Lord Caitanya's tour to South India
1.02.03, Sukharevo (Moscow)

First I want to thank all the sankirtana devotees from the CIS and supporters of sankirtana who are here. Sankirtana is a service which is very dear to Srila Prabhupada and I will speak more about this in the morning class. Prabhupada said, 'As long as book distribution goes on I will never die". Because Prabhupada has been, is will continue for the next ten thousand years preach through the medium of his books. So book distribution is the life and soul of this Krishna consciousness movement. Just like for a body to be healthy the heart must be healthy. If the heart is not healthy the person is not considered healthy. The heart of ISKCON is book distribution. If book distribution is healthy then ISKCON is healthy and devotees are healthy. And if book distribution is low then we are sick.
Our endeavor should be to keep ISKCON healthy and in that everyone has a role. Full-time devotees and the congregation work together to achieve Lord Krishna's goal. So we are working together to realize that goal. Just like Prabhupada is giving a story that there once was a blind man who met a lame man. They both had to reach a particular destination. The blind could not see and the lame man could not walk. Then the blind man said, 'I have a solution how we can both get there'. The lame man said, 'Yes, yes! Tell me what!' He said, 'My legs and your eyes'. I will carry you on my legs. You show the way and will carry you'. Thus they both reached the destination. Similarly to spread Krishna consciousness we have to work together with other devotees. Some may be full-time, some may be congregation, some may be part-time. And if we work together then we will be able to reach the destination. And that destination will be beneficial for everyone.
That's why the book distribution is the prime activity for humanity's welfare. It's nectarine and full of bliss. Just like if a man is about to be run over by a car. If someone runs and pulls him on the side what does he feel like? A hero. The man will think, 'Great! I got saved by this man!' Or there is fire in a building. A fireman takes the risk, goes in the fire, pulls out another human beingÑ› The sankirtana devotees are like firemen and firewomen. They are walking in the middle of the material world which is a big forest fire. And they are rescuing those who are being burnt by the fire of illusion. It is a very glorious service, the service of sankirtana. This is a service which gives you the highest return. Just like in business people want to invest money where you can get higher return. If somebody gives 10% interest and somebody else gives 15% interest you will invest money there as long as it is safe. Sankirtana gives you the highest commission in the eyes of Krishna. You can engage in a variety of services. You can be a pot-washer, cook, pujari, car mechanic, driver, security man, handy man. But the service which gives you the highest return is the book distribution. So everyone should have a taste for book distribution and how to get that taste I will discuss tomorrow morning.
Now we are going to discuss Lord Caitanya's tour of South India. Lord Caitanya is none else but the Supreme Personality of Godhead who appeared in the role of a devotee to save the conditioned souls of Kali-yuga. Lord Caitanya took sannyasa and came to Jagannatha Puri. Actually after Lord Caitanya took sannyasa Nityananda broke his sannyasa danda and threw it in the river. Nityananda knew that Lord Caitanya is the Personality of Godhead. He said, 'You don't need a danda, it is just show of formality'. He was right but Lord Caitanya pretended if He was very angry. Lord Caitanya wanted to go to Vrindavan but Nityananda tricked him and took Him to Advaita's house.
When He came to Jagannatha Puri Lord CaitanyaÑ› We should not forget that Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Lord but He appeared in the mood of Radha. Lord Caitanya was very anxious to see Lord Jagannath. Who is Jagannath? Jagannath means 'The Lord of the Universe'. He is Krishna but He is the Lord of the Universe and He manifested Himself with His sister and brother. His sister's name is Subhadra and His brother's name is Balarama. So Lord Caitanya went to see Lord Jagannath. He was in such ecstasy when He saw Lord Jagannath that He could not even control Himself and out of great ecstasy He fainted.
