Radhanath Swami: Today we are reading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto five, Chapter three entitled ‘Rshabhadev’s Appearance,’ Text number fourteen. Maharaj Nabhi, son of Agnidhra, grandson of Priyavrata Maharaj, was the king of the world. It was his very deep desire, to have a son. Not only because it is natural, for a man to want son, but because it was his duty to God and to the entire dynasty. In fact, it was his responsibility for all living beings on earth that before he retires that he place a son duly trained by him to be the king of the world.
Prabhupda explains the difference between Monarchy in the Vedic times and democracy. In democracy, the common people, when they are spiritually and socially untrained their natural inclination is for sense gratification. Therefore when they cast their votes it will be on this basis—who will provide the most abundant sense gratification for me, my family and the society around? But Srila Prabhupada explains it takes one to know one. The great kings, they were Rajarshis, they were rsis. Krishna tells in Gita, the parampara of great kings, one of them that He originally spoke this knowledge to Vivasvan. He spoke it to Manu, he spoke to it Iksvaku and in this way this knowledge has been passed down, because the king is supposed to be the representative of God.
Maharaj Nabhi was a very, very saintly person, trained by his forefathers knowing that the goal of life is that all the citizens live in this world in harmony with the laws and the will of God and after departing from this body they can go back home, back to Godhead or at least be elevated in the process of going back home, back to Godhead. It is the goal of life. We are not the body, we are the soul. What are the needs of the body, what are needs of the mind and especially what are the needs of the soul? The rajarsis were training and facilitating that benediction for all their citizens and they were also taking guidance from the brahmanas, qualified brahmanas. So therefore, the great kings they knew who would be a perfect king. A perfect person knows who will be his perfect, who will do perfect service for society. Therefore who would be the next king was the exclusive right of the previous king to decide and if he is perfect, then there will be perfect service to humanity.
But in this case, Maharaj Nabhi had no descendant. So with very highly qualified devotees who were brahmanas, he performed his yajna to appeal to Lord Narayan to bring about a son who is just like Him. Nabhi wanted the Lord to descend on earth, or at least send a son just like Him to bestow causeless mercy upon all the citizens. That was his compassion. They performed the yajna so well that Lord Narayan personally appeared and King Nabhi and the brahmanas, when they see the Lord, they’re feeling ashamed because when they stand before God Himself, all the impurities in their own heart become very, very evident. We see even the greatest personalities when they stand before Lord Caitanya, when they stand before Lord Krishna, they become extremely humble, they realize their insignificance, they realize their utter disqualifications and great personalities who are realized always feel that they are standing before God. Therefore they are always in such a state of humility. So they pray to the Lord, that, “We are so foolish that we approached You and chanted all these mantras and called You to come here for such a materialistic thing as having a son.” Now most people if they did a yajna and the Supreme Personality of Godhead came before you and said, “Yes your yajna is good. I have come.” You would probably think, “Very good! I have done very good. Well done, well done!” But they were not thinking like this, that is why the Lord appeared to them the way He did. They were feeling ashamed. Why do we waste Your time asking for something like a son? Even though they were asking for a son just like Him to rule the world out of compassion for all living beings. This is to the degree that Srimad Bhagavatam is the Paramhamsa Samhita that kicks out all cheating religions, kaitava dharma. ‘dharmaù projjhita-kaitavo ‘tra paramo nirmatsaräëäà satäà,’ even the slight trace of a desire within a spirit of devotion is condemned by Srimad Bhagavatam. And in these beautiful prayers, they are glorifying the Lord and today’s prayer that we are reading is very significant. “Dear Lord, unless one worships the lotus feet of great devotees one will be conquered by the illusory energy and his intelligence will be bewildered. Indeed who has not been carried away by the waves of material enjoyment which are like poison. Your illusory energy is unconquerable. No one can see the path of this material energy or tell how it is working.”
