Address

Speech, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 19.53

Prabhupāda: Śrīman... [break]

...kṛṣṅa-prema-pradāya te kṛṣṅāya kṛṣṅa-caitanya- nāmine gaura-tviṣe namaḥ [Cc Madhya 19.53]

[O most munificent incarnation! You are Kṛṣṅa Himself appearing as Śrī Kṛṣṅa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṅī, and You are widely distributing pure love of Kṛṣṅa. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.]

śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam

he kṛṣṅa karuṅā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

hare kṛṣṅa hare kṛṣṅa kṛṣṅa kṛṣṅa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare

Śrīman Rajya-pala Sahib... [Hindi] Acyutānanda Swami, he has tried to speak in Hindi, and you have heard him. So similarly, [Hindi]. So he has given me permission to speak in English.

Devotees: Haribol!

Prabhupāda: Thank you. [chuckles] Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is addressed by Rūpa Gosvāmī as mahā-vadānyāya.

namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṅa-prema-pradāya te kṛṣṅāya kṛṣṅa-caitanya- nāmine gaura-tviṣe namaḥ [Cc Madhya 19.53]

So Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṅa Himself. Kṛṣṅāya kṛṣṅa-caitanya-nāmine. He has assumed the name of Kṛṣṅa Caitanya. Actually He is Kṛṣṅa. That is confirmed in Vedic literature. Especially in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said,

kṛṣṅa-varṅaṁ tviṣa ākṛṣṅaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtanaiḥ prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ [SB 11.5.32]

[In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṅa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṅa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.]

So Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, after taking His sannyāsa order, His name was Kṛṣṅa Caitanya. So Rūpa Gosvāmī said that "You are Kṛṣṅa. You have now come as Kṛṣṅa Caitanya." Why? Kṛṣṅa-prema-pradāya te [Cc Madhya 19.53]: "Just to distribute love of Kṛṣṅa." And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission was premā pum-artho mahān. Generally people understand dharma artha kāma mokṣa [SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90],

[Any person who desires the fruits of the four principles religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, liberation, should engage himself in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for worship of His lotus feet yields the fulfillment of all of these.]

but Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that above mokṣa, above liberation, there is love of God. That is wanted. Premā pum-artho mahān. And this is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṅāṁ satām, vāstavya-vastu vedyam atra [SB 1.1.2].

[Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhāgavata Purāṅa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.]

And Śrīdhara Svāmī says that kaitava-dharma... In simple word, cheating. Kaitava means cheating, or false. So when there are false dealings, that is cheating.

So according to Vyāsadeva, dharma artha kāma mokṣa, that is not very essential thing. Real thing is how to advance in the science of loving God, Kṛṣṅa, kṛṣṅa-prema. And the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says,

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ahaituky apratihatā yena ātmā samprasīdati [SB 1.2.6]

[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]

If you want really peace, then you should stand on the platform of paro dharma. Paro dharma. Just like Kṛṣṅa has described, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parāh [Bg 7.5].

[Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.]

Parā and para. Parā is applicable to the puruṣa, and para is applicable to the prakṛti. So we are prakṛti, we are not puruṣa. Puruṣa is Kṛṣṅa, as described by Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, puruṣaṁ śāśvatam ādyam [Bg 10.12].

[Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.]

And in the Brahma-saṁhitā also it is: ādi-puruṣaṁ. Kṛṣṅa is described, ādi-puruṣaṁ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, anādiḥ ādiḥ [Bs 5.1], govindam tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

So this kṛṣṅa-bhakti, Kṛṣṅa personally came to teach kṛṣṅa-bhakti. He came here in this district Mathurā. And the Kṛṣṅa birthplace is still there. So Kṛṣṅa personally came to teach the science of kṛṣṅa-bhakti. And although He proposed that dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge [Bg 4.8],

[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]

but at the end He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]. And this is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that dharma-projjhita kaitavo atra [SB 1.1.2].

Except surrendering to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, anything which is going on in the name of dharma, that is not dharma. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya. When Kṛṣṅa came, He did not come to reestablish Hindu religion or Christian religion or Muslim religion. No. Religion is religion. Gold is gold. You cannot say "Hindu gold," "Muslim gold," "Christian gold." That is not possible. That is not possible. That is called kaitava-dharma, cheating dharma. Gold is gold, pure gold. Therefore Bhāgavata says, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṅītam [SB 6.3.19]:

[Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṅas.]