There are different symptoms that get manifested when one is obsessed with love of God. One of the symptoms of one who is obsessed with love of God is tear come from his eyes, the hair stand on end, there is trembling in his body. Of course you can produce these symptoms by false means also. Just like these days is extreme winter. You don't wear your warm clothes and go out on the road. Your body will tremble. Then you can produce crocodile tears also. Do you know what are crocodile tears? False tears to invoke people's sympathy. Like children often do to get something from their mother or father, they make out crocodile tears. Is that common in Russia also? Common everywhere. There are a lot of imitators even in India. They go to Vrindavan, they roll on the ground and shed tears, make a show if they had love of God. But in case of Lord Caitanya these were genuine and not false.
Lord Caitanya fainted and He fell right on the altar, in front of Lord Jagannath's altar. Of course over here your altar is a little high, so if one of you fell in ecstasy would not fall on the altar. But in Jagannatha Puri the altar is not so high and Lord Caitanya fell right at the feet of Lord Jagannath. Then there was time to make an offering. Just like right now the Deities are getting an offering. You may eat twice a day, trice a day but in ISKCON the Deities eat eight times a day. They eat more then we and you. And in Jagannatha Puri the Deities eat fifty six times a day. Can you imagine? The Lord can eat even more. What is impossible for the Lord? So the Lord fainted before Lord Jagannath and it was time for the pujari to close the door because they had to make an offering. But there was a problem. He could not close the door because there was a tall handsome sannyasi lying unconscious. They did not know that to do. There was an elderly gentleman in the neighborhood of Jagannatha Puri called Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. He was almost of the age of Mahaprabhu's grandfather. A very great Sanskrit scholar, no one could defeat him. But he only had one weakness - he was a staunch impersonalist. What are the impersonalists, what is their philosophy? They believe that there is God but He is impersonal. He has no form, no hands, no eyes, no legs. You have all these but God does not. Lord Caitanya has warned us to beware of mayavadis.
Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was consulted by the watchman what to do now that it is time to close the altar and there is very handsome sannyasi here? Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya told him, 'Carry this sannyasi to my house'. So he was carried there. He first felt his pulse. It was not moving. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya thought, this man is dead. Then he put his hand on the heart. No movement. Then he put a cotton swab in front of the nose of Lord Caitanya and there was some movement. So he concluded, this is a sign that the sannyasi is still alive.
In the meantime Lord Nityananda along with the other associates of Lord Caitanya arrived in Jagannatha Puri. They were looking for Lord Caitanya. When they arrived they heard the people in Jagannatha Puri Temple talking to each other, that there was a handsome sannyasi who came, and he fell unconscious and then he was carried to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house. Lord Nityananda at once recognized that this must have been Lord Caitanya. They went there and saw Lord Caitanya lying unconscious in deep ecstasy but Nityananda knew the solution. They clapped and started chanting. As soon as Lord Caitanya heard the chanting He came back to consciousness and joined their chanting. Lord Caitanya's host, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, was surprised to see this. He was a staunch impersonalist. He could never understand how by this congregational chanting of the holy name Lord Caitanya who was unconscious was back to life.
Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya had a brother-in-law whose name was Gopinatha Acarya. Gopinatha Acarya would often tell him who Lord Caitanya was but Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya would not accept that He was God. He said, 'I accept Him as a very prominent, handsome sannyasi but he can't be God'. When he saw the sannyasi, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, 'I have never seen such a handsome sannyasi'. Generally sannyasa is advised for the old age but this sannyasi was so young, so handsome. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was concerned that maya might not attract him, so he told the Sannyasi, 'I want to protect your spiritual life. You should hear the Vedanta Sutra's explanation from me. By hearing this Vedanta Sutra you will become spiritually strong'.
Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya started to explain the Vedanta and Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard it very attentively but did not speak even one word - neither in the day, nor in the night. He just kept hearing very attentively. At the end after he spoke for seven days Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya got confused. He said, 'I have been reciting this for seven days and seven nights. You haven't asked even one question. Are you understanding what I am saying?' Lord Caitanya said, 'The message of Vedanta Sutra is like bright, clear, blue sky but you have distorted it's message. Just like when a cloud covers the sun you cannot see. But when there are no clouds then you can clearly see the bright sun.
