670210 - Lecture CC Adi 07.80-95 - San Francisco

Lectures by Date, 1967

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

670210CC-SAN FRANCISCO - February 10, 1967 - 25:58 Minutes

Prabhupāda:

. . . mane

eta cinti' nivediluṅ gurura caraṇe

(CC Adi 7.80)

So Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu is describing His practical experience about chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. When He saw Himself that, "I am getting almost like a madman," so He again approached His spiritual master and submitted, "My dear sir, I do not know what kind of chanting you have asked Me."

Because He's representing always as a fool, He's presenting that He could not perceive, He could not understand what is happening, but He submitted that, "These are the symptoms I have developed: sometimes I cry, sometimes I laugh, sometimes I dance. These are some of the symptoms. So I think I have become mad."

kibā mantra dilā, gosāñi, kibā tāra bala

japite japite mantra karila pāgala

(CC Adi 7.81)

"I do not know what sort of mantra you have given Me, but it appears that I have become almost like a madman."

hāsāya, nācāya, more karāya krandana

eta śuni' guru more

(CC Adi 7.82)

"'This chanting makes Me obliged to laugh and dance and sing.' So when My spiritual master heard Me, he replied as follows."

kṛṣṇa-nāma-mahā-mantrera ei ta' svabhāva

yei jape, tāra kṛṣṇe upajaye bhāva

(CC Adi 7.83)

Now the spiritual master is explaining, "Yes, this is the right result of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Unless You come to this emotional stage, transcendental emotional stage, You should know that You have not come to the perfectional stage of chanting. So I am very glad to see that You have chanted very nicely and You have developed the desired result."

Kṛṣṇa-viṣayaka premā-parama puruṣārtha (CC Adi 7.84). "Because this emotion means that You are developing love of Kṛṣṇa. And that is required. Not that simply by official chanting You remain where You are. You should develop. This, I mean to . . . laughing, crying and dancing is due to emotion of love of Godhead. So this is not bad." He, I mean to say, informed, the spiritual master of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, yāra āge tṛṇa-tulya cāri puruṣārtha: "Now, the symptoms which You have developed is transcendental and above all other four perfectional stage."

What are the four perfectional stage? In the material world there are supposed to be four perfectional stage of human life. What is that? First perfectional stage is that when one becomes very expert in following the religious principles. That is also another perfectional stage of common man. You have got your principles of religions, say, either Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Jew. You have got your own Bible or Testament or Koran or Vedas.

There are rules and regulation, rituals, everything. So one who follows those rules and regulation, they are called religionist. And what is the effect of becoming religionist? The effect is that you can live very peacefully without any material want. Simply by following the rules and regulation of your scripture, it doesn't matter in which religion you belong to, but if you follow the rules and regulation, then your life will be peaceful and there will be no material want.

That is not, of course, peaceful. You cannot expect any peace in this material world, because the major problem is birth, death, old age and disease. So you cannot check this. But somehow or other, your life will be peaceful and more than those, I mean to say, upstarts who do not follow any rules and regulation. You'll be in better position, far better position than them. So this is one perfection, to become a man of religiosity.

Then, if you become a man of religiosity, then your economic wants will be almost nil. Dharma, artha and kāma. And, if your economic wants are fulfilled, then you can fulfill your sense enjoyment very nicely. We want economic development—why? Because we want to . . . ordinary man who is in the material world, he wants to fulfill his sense . . . he has got so many demands of his senses, either in this world or in the other world.

Suppose a man is trying by his . . . following the religious principle to go to other planets. What is the purpose of going to other planets, heavenly planets? It is for having a better facility for sense enjoyment. Just like, according to Hindu conception, the heavenly planet Indraloka, it is said there are very beautiful women and very beautiful garden, and they can drink soma rasa and enjoy life for ten thousands of years, and their one day is equal to six months of this planet. So opulence, life, enjoyment, far, far greater than this; therefore they want to go to the heavenly planet.

Similarly . . . these are facts. These are not, I mean to say, stories, or fiction. These are facts. Similarly, in the Koran also there is such injunction that if one follows the principles of Koran, in the next life they'll go to Hur, the land of the Hu, the same beautiful woman. Because we have got this material idea, sense gratification, and the last word in the sense gratification is sex life. That's all. So if we think that, "Going to that place, I will have free sex life and the beautiful man, beautiful woman, and nice drinking, nice eating," oh, so materialists, they think, "This is perfection of life. This is perfection of life."

So dharma, artha, kāma, and the last stage is salvation. Salvationist. What are the salvationist? When a person becomes frustrated by become a man of religiosity, a rich man of economic development and satisfaction of sense gratification, when he . . . one has seen that all these things has not given him any peace of mind, then he wants to become out of this scene and become one with the Supreme. This is called salvationist. So somebody is thinking void, somebody is thinking impersonal Brahman. So the last stage is to become extinguished in the void or impersonalism. That is called salvation—salvation from this material entanglement.