"Dharma means the order or the law given by God." That is dharma. This is the simple explanation of dharma. If you want to know what do we mean by dharma, then dharma means dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṅītam. Just like law. Law means which is given, sanctioned, by the governor. You cannot make your law at home. You cannot say, "The law given by the government or by the governor, I don't care for it. I shall make my own law." That is not possible. That will never be accepted as law. You can make your law. Similarly, if you manufacture dharma without any reference to the authority, that is not dharma. That is cheating religion. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ.

So therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṅa, what He is speaking, mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja, that is dharma. All other things are cheating. And when Kṛṣṅa says, mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja, He does not say it to any particular community or any country or any nation. He speaks to everyone.

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg 14.4]

[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]

He says, "I am the seed-giving father of all forms of life." Kṛṣṅa does not say that "I am speaking to Indian or the Hindus." No. Kṛṣṅa is speaking to everyone, to His every son. It doesn't matter whether he is white or black or blue or... It doesn't matter. These are skin disease. Kṛṣṅa says that we don't take this body as yourself. Asmin dehe. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanam... [Bg 2.13].

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

This transformation of the body, that is natural. But within the body, the part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa is there. That you have to understand. That is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. We have to understand what is there within the body. That is the beginning of spiritual education. Unfortunately, the whole world is going on under the impression that "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am European..." That is condemned in the śāstra.

yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij janeṣu abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13]

[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]

Go, go means cow, and kharaḥ means ass. So yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke. This bag of three dhātus—kapha, pitta, vāyu—if one takes it that "I am this body," "I am Indian," "I am American," so śāstra says, "He is not even human being." Sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13].

So this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is very, very important from this angle of vision, that everyone is thinking this body as he is. Nobody understands that he is within this body. Just like we are within this dress; I am not this dress. This is the primary education of spiritual life. Unfortunately, it is very much lacking. And now you can see practically that these European and American boys, they are all young men, but they have forgotten the bodily relationship. We have got in our institution Africans, Canadians, Australians, Europeans, Indians, but they do not consider with reference to this bodily concept of life. They live as eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa. That is the instruction given by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṅa dāsa [Cc Madhya 20.108-109].

So actually, if we want to be happy, then we have to accept the principle of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. Bhakti comes out of love. You cannot make one forced to love you. It comes automatically. That automatic love is there in everyone's heart for Kṛṣṅa. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta:

nitya-siddha kṛṣṅa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya śravaṅādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya

Udaya means it is awakened. Everyone has got love for Kṛṣṅa within the heart. That is natural. But that love is distributed in different ways. How? Yasyātmā-buddhiḥ kunape tri-dhātuke sva-dhiḥ kalatradisu bhauma idya-dhiḥ [SB 10.84.13]. This love has been distributed familywise, communitywise, nationwise, countrywise, like that. So this love has to be concentrated, converted, to be love of Kṛṣṅa. That is required. Then everything is perfect. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching, and He practically... Kṛṣṅa-prema-prdaya. To develop love for somebody, that requires very elaborate process. It is not... Because we are in the darkness. Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

So we cannot understand even Kṛṣṅa, what is Kṛṣṅa. Actually, there are so many malinterpretation about Kṛṣṅa. I do not wish to discuss, because they have been made, mistaken, by big, big leaders. So people cannot understand even Kṛṣṅa, what is Kṛṣṅa, and what to speak of loving Kṛṣṅa. That is very difficult job. But Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He distributed this love of Kṛṣṅa. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Lord Nityānanda is standing before you, and He delivered many, many sinful persons to the transcendental position of love of Kṛṣṅa. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, vrajendra-nandana yei, śacī-suta hoilo sei, balarāma hoilo nitāi. This Balarāma, He became Nitai, and Kṛṣṅa, He became Caitanya Mahāprabhu. These two brothers, the same two brothers, Rāma-Lakṣmaṅa, Kṛṣṅa-Balarāma, again as Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu. So what was Their business? The pāpī-tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo. This is Their business. All the pāpīs and all the persons suffering from material anxieties, They delivered? "Yes." How? Tāra sākṣī jagāi mādhāi. There were two brothers, Jagāi and Mādhāi. They are very debauchees. That debauchees means what was their fault? The fault was that they took their birth in brāhmaṅa family, but they became woman-hunter and drunkards and cheaters, like that. So Nityānanda Prabhu delivered them to become first-class Vaiṣṅava. Pāpī-tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo, tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi.