Then there was a debate between the two great scholars. They took on a famous verse of the Bhagavatam called the 'atmarama' verse and on the request of Caitanya Mahaprabhu Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya first explained it in nine different ways which was also very credible. But Mahaprabhu explained the same verse in sixty four different ways without touching on any of his interpretations. In other words, he gave for this verse sixty four independent explanations. When he heard that, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was amazed. He said, 'This is not humanly possible'. Then he surrendered. He said, 'You are Krishna! Only Krishna could have done this!' And he composed a hundred verses glorifying Caitanya Mahaprabhu as none else but Krishna. In reciprocation Mahaprabhu showed him a the six-handed form or sadbhuj form. Then He revealed His four-handed form and finally His two-handed form.
Krishna performs innumerable, inconceivable transcendental pastimes. Krishna came as God. He established that He is God. Caitanya Mahaprabhu came in the role of a devotee but He did reveal sufficient pastimes to show that He is none else but the Supreme Lord. Just like these days you meet people who say, 'Yes, I am an incarnation of God'. You can test these 'incarnations' by seeing how genuine they are. There are many inconceivable pastimes of Lord Caitanya also. Lord Caitanya was very happy with Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's hospitality. Later on He stayed in his house for five days. After staying for five days, Mahaprabhu took permission from His devotees to go to South India.
Actually the devotees did not want to see Mahaprabhu leave. It was just like the gopis of Vrindavan. Did they ever want Krishna leave Vrindavan? No, they were very upset when Krishna left Vrindavan and went to Dvaraka. They were very angry at Lord Brahma for these eyelids that blink. Why do they blink? We cannot see Krishna! Krishna went to Mathura and Dvaraka where He lived like a king. There he had 16,108 palaces. Then on the occasion of solar eclipse Krishna came to Kuruksetra along with the gopis and all the queens of Dvaraka. Krishna came to Dvaraka all dressed up as a king. He had a helmet, armor. He was dressed up like a battlefield soldier. And how is He dressed up in Vrindavan? Simple dhoti, flute, no kurta also. But in Dvaraka He was dressed up like a King in all these majestic palaces. When Radharani and the gopis saw Krishna dressed up in this majestic clothes they were not happy. They said, 'We would prefer seeing You as a simple cowherd boy with no kurta and with the flute. And Radharani told Krishna, 'Please sit on this chariot and let's go back to Vrindavan'. The Ratha-yatra occasion that we celebrate symbolizes Radharani and the gopis taking Krishna back to Vrindavan.
So Lord Caitanya took permission from the devotees in Jagannatha Puri that He may go to South India. But whenever Lord Caitanya talked about His leaving the devotees the devotees would begin to cry. So Lord Caitanya had to give them an excuse. I am going to search for my elder brother Visvarupa. Actually Visvarupa has already departed from this abode. But Lord Caitanya used this just as an excuse, I am going to go and find my elder brother Visvarupa, so I am going to go to South India. He wanted to go alone. Lord Nityananda and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, 'No, no! You cannot go alone! You have to carry your external garments, you have to carry that pot for carrying water, eating, everything. And then you have to chant Hare Krishna nonstop. You only have two hands. You must take few servants with You'. But Lord Caitanya did not want to take so many people with Him. At the end they settled for one person only. His name was Krishnadas. Some of you may say, 'Oh, my name is also Krishnadas'. But he was the original Krishnadas. You are all duplicates. Duplicates and triplicates. That was the original Krishnadas. Das means servant. Sometimes people come to our temples and say, 'I met your Mr. Das. Can I see Mr. Das?' We have to tell them, "Every one here is Das, which Das do you want?' It takes a little time for the people to understand all this.
