"From Pride to Pure Devotion"

28 Feb 75 , Atlanta


Prabhupada: ...pahu dui jana. Pahu means prabhu. The shortcut is pahu. Prabhu, lord, or master. So these prabhu two, two prabhus, Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu... Caitanya Mahaprabhu is addressed as Mahaprabhu, Maha-purusa. And others, they are addressed as prabhu. So these two prabhus, Nityananda Prabhu and Caitanya Mahaprabhu, are very merciful, parama koruna. Parama koruna means extremely merciful. Extremely merciful because Krsna is also merciful, but because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His original feature... Caitanya Mahaprabhu is also Krsna, but He is acting as devotee. He is not acting as Krsna. He is agting as devotee of Krsna.

namo maha-vadanyaya
krsna-preme-pradaya te
krsnaya krsna-caitanya-
namne (gaura-tvise namah)

He is Krsna, but at present He has assumed the name of Krsna-caitanya. Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya also appreciated Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He made one hundred verses about Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but Caitanya Mahaprabhu, just to teach us, He destroyed the slokas, "Oh, it is too much praising Me." So anyway, some of the slokas were saved. Two of them are mentioned in the Caitanya-caritamrta. So one of the sloka, verse, is

vairagya-vidya-nija-bhakti-yoga-
siksartham ekah purusah puranah
sri-krsna-caitanya-sarira-dhari
krpambudhir yas tam aham prapadye
[Cc. Madhya 6.254]

Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya is offering his obeisances to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, speaking like this, that "You are the same original person, Krsna. But You have now assumed the form of Krsna caitanya just to teach vairagya-vidya-nija-bhakti-yogam. You have come to teach the mass of people the art of becoming detached to this material world.'' Vairagya-vidya. Vairagya. Ragya means attachment and viraga means detachment. So we fallen souls, conditioned souls, we are very much attached to this material body, and consequently, material world. This is the disease. This is called bhava-roga, or material disease, to become attached to this body. "I am Indian,'' "I am American,'' "I am white,'' "I am black'' -- I identify with this body because we are very much attached to this body. But if we study very deeply, "Why I am attached to this body?'' Suppose if there is some danger, immediately warning, just this roof is going to fall down, we shall immediately take care of our own body, not of our Godbrothers. Because we are very much attached to this body. This is the first business, how to save this body. Now, the next question is "Why you are so much anxious to save this body?'' What will be the answer? Can anyone say? Why one is so much attached with this body? The answer is that because I, the real I, I am within this body, therefore I am anxious to save it. Then why you are anxious to save the soul, individual soul? The answer will be that because I am part and parcel of Krsna. So ultimately we want to love Krsna, but because we are in a forgetful platform, then someone is trying to save his body, someone is trying to save his bodily relationship. Therefore in so many ways we are implicated with this material atmosphere.

So Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to teach us how to become detached to this material. That is vairagya-vidya. Vidya means vairagya-vidya. Vidya does not mean to become more and more attached to this material world. That is not... That is avidya, illusion, because I will not be able to save this body. This body will change. I will be annihilated. But still, I am very much anxious for this body. This is called illusion or ignorance or avidya. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to teach us vairagya-vidya, how to become detached. He personally showed by His life example that... He was very learned scholar in Navadvipa. His name was Nimai Pandita, and He was very influential also. He was so influential that simply by His calling, 100,000 people joined Him to show a civil disobedience movement, disobeying the order of the magistrate that "You cannot perform kirtana." So Caitanya Mahaprabhu organized immediately about one lakh of people and went to perform at the house of the magistrate. The civil disobedience movement, perhaps you know that it was inaugurated by Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi, in India against the British government. But long, long before, five hundred years before, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He started this civil disobedience movement against the order of Kazi. So He was so popular. My point is that not only He was a very learned scholar... He was young man, twenty, twenty-two years, but He was so popular that He could call 100,000 people at once to start this civil disobedience. The social position...

