Symptoms Of Saintly Persons

Symptoms Of Saintly Persons

Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 20.354-356
New York, December 28, 1966

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Prabhupada:

avatara nahi kahe-'ami avatara'
muni saba jani' kare laksana-vicara

So Lord Caitanya says that incarnation, He never advertises Himself that He is avatara. But experienced munis, those who are liberated souls, those who are expert in Vedic knowledge, they understand that this is avatara, or incarnation, by the symptoms, as they are stated in the scriptures. In the scripture, the color, the activities, the time and the place and the parents -- everything is described about the incarnation. So, so that, just like everything has to be understood by the symptoms, that is the scientific advancement. Just like a drug is tested in the laboratory and the drug, the symptoms and the taste, how it is, how the color changes, how it tastes in the tongue, everything is described there, so scientists proves, understands the genuineness of a particular chemical by testing. Similarly, nobody should be accepted as incarnation. That is foolishness. Incarnation, they are stated in the scriptures. Their symptoms, everything is there, and one should understand from that. The avatara never advertises. Anyone who advertises himself that "I am incarnation," he should be at once rejected. He should be at once rejected.

yasyavatara jnayante
saririsv asaririnah
tais tair atulyatisayair
viryair dehisv asangataih

The first thing is that avatara, incarnation, He hasn't got this material body. The first symptom is... And still, the avatara appears before us. Because, so far our senses are concerned, we can see the material objects. We can see a stone. We can see, I mean to say, wood. We can see water. We cannot see even air, the finer material things. We cannot see mind. We know that mind is there in every soul, every body. Every one of us has got mind, but we cannot see. We cannot see the sky. So the..., in the material world also, there are so many finer things which we cannot see. And what to speak of spiritual? So that spiritual, Supreme Spirit, when He appears before us, seeable, so that we can see, so that is His mercy. That is His mercy. Because we cannot see even the soul within ourself; we are seeing only the body. So what to speak of the Supreme Spirit? That is not possible. Yasyavatara jnayante saririsv asaririnah. Therefore it is the inconceivable power that the incarnation of God appears before us.

'svarupa'-laksana, ara 'tatastha-laksana'
ei dui laksane 'vastu' jane muni-gana

The symptoms are analyzed in two divisions. Svarupa-laksana means the symptom which (is) always present. That is called svarupa-laksana. And tatastha-laksana, the symptoms which are sometimes present and sometimes not present. They are called... In this way, the experienced sages, they analyze the characteristics of the avatara, or God -- two symptoms. One symptom is always there. As soon as there is God, that constant symptom is there. And there are other symptoms which may appear, sometimes may not appear.

akrti, prakrti, svarupa -- svarupa-laksana
karya-dvara jnana -- ei tatastha-laksana

Akrti, prakrti. The form and the activities, all uncommon. Just like Krsna. Krsna, He married sixteen thousand wives and He divided Himself into sixteen thousand. Krsna. This is called akrti. This is uncommon. God can expand Himself in any number of forms. We cannot do that. That is the..., symptom of God. Akrti, prakrti. Prakrti is His nature, supreme nature. As soon as He likes anything to do, He'll do it. There is no impediment. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyat... And He does in such nice way that we cannot conceive how it is being done, nature's way. Akrti prakrti, these are tatastha laksana, uh, svarupa laksana, personal symptoms of God. And karya-dvara jnana -- ei tatastha-laksana. And the activities... Just like Krsna, when comes as incarnation, His activities and activities of Rama, or activities of Nrsimha, activities of Vamana, these activities may differ according to time, according to place, according to the mission. The activities may be different. But Their, Their akrti, Their feature, and Their power -- extraordinary. We should understand very nicely that incarnation means Their feature and Their nature -- uncommon.

There may be difference. Just like Buddha. Buddha's activities and Krsna's activities, there is difference. Buddha's activity was different because, according to the place, according to the time, according to the audience, the activities are... Avatara, incarnation, comes when there is necessity. Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati [Bg. 4.7]. When there is discrepancies in the discharge of dharma... Dharma means the prescribed rules by which one elevates himself to the transcendental life. That is dharma, religion. Why in human society there is religion? The purpose is to elevate himself to the transcendental position. That is religion. Where there is no such aim to raise one from the fallen condition to the liberated state, that is not religion. That is sentiment. Religion means that one should be raised from the fallen condition to the highest elevated condition. Therefore there are so many rules and regulations. In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, yad icchantam, yad icchantam brahmacaryam caranti. Yad icchantam. (aside:) Just open the... I think it is in the Eighth Chapter. Eighth Chapter, fifteenth verse. Open it. (pause) Read it.

Devotee: Mam upetya punar janma [Bg. 8.15].

Prabhupada: No. Then, before that.

Devotee: Ananya cetah...

Prabhupada: Before that.

Devotee: Om iti...