Taking Krishnadas with Him Lord Caitanya left for South India. But as Lord Caitanya was leaving Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya told Him, 'When You are in South India you meet a very great devotee called Ramananda Ray. Ramananda Ray externally appears like a shudra, he is working as the Governor but he is a very exalted devotee. You must spend time with him'. Then Lord Caitanya took permission from all the devotees in Jagannatha Puri. Lord Caitanya was controlled by His devotees. Isn't Krishna controlled by His devotees also? Krishna says, 'I can never repay the debt of My dear devotees'
When He came to South India, Lord Caitanya manifested those transcendental lilas that He did not manifest in Navadvipa. Navadvipa five hundred years ago was a seat of Sanskrit learning. It was full of Sanskrit scholars. And what was Nimai over there? He was a Sanskrit scholar. His name was Nimai Pandit and He defeated many prominent Sanskrit scholars. The most prominent was Keshava Kashmiri. Keshava Kashmiri was the first prominent Sanskrit scholar of that time. He had defeated everyone in India in Sanskrit. Then he heard that in Navadvipa there was a young boy who was a very prominent scholar, so he sent a message that I want to come and have a debate with your scholars.
So when the scholars of Navadvipa got information that Keshava Kashmiri was coming to their city they got very nervous. They said, 'No, no, no! We are not going to debate with him'. And then they agreed that none of them would debate but they will have only a young king of their city as a front man. And what was that young kid? Nimai Pandit. Their reasoning was as follows. If Keshava Kashmiri defeated Nimai there would be nothing to worry. After all Nimai was only a young kid of eleven years. They would say, 'He defeated a young kid from our town, what a big deal! He did not defeat any of us'. And if Nimai by rare chance defeated him they could say, 'If a young kid from our town can defeat him, what to speak of us, established scholars!' So Nimai in Navadvipa was known as a Sanskrit scholar and though He revealed His once transcendental form to few devotees He had not started His sankirtana movement in Navadvipa but in South India it was a different aspect of Lord Caitanya. He was going doing sankirtana town to town, village to village, city to city. From great distance people would come to see Him and whomever would come to see Him just by seeing His party chant an dance they would also begin to chant and dance. And eventually Lord Caitanya converted all the South India to the path of personalism.
The unique feature was that people who would see Lord Caitanya doing sankirtana they would get so charged spiritually that they would begin chant and dance. And when they would go back to their respective villages, towns others by seeing them chant an dance would also begin chant and dance. Just like a disease sometimes goes from A to B to C. So one person has an infection, then another person gets it, the third person gets it. A spiritual epidemic is also like that. In fact you cannot enter America with food from any part of the world. You cannot enter America with food from Russia. You cannot bring food from India, rasagulas and laddus. In the airport if they see that they confiscate you and even arrest you. You are not allowed to bring food from anywhere in the world. Why? Because the food may have some disease. One person will get it then it will go to the second, third, fourth. Material diseases spread like that and spiritual epidemic also spreads like that. Thus Lord Caitanya converted all the South India to the path of personalism.
Lord Caitanya was staying in the house of a brahman called Kurma. When Lord Caitanya came to his house, the brahman washed His feet and all the members of his family drank water after washing the Lord's feet. Kurma said, 'I am so fortunate that even Lord Brahma is not as fortunate as I am. Today I have an opportunity to have the Lord in my house and I had the fortune of drinking the water which washed His feet'. Kurma brahman was very happy that Lord Caitanya came to stay with him. Kurma brahman said, 'My dear Lord, I am very unhappy with being grihastha, staying at home. All around are material miseries. I want to leave home and travel with you'. Lord Caitanya said, 'There is no need to leave home. Do the following and thus I will never be separated from you and you will never be separated from Me. Chant Hare Krishna, read Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita, associate with devotees, worship the Deity and live in the place where the Lord performed His pastimes. If you do these things', he said, 'You will never be separated from Me and I will never be separated from you'.