He was beautiful, Gaurasundara. His another name is Gaurasundara, very beautiful boy. And a very learned scholar, Nimai Pandita. Nobody could defeat Him. And very influential and born of a very high-grade brahmana family. His father, His grandfather, was very, very learned scholars. So in every way He was very well situated, although the brahmanas are not very rich. They do not care for money. They are interested in knowledge, brahma-jnana. And if one knows Brahman, then he is brahmana. Brahma janatiti brahmanah: "Brahmana means one who knows the Absolute Truth." That is brahma-jnana. The human life is meant for that purpose, athato brahma jijnasa. Everyone should be interested to enquire about Brahman, the Absolute Truth. At least, a class of man must be there in the society. That is the brain, brain of the society, brahmana. Just like you have got the brain in your body. If the brain is absent, if the brain is gone mad, then your whole body is useless. That is the position at the present moment. There is no brain in the society. All sudras, no brahmanas. Because nobody is interested with the Absolute Truth.

Everyone is interested how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex and how to defend. That is going on, nationwide, worldwide. Therefore our Krsna consciousness movement is interested to make a section of the people brahmana, brain. They can guide. It is not that everyone requires; neither it is possible. Unless one is very intelligent, he cannot become brahmana. Brahmana means the most intellectual class of the society. That is brahmana. Satya samah damah titiksa arjavah, jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam [Bg. 18.42]. These are the brahmana's qualification. He must be truthful, so much so truthful that even to his enemy he will not keep any secret. That is called truthfulness. And samah. Samah means controlling the senses. Damah. Samah means controlling the mind. Mind is our enemy; mind is our friend. So if we can control the mind, the mind can act as very good friend. And if we do not control the mind, then he acts as enemy. Therefore the yoga system means controlling the mind, controlling the senses so they can act as my friend. Otherwise they will act as my enemy. Kama krodha lobha moha.

So there is necessity of a class of men who will act as the brain of the society. That is called brahmana. That is real human society, where there are four classes of men: one acting as brain, one acting as arms or armies or protection, one acting as belly, or the food digesting machine... Unless you eat and digest food, how your body will be maintained? So everything is very scientifically designed in the Vedic civilization. So in the Kali-yuga there is scarcity of brahmana. Brahmana is vairagya. A brahmana is not interested with pounds, shilling, pence, "Get money and enjoy." That is not brahmana's business. What us enjoyment? That is illusion. You cannot enjoy because you are conditioned by the stringent laws of nature, and where is enjoyment? There is no enjoyment. But they are thinking, "I am enjoying." This is called illusion, maya. There cannot be any enjoyment. When you are not free, when you are conditioned under the stringent laws of... You do not like to die. You are forced to die. You must die. You cannot say, "No, I will not die." No, that is not possible. So where is your freedom? But we are declaring, "Now we are independent." This is all illusion.

So Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared to save us from all these illusions. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Caitanya means living, not dead. If we have no spiritual consciousness, if we have not Krsna's consciousness, then we are dead. This, what is this body? This body is dead. Alive or dead, so-called dead, it is already dead because it is matter. But because there is spirit soul, it is moving. The same example: the motor car, what is this? A lump of matter, some iron, some other metals or some rubbers and combination. And so long the driver is there -- it is moving -- it is important so long it is moving. And as soon as the movement stops, you throw it away. That is very good experience in your country. So many useless motor cars are heaped together. So similarly, the brahmana means one must know that who is the driver of this body, brahma-jnana. So at the present moment nobody knows who is driving this body. So therefore all sudras, fourth-class men. There is no first-class man. But in the human society there must be four classes of men: first class, second class, third class... Fourth class also required for assisting the higher, third class. Everything is very nicely described in the Bhagavad-gita, and Bhagavad-gita was taught by Krsna Himself. But people could not follow Him, misunderstood Him. Therefore Krsna again came as Krsna-caitanya to teach personally the philosophy of Krsna.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not teach anything else than what was taught by Krsna. Therefore, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya said, vairagya-vidya-nija-bhakti-yogam siksartham, puranah purusah. That Supreme Personality of Godhead... Vairagya-vidya-nija-bhakti-yogam siksartham ekah puranah purusah [Cc. Madhya 6.254], sri-krsna-caitanya-sarira-dhari: "Now You have assumed the form of Sri Krsna-caitanya, but You are Krsna.'' That is also..., Rupa Gosvami said. We have to follow the mahajanas, great personality, authorities. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah [Cc. Madhya 17.186]. We cannot manufacture a way of life. We have to follow the footprints of mahajana, great personalities. That is the way. Here, at the present moment, everyone is speculating. What is the use of speculation? You are imperfect. Your senses are imperfect. Whatever you establish, because you have established by imperfect senses, they are all imperfect. Therefore, that suffering, there is no solution. So speculative method will not help us. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teaching is It is not as He had manufactured something. He is also following. He quoted one verse from the prayers of Lord Brahma.

jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva
(jivanti) san-mukharitam bhavadiya-vartam
sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhir
ye prayaso 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyam

This is a quotation from Srimad-Bhagavatam in Brahma's prayer to Krsna. The purport is that you should give up this bad habit of speculation. Jnane prayasam. Prayasam means endeavor: "I shall get this knowledge by speculating." This is called jnana-prayasam, endeavoring uselessly for knowledge. So udapasya. You give it up. Jnane prayasam udapasya namanta. Just become submissive. Don't think yourself that you are very learned. Because if the senses are imperfect, how you can be learned? Whatever you see, that is imperfect. Just like we see every day the sun, these eyes. And what we see? It is just like a disc. Is it a disc? It is fourteen hundred times bigger than this earth. So what is the value of your seeing? You cannot see what is behind the wall. Still, you are proud of seeing -- "Can you show me? Can you show me God?" And what power you have got to see? That he does not consider. He thinks, "I have got seeing power." Similarly, you study every sense -- they are all imperfect, blunt. So any knowledge you acquire by gymnastic of the senses-useless. This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teaching. Not Caitanya Mahaprabhu's, it is the Bhagavata's teaching and Caitanya Mahaprabhu's the same. So we have to give up this nonsense idea, that "I can attain to the perfect knowledge by speculation, manodharma, by speculation, manodharma, mental gymnastic." This will not help us.

So jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva. Just become submissive. And where to submit? You must submit to a perfect person. Otherwise why should you submit? Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet [MU 1.2.12], samit-panih srotriyam brahma-nistham. So Bhagavan Krsna also says,

tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti tad jnanam
jnaninah tattva-darsinah
[Bg. 4.34]

Tattva-darsi, one who has seen the things as it is. Go there and from him take the knowledge, not that one who is speculating. This is the process, Vedic process. Therefore it is called sruti. Sravanam. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh [SB 7.5.23]. Sravanam means hearing, kirtanam means glorifying. Of whom? About Visnu, not for anything else. So Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu approved this point. When He was talking with Sri Ramananda Raya, Ramananda Raya suggested various methods of self-realization. So Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not reject them. He said, "Yes, it is also nice, but you go farther above. Go forward still." So in this way, when Ramananda Raya quoted this verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam, jnane prayasam udapasya, He said... No, in the beginning He had, eho bahya, age kaha: "This process is not very important; it is external. If you know better than this, say." So in this way, after many rejections, when Ramananda Raya came to this version, jnane prayasam udapasya, Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not say that it is useless. Eho haya: "Yes, it is nice." Eho haya: "It can be accepted." That is the beginning, that don't try to speculate. Just become humble and meek and hear from the realized soul. Namanta. Jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva. Just become submissive. Do not think that you know by everything. That is your illusion, maya. Because you cannot know everything. You can, you may know something. That is not possible that you know everything.

So to know everything perfectly you cannot do it simply by speculating or handling your senses, imperfect senses. San-mukharitam bhavadiya-vartam. You hear from the realized soul. So Krsna, hear from Krsna. That is He is perfect. And sthane sthitah. To hear about Krsna, you do not require to change your position. Sthane sthitah. You are medical man? That's all right. Remain medical man. You are scientist? That's all right. You are lawyer? That's all right. You are fool? That's all right. (laughter) Because everyone is fool, but they are divided by mental concoction that "Here is a fool; here is a learned.'' Because the learned is also a fool. But by mental concoction, he is recognized as intelligent. Same mental concoction. Dvaite' bhadrabhadra sakali samana. Caitanya-caritamrta kar said that "In the material world, this is good; and this is bad -- this is all mental speculation.'' Dvaite' bhadrabhadra sakali samana, ei bhala, ei manda', saba manodharma: "That division, 'This is good; this is bad,' it is mental speculation.'' It has no value. It has no value. So this mental speculation will not help us. And therefore sthane sthitah. You remain in your position. It doesn't matter, good or bad. The mental speculator's verdict that "This is good; this is bad. This is intelligent; this is fool,'' they are all mental speculation. That will not help.