So general people, they have got these four kinds of ideas: religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and at last monism, or become one with the Supreme. That's all. In the Bengal, there is a proverb that mullah daud masjid. Mullah daud . . . amongst the Muhammadans, the priest is called mullah. So mullah is going very hurriedly, and a person is asking . . .

Devotee: Your tape is off. It wasn't put in the machine right. It's behind this. It should be in front of it.

Prabhupāda: Oh, he has put wrongly. Stop it. So all these activities are, up to the last stage, that to become one. Therefore 99.9%, they will talk of void and impersonalism. They have no idea.

So Kṛṣṇa . . . but Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that this emotion, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, developing love of God, is far, far beyond these four principles of perfection, above the idea of becoming one with the Supreme.

pañcama puruṣārtha-premānandāmṛta-sindhu

brahmandi ānanda yāra nahe eka bindu

(CC Adi 7.85)

This pañcama puru . . . this is fifth dimension. One, religiosity; two, economic development; and three, sense gratification; and four, to become one with the Supreme. So above these four, this is fifth. This is the fifth stage of perfection. What is that? Developing love of Godhead and getting emotion out of that.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says this emotional stage is so transcendental and so elevated that there is no comparison with the other four principles. The perfection of the other four principle is enjoy to become one with Brahman. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says this brahmānanda is just like a drop in comparison with the ocean.

This emotion of transcendental love is compared with the ocean, and this brahmānanda, to become one with the Supreme, is just like a drop out of that ocean. So there cannot be comparison. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that there is no comparison. Brahmandi ānanda yāra nāhe eka bindu. Kṛṣṇa-nāmera phala—'premā', sarva-śāstre kaya (CC Adi 7.86). Kṛṣṇa-nāme: "If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, then the result is that you develop full-fledged love of the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

Bhāgye sei premā tomāya karila udaya: "So I am very glad, Caitanya, that You have developed that symptoms by chanting. So it is very good, and it is very nice. You are very fortunate." Premāra sva-bhāve kare citta-tanu kṣobha (CC Adi 7.87): "When one becomes . . ." Just like a man in love in this material world, also, he sometimes becomes just like madman, so similarly . . . material manifestation is simply perverted reflection of the real love. Here there is no love. It is simply a reflection. Because the spirit soul is originally in love with the Supreme, so he is trying to express his loving sentiments or life's symptoms, but because it is not on the platform of the Supreme, therefore materially they are manifested sometimes, but it breaks. It breaks. It does not exist.

So similarly, as in the ordinary love affairs there are so many emotions, similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says this is the nature of love, nature of love. Premāra sva-bhāve kare citta-tanu kṣobha. Kṣobha means there is some agitation within the mind . . . of the body. There are so many symptoms. Kṛṣṇera caraṇa-prāptye upajāya lobha: "And the more you increase the symptoms and this emotion, the more you will be anxious to be a sincere lover of God, or Kṛṣṇa." Premāra sva-bhāve bhakta hāse, kānde, gāya (CC Adi 7.88): 'This is the nature of loving emotion of a devotee, that he sometimes laughs, sometimes dances, sometimes cries." Unmatta ha-iyā nāce, iti-uti dhāya: "And sometimes he dances like a madman and goes this side and that side. So these symptoms are good symptoms."

sveda, kampa, romāñcāśru, gadgada, vaivarṇya

unmāda, viṣāda, dhairya, garva, harṣa, dainya

(CC Adi 7.89)

Now these are some of the stages explained, and each item is very important. Sveda: when actually one comes to the perfectional stage of emotion, there is perspiration, perspiration from the body, sveda. Kampa: there is shaking of the body, like this. Yes. Shaking of the body. Romāñca: the hairs stands on the holes, romāñca. Gadgada: he fails to speak; he cannot express his words exactly.

Vaivarṇya: there is sometimes paleness of the body. Unmāda: just like a madman. Viṣāda: he becomes morose, very sorry, viṣāda. Dhairya: and calm and quiet. Then garva: he becomes pride, sometimes, just like a chivalrous man, pride, proud. Harṣa: ecstasy. And dainya: and humble, humbleness. So these are the symptoms of perfection. So sometimes they imitate. So imitation is no good. It will come. When you are in perfectional stage, these symptoms will automatically come.

eta bhāve premā bhaktagaṇere nācāya

kṛṣṇera ānandāmṛta-sāgare bhāsāya

(CC Adi 7.90)

"All these symptoms means that he is floating in the transcendental ocean of joy, of loving Kṛṣṇa." That is the actual experience of love. Just like you love somebody, when he comes, meets you, embrace you, oh, you have got some . . . a particular emotion, similarly, these emotions means that you are in the perfectional stage of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

bhāla haila, pāile tumi parama-puruṣārtha

tomāra premete āmi hailāṅ kṛtārtha

(CC Adi 7.91)

So His spiritual master said: "So it is very nice, my dear Caitanya. You have developed all these symptoms. So I am also obliged to You because I initiated You. Now You are so perfectional stage, in a perfectional stage, so I am thinking myself, also, proud, that I have got a disciple like You, or You have been benefited by me." So His spiritual master said like that.