This is a very practical instruction that Lord Caitanya is giving each one of us irrelevant of our place of residency. He says, chant Hare Krishna. Chanting Hare Krishna is our first business. Regardless of which varna or asram we belong to we should chant Hare Krishna. Thakur Bhaktivinode says, grihe thako, vane thako, sada 'hari' bole' dako. Whether you are a grihastha, brahmacari or sannyasi please chant Hare Krishna. In happiness or in distress please chant Hare Krishna. In happiness generally we don't chant don't we? When you are very happy, when you have a lot of material success, when you are young you don't have time to chant. But Thakur Bhaktivinode says, in both happiness and distress please chant Hare Krishna. And he says further, don't forget that this body may fall at any moment, therefore immediately start chanting the holy name. Thakur Bhaktivinode in his jiv jago prayers said that he has brought a special medicine to destroy the disease of illusion. What is that medicine? The holy name. And he said, that this holy name is coming from where? From the spiritual world.
So, first instruction is chant the holy name. Our goal should be not only chant but improve the quality of our chanting. We constantly have to endeavor to improve the quality of our chanting. Then he says, read Bhagavad-gita and Bhagavatam. So we are here in the sankirtana festival where the devotees who take part in book distribution will be honored. But we are not only interested in distribution we should also read the books. If we don't read the books then how will we get beneficial results? Prabhupada wanted every one of us also read these books. Then he said, associate with devotees. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked Ramananda Ray what is the most painful thing one can experience Ramananda Ray said, 'Apart from separation from devotees of Krishna I know of no unbearable unhappiness'. So when we are separated from devotees of Krishna it brings unbearable unhappiness. Just like sometimes you have pain in the body. You tell the doctor, 'Doctor, the pain is unbearable'. Similarly separation from devotees of Krishna is also unbearable. We look forward to spiritual association. We look forward to giving association. Just like the devotees, they give association to those who are less advanced.
Then worship the Deities. Arca-vigraha is nondifferent from the Lord. And reside in the places where the Lord performed His pastimes or make the atmosphere in your house so Krishna conscious that everyone would get trained in God consciousness. Lord Caitanya after staying in Kurma's house left. There was a devotee of Lord Caitanya called Vasudeva Vipra. This devotee was suffering from leprosy, very serious case of leprosy. His all body was full of puss, all body was full of germs, insects but he would tolerate all this. In fact he was so sensitive to not giving pain to any living entity that one of the germs would fall off his body on the ground he would pick it up and put it back. He was so compassionate.
He heard in the night that Lord Caitanya is in town and is staying in Kurma brahman's house, so he went to see Lord Caitanya next day. Lord Caitanya has already left. When he found out that Lord Caitanya has already gone he fainted. He fainted because he could not get Lord Caitanya's association. Lord Caitanya is the Supersoul. He knows everything, past, present and future. He knew that Vasudeva Vipra has almost fainted because of not having His association and came back to Kurma brahman's house. There as soon as he saw Vasudeva Vipra He embraced him and when He embraced him, the leprosy was gone. He was an ugly man with puss all over his body and boils. So bad odor was coming from his body that if he was walking on the left side of the road everyone would cross over to the right side. No one would even come near him. But he would always chant Hare Krishna.
Lord Caitanya embraced him and all of a sudden he became a very handsome young man. Did you read about spiritual miracles. Lord Caitanya also performed many miracles but we don't want to discuss these. So all of a sudden this Vasudeva Vipra became a very handsome young man and then he got worried. On the one hand he was happy, on the other hand he got worried. What was he worried about? He said, 'Now I have become so handsome, I am afraid I may become proud'. Generally if a man is very handsome or woman is very beautiful or they are very rich or very materially educated, people become proud. Vasudeva became worried, 'Now by Your mercy I have become so handsome, young. Previously nobody would even come near me. What should I do to remain humble?' Lord Caitanya said, 'Chant Hare Krishna and preach the glories of Hare Krishna. In this way you will always remain humble and meek'.
Prabhupada in the purport writes that just like Vasudeva Vipra was saved by Lord Caitanya every devotee in this Krishna consciousness Movement has been saved. So every devotee should do this: chant Hare Krishna and preach the glories of Hare Krishna. And if you do that you will always remain humble and meek. So it is everyone's duty to chant and preach the glories of Hare Krishna to everyone. If everyone does these duties then he will be humble and dear to Lord Caitanya.