So you remain in your position. Either in good or bad, it doesn't matter. But you do one thing. Sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhih. You use your ear. That ear is bestowed upon everyone, either fool or learned. So use that ear, sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhih, and hear attentively, and mold your life as you hear from the realized soul. Sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-mano. One who remains like this, although he is imperfect fool, whatever he may be, he can conquer the ajita. Ajita means God. Nobody can conquer Him, but a devotee who sincerely hears about Him from the realized soul, he can conquer even Ajita, Krsna. Just like gopis. The gopis were women and not very high class woman, cowherd's men, in the village, not in town, very educated, high society, brahmana, ksatriya, no. They all belonged to vaisya class. And they were woman, not Vedantist, not scholar. But they conquered Krsna. Why? And that is this They heard about Krsna, and they became lover of Krsna. That is required. So that is the real qualification. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He was so strict about womanly association. Still, He recommended, ramya kacid upasana vrajavadhu-vargabhir ya kalpita: "There is no better type of worshiping Krsna than the system which vraja-vadhu, the gopis, adopted to love Krsna. That is the first-class.'' That is the recommendation of Vedic sastra. Sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoksaje [SB 1.2.6]. First-class religion Religion means to understand God. That is the sum and substance.

The process may be different according to country, men. Just like we worship the Deity in the temple. This is also bhakti. And the Christians go to the church and offers prayer to God. That is also bhakti. That is also bhakti. Nine items of bhakti. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam, arcanam vandanam dasyam [SB 7.5.23]. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam, arcanam vandanam. Vandanam is offering prayer. So they go to the church or go to the mosque, they offer prayers to the Supreme. That is also bhakti. So there is no question of what type of religion you are following. That doesn't matter. You follow anything, whatever suits you. But the result should be that. You worship with the result. The result is how to love God. That should be the result. If you have come to that platform, how to love God, mad after God, as Caitanya Mahaprabhu...

yugayitam nimesena
caksusa pravrsayitam
sunyayitam jagat sarvam
govinda-virahena me

Govinda-virahena: "Being separated from Govinda, God, my life is vacant." This is required. It doesn't matter whether you follow Christianity or Hinduism or Muslimism. Whether you are feeling vacancy, everything vacant without Krsna, without God -- that is the test. Yugayitam nimesena. Every moment... Because one who is feeling separation from the Lord, he is feeling also, "When I shall see Him?" So this anxiety, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, yugayitam nimesena: "A moment is seeming to Me a millenium, hundreds and millions of years' separation." That is love. If you love somebody and if you... Of course, in the material world, this love is not possible. There is no love in the material world. It is all lust. So love means loving God. That is love. So the Caitanya Mahaprabhu is teaching this, yugayitam nimesena caksusa pravrsayitam: "I am feeling one moment as a millenium, being separated from Krsna. And the torrents of tears are coming just like torrents of rain.'' And sunyayitam jagat sarvam: "And the whole world is seeming to Me vacant,'' govinda-virahena me, "being separated from Govinda.'' This is love. So it doesn't matter what religious system you are following, but the result should be this, that you should be mad after God. That is the test. Sa vai pumsam paro... That is first-class religion, yato bhaktir adhoksaje, to love. Bhakti means love, service, rendering service. Adhoksaje. Adhoksaje means beyond the speculation of mind, mental exercise, bodily exercise. Adhoksaja. Adhakrta aksaja jnanam.

So Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught this. And He took sannyasa. For the benefit of the whole world, He took sannyasa. He gave up His very opulent position in Navadvipa, as I have told you, very learned scholar, very beautiful body, very beautiful wife, very affectionate mother, good popularity. There was no scarcity. And He was God Himself. Why there will be any scarcity? There is no question. But in spite of, He took sannyasa for the benefit of the whole world. That Caitanya Mahaprabhu has come here in Atlanta. So you worship this Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Parama koruna, pahu dui jana, They are very, very merciful, and little service will enhance your devotional service to a larger scale.

Thank you very much. (end)

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Purport to Parama Koruna -- Atlanta, February 28, 1975