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Song Lyrics: Parama
Karuna
Purport Author: A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami
February 28, 1975 Atlanta, GA, USA
Pahū means prabhu. The shortcut is pahū. Prabhu, lord, or master. So these prabhu
two, two prabhus, Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda
Prabhu... Caitanya Mahāprabhu is addressed as Mahāprabhu,
Mahā-puruṣa. And others, they are
addressed as prabhu. So these two prabhus,
Nityānanda Prabhu and Caitanya Mahāprabhu, are
very merciful, parama koruṇa.
Parama koruṇa means
extremely merciful. Extremely merciful because Kṛṣṇa
is also merciful, but because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His
original feature... Caitanya Mahāprabhu
is also Kṛṣṇa, but He is acting as
devotee. He is not acting as Kṛṣṇa.
He is agting as devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
namo mahā-vadānyāya
kṛṣṇa-preme-pradāya te
kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-
nāmne (gaura-tviṣe namaḥ)
He
is Kṛṣṇa, but at present He has
assumed the name of Kṛṣṇa-caitanya.
Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya
also appreciated Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
He made one hundred verses about Caitanya Mahāprabhu, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu, just to teach us, He destroyed the ślokas, "Oh, it is too much praising Me." So anyway, some of the ślokas
were saved. Two of them are mentioned in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
So one of the śloka, verse, is
vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga-
śikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-śarīra-dhārī
kṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye
[Cc.
Madhya 6.254]
Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya
is offering his obeisances to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
speaking like this, that "You are the same original person, Kṛṣṇa. But You
have now assumed the form of Kṛṣṇa caitanya just to teach vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam.
You have come to teach the mass of people the art of becoming detached to this
material world.'' Vairāgya-vidyā. Vairāgya. Rāgya means attachment and virāga 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 Kṛṣṇa. So ultimately
we want to love Kṛṣṇa, 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
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to teach us how to become detached to
this material. That is vairāgya-vidyā. Vidyā means vairāgya-vidyā.
Vidyā does not mean to become more and more
attached to this material world. That is not... That is avidyā,
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 avidyā. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to
teach us vairāgya-vidyā, how to become
detached. He personally showed by His life example that... He was very learned
scholar in Navadvīpa. His name was Nimāi Paṇḍita,
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 kīrtana." So Caitanya Mahāprabhu 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
He
was beautiful, Gaurasundara. His
another name is Gaurasundara, very beautiful
boy. And a very learned scholar, Nimāi
Paṇḍita. Nobody could defeat Him. And very influential and born of a very high-grade brāhmaṇa family. His father, His
grandfather, was very, very learned scholars. So in every way He was very well
situated, although the brāhmaṇas are not
very rich. They do not care for money. They are interested in knowledge, brahma-jñāna. And if one knows Brahman, then he is brāhmaṇa. Brahma jānātīti
brāhmaṇaḥ: "Brāhmaṇa
means one who knows the Absolute Truth." That is brahma-jñāna.
The human life is meant for that purpose, athāto
brahma jijñāsā.
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, brāhmaṇa. 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 śūdras, no brāhmaṇas.
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 Kṛṣṇa
consciousness movement is interested to make a section of the people brāhmaṇa, brain. They can guide. It is not that
everyone requires; neither it is possible. Unless one is very intelligent, he
cannot become brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa means the most intellectual class of
the society. That is brāhmaṇa. Satya śamaḥ damaḥ titikṣa ārjavaḥ,
jñānaṁ vijñānam
āstikyaṁ brahma-karma
svabhāva-jam [Bg.
18.42]. These are the brāhmaṇa'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
śamaḥ. Śamaḥ
means controlling the senses. Damaḥ. Śamaḥ 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.
So
there is necessity of a class of men who will act as the brain of the society.
That is called brāhmaṇa. 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 brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa
is vairāgya. A brāhmaṇa
is not interested with pounds, shilling, pence, "Get money and
enjoy." That is not brāhmaṇa'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, māyā. 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 Mahāprabhu
appeared to save us from all these illusions. That is Caitanya
Mahāprabhu. Caitanya
means living, not dead. If we have no spiritual consciousness, if we have not Kṛṣṇa'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 brāhmaṇa means one must
know that who is the driver of this body, brahma-jñāna.
So at the present moment nobody knows who is driving this body. So therefore all śūdras,
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-gītā,
and Bhagavad-gītā was taught by Kṛṣṇa Himself. But people could not
follow Him, misunderstood Him. Therefore Kṛṣṇa
again came as Kṛṣṇa-caitanya to
teach personally the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa.