When Lord Caitanya was in South India He went to a big temple in Sri Rangam. This is a very famous temple in Sri Rangam, the biggest temple in India. Lord Caitanya went there for darshan and there he saw one man reading Bhagavad-gita, tears were coming out of his eyes and there was a crowd of people around him. Lord Caitanya saw that tears were coming from this man's eyes, his hair was standing on end, he was shivering while reading the Gita. Do any of you shiver when you read Bhagavad-gita? Do tears come out of your eyes when you attend a Gita class? No? Lord Caitanya could recognize that this man was manifesting symptoms of ecstasy. And all around this man there was a big group of people who were laughing at this man. And this man was trying to carry out the order of his guru. What was the order of his guru? Recite eighteen chapters of Gita every day. But this man was uneducated, so some shlokas he would chant properly, in some shlokas he made mistakes while pronouncing them.
The local village people knew that this man was uneducated. Every day he would sit in the same place and read eighteen chapters of the Gita and they would make fun of him. They would say, 'This man is uneducated but he is trying to impress everyone that he is a big pandit'. But he would chant all the shlokas every day because his guru ordered him. Even though people would laugh at him and ridicule him he was still carrying out the order of the guru. Lord Caitanya went to speak to this man. He said, 'Why are tears coming from your eyes, hairs standing on end, the body shivering? He said, 'My spiritual master told me to read the Gita every day. I am trying to carry out his order. Every time I read Krishna's instructions and see Krishna's face on the cover of the Gita, my hair stands on end and I manifest the symptoms of ecstasy'. Lord Caitanya embraced him and said, 'You have really understood the Bhagavad-gita'. He was in such great ecstasy that just by reading tear would come out of his eyes.
Prabhupada in the purport explains as follows. This brahman, though uneducated, was carrying out the order of his spiritual master and as a result God Himself came to see him. Just like Haridas Thakur, he never went to the Jagannatha Puri Temple inside for darshan. But Lord Caitanya would come every day and visit him. So if you carry out the order of your spiritual master then the Lord will be so pleased that He will come to see you.
Lord Caitanya then met Ramananda Ray on the banks of the river Godavari in the town called Vidyanagar. Ramananda Ray was being carried in a palanquin and because he was a Governor he was getting royal treatment. Lord Caitanya recognized that he was the same personality that Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya had told Him He must meet that great devotee of the Lord. When Lord Caitanya and Ramananda Ray saw each other it was like two good friends meeting together. They embraced each other and then Lord Caitanya sat down with Ramananda Ray and asked him many questions. Of course this dialogue between Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Ray is post-graduate education but we will not discuss here the entire dialogue. We will just discuss three or four questions that He asked and Ramananda Ray replied.
One question we already discussed which was when Lord Caitanya said, 'What is the most painful thing for a devotee?' What was the reply? Separation from devotees is an unbearable unhappiness. Another question He asked was, what is the most worshipable object. He said, 'The most worshipable object is the holy names of Radha and Krishna'. What are those names of Radha and Krishna? Hare Krishna maha-mantra. This is the most worshipable object. We should worship the holy name. What is the meaning of worship of the holy name? Chant the holy name attentively. Tie the holy name to your tongue. Be respectful to the holy name. Understand the omnipotence of the holy name. Understand that the holy name is nondifferent from the Lord. Understand that the holy name is like a touch-stone and whoever takes to it benefits. Understand that the Lord has invested all His transcendental energies in the holy name. Understand that the only means in Kali-yuga is

harer nama, harer nama
harer nama eva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha

the only means for self-realization is the holy name of the Lord. These are some glimpses of the holy name that you can meditate upon. As it is said, in Kali-yuga by chanting the holy name you get the same benefit that you got in Satya-yuga by meditation, in Treta-yuga by elaborate sacrifices and in Dvapara-yuga by worshiping the Deity of the Lord.