nāca, gāo, bhakta-saṅge kara saṅkīrtana

kṛṣṇa-nāma upadeśi' tāra' sarva-jana

(CC Adi 7.92)

Now here is another order. The first order is that "You chant." And when the disciple is in the perfectional stage, the spiritual master orders that "Yes, continue this chanting." Nāca, gāo, bhakta-saṅge kara saṅkīrtana. Nāca, gāo, bhakta-saṅge. Here is the particular word that, "You chant and sing and dance in the societies of devotees, not otherwise." Bhakta-saṅge. This particular word is there. Because otherwise you'll not feel quite comfortable. Abhakta. Abhakta means those who are not devotees. They cannot participate with this chanting or dancing.

Therefore it is particularly mentioned that bhakta-saṅge: "You chant and dance in the society of devotees." Nāca, gāo, bhakta-saṅge kara saṅkīrtana: "And Yourself enjoy this chanting and dancing, and at the same time," kṛṣṇa-nāma upadeśi' tāra' sarva-jana, "at the same time preach the Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy so that others may also be delivered.

Don't be satisfied that You have attained the perfectional stage, so Your business is end. No. You have to distribute this sense of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the world so that others may take also advantage." Kṛṣṇa-nāma upadeśi. Upadeśi means "Instruct kṛṣṇa-nāma: about Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's fame, Kṛṣṇa's entourage, Kṛṣṇa's glories, Kṛṣṇa's form." There are so many things about Kṛṣṇa. The Kṛṣṇa science is Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, principally, and there are many other supplementary books of knowledge about Kṛṣṇa.

So this is also another duty of this line, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Āpani . . . there is another . . . Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra (CC Adi 9.41):Anyone . . ." He is ordering all Indians. Bhārata-bhūmite means all Indians. He does not say the Hindus or the Bengalis or these Punjabis. No. He says particularly, "Any person who has taken his birth in this land of Bhārata-varṣa," janma sārthaka kari, "you just perfect your life. Just perfect your life," and kara paropakāra, "and distribute this knowledge for benefit of all other people."

So this injunction is received, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that, "First of all make your life perfect. Don't try to preach without becoming yourself perfect." The nonsense thing is going on in this world that so-called preachers, they have not perfected their life, but they have become preacher. They have not already perfected their life, and they have become preacher. Therefore they are bringing so many nonsense thing and misleading persons, Vedāntists and Vedānta Society, yogīs, this or that. But they are not themselves perfect.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that, "Before becoming preacher, before endeavoring yourself to do good to others, you just perfect yourself." "Physician, heal thyself." Physician, you are yourself diseased. How you can become a physician? People will, at once, will be detracted: "Oh, this doctor, this medical man, he's suffering from fever, and he's treating my fever." So there will be no, I mean to say, effect.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, or His spiritual master says that, kṛṣṇa-nāma upadeśi' tāra' sarva-jana (CC Adi 7.92): "First of all You have perfected Yourself by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. You have come to the perfectional stage. Now You have got the symptoms of emotion. Now You can preach Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare." Yes.

eta bali' eka śloka śikhāila more

bhāgavatera sāra ei-bale vāre vāre

(CC Adi 7.93)

Now Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "My spiritual master, after instructing Me in this way, he has taught Me one very nice verse from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata." What is that?

evaṁ vrataḥ sva-priya-nāma-kīrtyā

jātānurāgo druta-citta uccaiḥ

hasaty atho roditi rauti gāyaty

unmādavan nṛtyati loka-bāhyaḥ

(CC Adi 7.94)

When one becomes actually devoted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and takes pleasure by chanting his object of love, druta-citta uccaiḥ, his mind becomes perturbed by such chanting. And then hasaty, hasaty, he laughs; atho roditi, sometime cries, roditi; and rauti, and, by seeing him, others also cry; roditi, rauti; gāyati, and chants very loudly—unmādavan nṛtyati, and dances like a madman, nṛtyati; loka-bāhyaḥ, and he doesn't care that "Somebody is looking upon me just like I am madman." He doesn't care for them. This is the perfectional stage of chanting.

ei tāṅra vākye āmi dṛḍha viśvāsa dhari

nirantara kṛṣṇa-nāma saṅkīrtana kari

(CC Adi 7.95)

Now Caitanya Mahāprabhu concludes . . . because you might always remember that He is speaking to Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī. So He said that "With full faith in the words of My spiritual master, I chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, and I have no other business." Nirantara kari. Because He was . . . he raised the question of Vedānta, studying Vedānta, so He is answering,

"This is My position. I am just following the instruction of My spiritual master. In the beginning, he taught Me like this. He instructed Me like this. Then I followed. I have developed these symptoms. Then again I approached My spiritual master. He confirmed the same thing. Therefore My business is to follow his instruction, and therefore I am always chanting and dancing."

Thank you very much. (break) (end)