said, ‘Feeding you is better then feeding thousands of brahmanas’. Thus Advaita Acarya wanted to show that one becomes a brahmana not on the basis of birth but on the basis of qualification.

We have a great debt to Advaita Acarya because it was in response to His prayers that Lord descended as Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And without Caitanya Mahaprabhu we would not have all been together here. Hare Krishna.