Another thing He asked was what should one constantly meditate upon? He said, 'On the holy name, qualities and the pastimes'. Then, 'What is the best form of education?' 'The best form of education is that education which gives you knowledge of God'. Material knowledge cannot satisfy you. What is the goal of material knowledge? To increase sense gratification. That's the goal of material education, to increase your identification with your body and the senses. Devotees perceive that real education is that knowledge that helps you to understand your relationship with the Lord. 'What is the most auspicious activity one can engage in?' 'The most auspicious activity one can engage in is sankirtana'. The most auspicious activity one can engage in is devotional service.
In this way Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked questions and Ramananda Ray replied. You may say, 'Why does the Lord ask questions to his devotee?' Normally, it is the other way around, isn't' it? Devotees are asking questions to the Lord. The Lord is supposed to know everything. But here we see the Lord is asking His devotee. What is the answer? The answer is, that the Lord is as anxious to glorify His devotee as the devotee is anxious to glorify the Lord. Just like when Bhishmadeva was getting ready to leave his body. Bhishmadeva had a great fortune of choosing his own moment of departure. The battle of Kuruksetra was the most serious battle in the history of humanity. In the eighteen days millions of soldiers were dead and they all got liberated because they saw the Lord before leaving their bodies. And Bhishmadeva had a great fortune of meditating on the lotus feet of the Lord while leaving his body. The Lord came at his bedside along with His devotees and He told Yudhishthira, 'Ask Bhishmadeva about the principles of religion'.
So the Lord is anxious to glorify his devotees and devotees are anxious to glorify the Lord. Lord Caitanya could have spread the Hare Krishna Movement to every corner of the world Himself but whom did He leave the job to? Thakur Bhaktivinode, Bhaktisiddhantaji and Prabhupada. He wanted them to take the credit. Yudhishthira Maharaj was getting very sorry, lamenting that just to make him the king so many millions of soldiers were killed. Actually Duryodhana was a very good administrator, good manager. He was doing a good job. So Yudhishthira was lamenting that so many people were killed. He did not get consoled even when the Lord explained that this was a religious fight because the Lord wanted Bhishmadeva to preach to Yudhishthira. Then when Bhishmadeva preached to him, Yudhishthira was satisfied.
So there was that wonderful dialogue which took place between Ramananda Ray and Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Caitanya's pastimes are so deep that we can just endeavor to discuss one small piece of His innumerable pastimes. In this way Lord Caitanya converted all South India to the path of personalism. Hare Krishna.

Q: What does it mean to chant the holy name attentively?
A: Do all of you fast on Janmastami and take prasadam at midnight? Do you take it very attentively? When you are very hungry and you are eating if somebody comes to talk to you every second what will you say? 'Let me eat at peace! Come back later!' So when you chant you should chant concentrating only on chanting. Hear everything you chant. At least your sixteen rounds you should chant very attentively.
Q: I read somewhere that it is very important that the holy name notice us. How to make it possible?
A: Prabhupada used to say, 'Don't try to see God but act in such a way that God comes to see you'. Lord Caitanya went to see that brahman in Sri Rangam. Chant your holy names so nicely that Krishna will come and see you. Krishna will say, "Oh, this devotee is chanting My holy name so nicely!'
Q: Rupa Goswami says that we should constantly chant the holy name. What does it mean for us?
A: It means constantly chant. It is not difficult. Always chant Hare Krishna and if you are in the position where you cannot chant Hare Krishna then you can chant mentally.
Q: I read some letter of yours where you recommend that it is better for devotees to chant in the temple room. But sometimes I feel that I am doing better when I am alone.
A: Generally for the most devotees chanting alone is not the best solution. Often times when devotees are alone they fall asleep and no one is there to wake them up. But when you are chanting in the temple room with others if you fall asleep then somebody will tell you, 'Hey, Prabhu!' Usually in the temple room there is so much sound vibration going on that even if you want to sleep it is not easy.