So five hundred years ago, to become a drunkard was most abominable, especially in the higher section of the Hindu society. But now it has become a fashion. So if you want to develop the position of the society, position of the country, which is now full with pāpī-tāpī, you have to accept the process of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and that is practically being manifested. These European, American boys, they are also the same type, Jagāi and Mādhāi. That is a fact. They were, at least. Now they are not. So how they have become delivered? The same process: pāpī-tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo.

So this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is so important, and there is practical result, that you introduce this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra offenselessly, not with offense, then the world situation will improve very much. That's a fact. And it is being actually enacted in the present position. We are sending our men from village to village in Europe and America. We have introduced. We are taking advantage of the modern facilities. We are using this microphone for chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, we are using nice buses, cars and wagons to go to village to village and distribute book and chant Hare Kṛṣṅa. One of the leaders is present here, Śrīman Tamāla Kṛṣṅa Gosvāmī. He is going. He is controlling about one dozen buses. And here is Haṁsadūta also. He is doing the same in Germany.

So we have introduced this as Caitanya Mahāprabhu ordered, pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma [CB Antya-khaṅḍa 4.126].

[In every town and village of the world, the chanting of My name will be heard.]

Throughout the whole world, as many villages and towns are there, this saṅkīrtana movement should be introduced. And especially in India, because if... In India the people are generally Kṛṣṅa conscious. By artificial means they are trying to forget. This is the position. This should be stopped. They have got natural tendency for becoming Kṛṣṅa conscious. Therefore in these days, still so many hundreds and thousands of people coming to Vṛndāvana to relish the transcendental mellow of Kṛṣṅa consciousness. And now the foreigners are also attracted to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, and I am trying to place them in our temple. This temple is one of them. We have got four, five temples in India. We are constructing one big temple in Hyderabad, and we are getting good response. So it is our request to the leaders of the society and to the people of India that they may take this Kṛṣṅa conscious movement, Hare Kṛṣṅa movement, very seriously. It will be good for everyone, and the whole world will become peaceful. We do not expect that throughout the whole world everyone will take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness. But even five percent, two percent, three percent people takes to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, there will be great example. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ lokas tad anuvartate [Bg 3.21].

[Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.]

So our only request is that this simple thing:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc Ādi 17.21]

[In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.]

...this formula of the Vedic śāstra. And you will be surprised—I invite you to come to our different centers in Europe and America—how they are chanting, dancing before the Deity, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda or Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa. Recently I had been to Atlanta for the first time. But the boys and the girls there, they have taken three big, big houses. The middle house has been transformed into temple. How nicely they are chanting and dancing, you will be surprised if you go. So this movement is undoubtedly increasing in the foreign countries, and why not in our country? So the government, the leaders and the guardians, they should deeply contemplate on the serious nature of this movement and help us. Now we are bringing men from the foreign countries to preach. How long I shall bring? If we want to spread this movement all over India very seriously, then we invite educated, intellectual young men to come forward to study this movement. It is not blind; we have got books. We have already published about fifty books on this movement.

So for the Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement is meant for both kind of men. The ordinary men without any education, illiterate, he can also take to it, and the most advanced scientists, philosopher, philanthropist, politician, they also can take to it. So we are helping both ways. Those who are educated scientist, philosopher, for them we have got volumes of books. And those who are not educated, they can simply chant Hare Kṛṣṅa. That will help them, both ways. Therefore this movement has become important and interesting. Our books are being purchased by the topmost class of man. Big, big professors in the universities, they are giving standing order. The books which are not published, they are putting standing order. Here our one sannyāsī is present, Satsvarūpa. He is visiting the libraries, universities, professors, and we are getting very good response. So don't take it as a sectarian movement. Don't misunderstand this movement as a CIA movement. These are all foolishness. Do you think that the Americans are so fools that for propagating their CIA movement they will become Vaiṣṅava and chant and dance? The Americans have become so fools? No. They have taken it very seriously. They are not CIA, not American nor European. They are Vaiṣṅavas; they are servant of Kṛṣṅa. Don't misunderstand them. And try to cooperate and help this movement for the benefit of the whole human society.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]