Caitanya
Mahāprabhu did not teach anything else than what
was taught by Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya
said, vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam śikṣārtham, purāṇah
puruṣaḥ. That Supreme Personality of
Godhead... Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogaṁ
śikṣārtham ekaḥ
purāṇaḥ puruṣaḥ
[Cc. Madhya 6.254], śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-śarīra-dhārī:
"Now You have assumed the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa-caitanya,
but You are Kṛṣṇa.'' That is
also..., Rūpa Gosvāmī
said. We have to follow the mahājanas, great
personality, authorities. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ
[Cc. Madhya 17.186]. We cannot manufacture a way of life. We have to follow the
footprints of mahājana, 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
Mahāprabhu's teaching is It
is not as He had manufactured something. He is also following. He quoted one
verse from the prayers of Lord Brahmā.
jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
(jīvanti) san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi
tais tri-lokyām
This
is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
in Brahma's prayer to Kṛṣṇa. The
purport is that you should give up this bad habit of speculation. Jñāne prayāsam. Prayāsam
means endeavor: "I shall get this knowledge by speculating." This is
called jñāna-prayāsam, endeavoring
uselessly for knowledge. So udapāsya.
You give it up. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya
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 Mahāprabhu's teaching. Not Caitanya
Mahāprabhu's, it is the Bhāgavata's
teaching and Caitanya Mahāprabhu'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 jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. Just become submissive. And where
to submit? You must submit to a perfect person. Otherwise why should you
submit? Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum
eva abhigacchet [MU
1.2.12], samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham.
So Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa
also says,
tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ
jñāninaḥ tattva-darśinaḥ
[Bg. 4.34]
Tattva-darśī, 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 śruti.
Śravaṇam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
[SB 7.5.23]. Śravaṇam means
hearing, kīrtanam means glorifying. Of whom? About Viṣṇu,
not for anything else. So Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu approved
this point. When He was talking with Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya, Rāmānanda Rāya
suggested various methods of self-realization. So Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu
did not reject them. He said, "Yes, it is also nice, but you go farther
above. Go forward still." So in this way, when Rāmānanda
Rāya quoted this verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
jñāne prayāsam udapāsya, He said... No, in the beginning He had, eho bāhya, āge 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 Rāmānanda Rāya came to this version, jñāne
prayāsam udapāsya,
Caitanya Mahāprabhu
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. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya
namanta eva. Just
become submissive. Do not think that you know by everything. That is your
illusion, māyā. 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-mukharitāṁ
bhavadīya-vārtām. You hear from
the realized soul. So Kṛṣṇa, hear
from Kṛṣṇa. That is He is perfect. And sthāne sthitāḥ.
To hear about Kṛṣṇa, you do not
require to change your position. Sthāne sthitāḥ.
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' bhadrābhadra sakali
samana. Caitanya-caritāmṛta
kar said that "In the material world, this is
good; and this is bad—this is all mental speculation.'' Dvaite'
bhadrābhadra sakali samana, ei bhāla,
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 sthāne sthitāḥ. 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. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ
tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. You use
your ear. That ear is bestowed upon everyone, either fool or learned. So use
that ear, sthāne sthitāḥ
śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ,
and hear attentively, and mold your life as you hear from the realized soul. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ
tanu-vāṅ-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, Kṛṣṇa.
Just like gopīs. The gopīs
were women and not very high class woman, cowherd's men, in the village, not in
town, very educated, high society, brāhmaṇa,
kṣatriya, no. They all belonged to vaiśya class. And they were
woman, not Vedantist, not scholar. But they conquered
Kṛṣṇa. Why? And that is this They heard about Kṛṣṇa,
and they became lover of Kṛṣṇa.
That is required. So that is the real qualification. Caitanya
Mahāprabhu, He was so strict about womanly
association. Still, He recommended, ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū-vargabhir yā
kalpitā: "There is no better type of
worshiping Kṛṣṇa than the system
which vraja-vadhū, the gopīs,
adopted to love Kṛṣṇa. That is the
first-class.'' That is the recommendation of Vedic śāstra.
Sa vai puṁsāṁ
paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
[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. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam,
arcanaṁ vandanaṁ
dāsyam [SB 7.5.23]. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-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 Mahāprabhu...
yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa
cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam
śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ
govinda-viraheṇa me
Govinda-viraheṇa: "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 Kṛṣṇa,
without God—that is the test. Yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa. Every
moment... Because one who is feeling separation from the Lord, he is feeling
also, "When I shall see Him?" So this anxiety, Caitanya
Mahāprabhu, yugāyitaṁ
nimeṣeṇa: "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 Mahāprabhu
is teaching this, yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa cakṣuṣā
prāvṛṣāyitam: "I am
feeling one moment as a millenium, being separated
from Kṛṣṇa. And the torrents of
tears are coming just like torrents of rain.'' And śūnyāyitaṁ
jagat sarvam: "And the
whole world is seeming to Me vacant,'' govinda-viraheṇa 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 puṁsāṁ paro... That is first-class religion, yato
bhaktir adhokṣaje, to
love. Bhakti means love, service, rendering
service. Adhokṣaje. Adhokṣaje means beyond the
speculation of mind, mental exercise, bodily exercise.
Adhokṣaja. Adhakṛta akṣaja jñānam.
So
Caitanya Mahāprabhu
taught this. And He took sannyāsa. For the
benefit of the whole world, He took sannyāsa. He
gave up His very opulent position in Navadvīpa,
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 sannyāsa for the benefit of
the whole world. That Caitanya Mahāprabhu
has come here in
Thank
you very much.
UPDATED: April 1, 2009