Prabhupada: Yad icchantam. The sloka is yad icchantam brahma... You don't find it. Let me. Let me have the book. (pause) Yes, here. Eleventh.

yad aksaram veda-vido vadanti
visanti yad yatayo vita-ragah
yad icchanto brahmacaryam caranti
tat te padam sangrahena pravaksye

Here is the transla... "I shall briefly describe to  that state which the knowers of the Vedas call the imperishable, which the ascetics, freed from passion, enter, and desiring which, they lead a life of self-control." Not... Brahmacarya is celibacy. Translation is not here. Celibacy means completely ceasing from sex life. Yad icchanto brahmacarya. Brahmacarya means celibacy. No sex life. Therefore the brahmacarya asrama is recommended. The first basic principle of religious life, according to Vedic principle, the students are expected to go to the spiritual master's place and learn how to live without any sex life. For twenty-five years or at least for twenty years, the student is trained up in that way. Then he's allowed to enter into the grhastha life to marry. So there is a process. Religion means there must be process. It is not simply mental speculation. Yad icchantam brahmacaryam caranti. Yad icchantam brahmacaryam caranti tat te padam sangrahena pravaksye. These things are described in the Bhagavad-gita.

So to understand, to elevate oneself from the fallen condition to the highest liberated condition, one has to be trained up, one has to follow the rules and regulations as they are prescribed. Otherwise, simply some recreation, spiritual recreation, talking something -- "This is that; this is that," "Neti neti" -- and I lead my life like anything... That will not help us. Therefore the tatastha laksana. Therefore we accept anyone and everyone as incarnation, because we are not trained up who is incarnation, to see. And, because we want to be cheated, there are so many cheaters who comes as incarnation and this and that, and the society's going on like that. Not only here -- in everywhere, every part of the world. They are not very serious, what is the ultimate aim of spiritual life. Spiritual life and material life is that when you want to enjoy, when we want to be lord of these material resources, that is material life. And when you want to become servant of God, that is spiritual life. They..., there is not much difference between the activities of material life and spiritual life. Only the consciousness has to be changed. When my consciousness is to lord it over the material nature, that is material life, and when my consciousness is to serve Krsna, the Supreme Lord, here, Krsna consciousness, that is spiritual life. So as there are rules and regulations for accelerating your material possession, material life, similarly, there are rules and regulation for spiritual life also.

So the basic principle is yad icchantam brahmacaryam caranti. One should be very regular. Vita-ragah. Visanti yad, visanti yad yatayo vita-ragah. Vita-ragah. Vita-ragah means completely separated from materialistic life. Vita-ragah. Ragah means attachment, and vita means completely freed. Yad aksaram, yad aksaram brahma vido vadanti. Brahma-vida. Brahma..., those who are conversant in Vedic literature. Aksaram. Aksaram. Yad aksaram. The God has His representation in three letters, a, u, m, which is sounded vibrated om. There is no difference between omkara and Krsna. It is admitted in the Bhagavad-gita that omkara 'smi. Aksaram omkaro 'smi: "Of all the letters I am the omkara." So Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare and omkara, there is no difference, so far the transcendental sound vibration is concerned. But the objective is different. By omkara one attains impersonal existence in the brahmajyoti, and by chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, one attains the spiritual body and he's situated in the spiritual planets. We have many times discussed that there are spiritual planets. That is the difference. So far quality is concerned, both of them are spiritual, omkara or Hare Krsna.

So,

bhagavatarambhe vyasa mangalacarane
'paramesvara' nirupila ei dui laksane

Now how the two different characteristics of God can be analyzed, that is mentioned in the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Lord Caitanya is referring. Lord Caitanya's mission as preaching was based on, cent percent, on the principles of Srimad-Bhagavatam. And Bhagavad-gita is the basic, I mean to say, preliminary study of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Therefore in Caitanya-caritamrta you'll find most of the parallel passages and evidences offered by Lord Caitanya, they are from Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita and some of the Puranas. Just like Visnu Purana, Padma Purana, they are called sattvika purana, puranas in the modes of goodness. There are eighteen puranas, six for each quality, modes of the nature. Six, six puranas for the person who are in the modes of ignorance, six puranas for the person who are in the modes of passion, and six puranas for persons who are in the mode of goodness, those who are actually qualified brahmanas. So Srimad-Bhagavatam is called Maha-purana. Maha-purana means the topmost of all the puranas. You have seen the review by the Theosophical Society of India of my books. They have stated this very word, Maha-purana, Bhagavatam, the Maha-purana.

So Lord Caitanya gives evidences from the Maha-puranam, Srimad-Bhagavatam, that the Supreme Lord, the Absolute Truth, is analyzed in two characteristics. What are they? The, the personal characteristics and tatastha characteristics. Tatastha means they are sometimes manifested and they are not sometimes manifested. So this material world is the tatastha characteristics, and the spiritual world is the personal characteristics. So our effort is to get out of this tatastha, or, I mean to say, tatastha means marginal, marginal characteristics to the permanent characteristics. That is called spiritual elevation. We should not remain in the marginal state, but we should go to the permanent state.

Thank you very much. Any question? (end)

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 20.354-358 -- New York, December 28, 1966

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