Srila Prabhupada in this beautiful purport explains the power of material nature. It is the Lord’s energy, it is unconquerable and the great sages and the king are describing herein that, ‘unless one takes shelter of worshiping the lotus feet of great devotees, it is not a matter of maybe or if, that person definitely will be conquered by the illusory energy. His intelligence will be bewildered.’ This is Srimad Bhagavatam. And then indeed, he will be carried away by the waves of material enjoyment, which are like poison. We saw this little tiny wave—the Tsunami—tidal wave, that such an insignificant little manifestation of material energy. It’s a little wave coming from a little tiny ocean and we have seen the devastation that is created—hundreds and thousands dead, millions homeless, suffering, entire villages and towns washed away. Our devotees from Bhaktivedanta hospital were there. They were explaining to me, they saw places where entire villages, there was nothing left. Not a single structure. It was just leveled to the ground. He couldn’t even tell anything had ever been there. Literally nothing, just broke every house, every shop, every building, just washed it into the ocean, and when it came back, all scattered around. That is one little wave from a little tiny ocean, which is just a very, very insignificant particle of the potency of maya. What to speak of this ocean of material existence? All the universes in creation are floating in this oceanic material existence and the waves are unconquerable, they are like poison, and no one can stand before it. Everyone will be conquered. Anyone who comes in contact with these waves of material existence, their intelligence will be bewildered except those who worship the lotus feet of the great devotees.
daivé hy eñä guëa-mayé
mama mäyä duratyayä
mäm eva ye prapadyante
mäyäm etäà taranti te
This material energy is very difficult to overcome. These three modes of material nature are like strong ropes that keep us bound. But Krishna tells one who surrenders, takes shelter of Me can easily cross beyond it. These scriptures tell us that the material existence is like a vast unlimited ocean. Who can cross over this ocean? But one who takes shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the quantity of water in that ocean is reduced to that within the hoof print of a small calf. As His Holiness Dhanudhar Swami Maharaj was explaining yesterday, it is only by mercy, there is no other way that we can be delivered from the illusions and the sufferings of material world because the jivatma being tatastha sakti has to be totally under the control of either the material or spiritual energies.
One may forget our relationship with Krishna. We are deeply bound in the ocean of material existence and there is no possibility of the infinitesimal jivatma freeing himself or herself. ‘mayädhyakñeëa prakåtiù, süyate sa-caräcaram.’ But Krishna is the controller of all controllers. Material nature is working under His direction. If by His sweet will, He delivers us, then we are saved. There is no other hope, so how to attract the mercy of Krishna? That is the only question actually that can answer the problems of suffering, there’s no other way. How to please Krishna? So here the authority of Srimad Bhagavatam is telling, “Without serving the devotees, without worshipping the great souls, Krishna will not take our service seriously.” Sri Caitanya Bhagavata describes that chanting the holy names and serving the vaisnavas is all that is required to receive the supreme mercy of the Lord. But we must learn how to do these things properly.
The Lord is conquered by His devotees. The Lord makes Himself accessible only through the blessings of His devotees. Therefore if we offend the vaisnavas, there is nothing in the fourteen worlds we can do that will bring about more wrath of God. And there is nothing greater we can do to please the Lord than to honestly and sincerely please His devotees. This is the conclusion of all the great scriptures. Therefore those who understand these principles, they always aspire to make the ultimate goal of their life to be the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord.
In this regard there is a very clear and powerful example. Yesterday was a very Holy day—the disappearance day of Devananda Pandit. Now who is Devananda Pandit? And why is he so prominent and so important that on the vaishnava calendar we celebrate both his appearance day and his disappearance day? Now if you consider all the millions of great personalities, who are the associates of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and great Paramhamsa Vaishnavas since the time of Lord Caitanya we could actually be having celebrations of great souls a thousand times every day. Do you know how many great personalities they are, pure devotees who worship the Lord with unalloyed love? But our great acaryas, they chose specific amongst this ocean of great devotees to honor their appearance and disappearance days. And why did they select only these particular few? Because of their significance and their importance in our lives. So what is so great about this Devananda pandit?
We understand the six Goswamis and Shyamananda and Narottama Thakur and Srinivas Acarya, they were so prominent acaryas, they were leading the whole world in Krishna Consciousness in the second generation. And we understand very, very prominent acaryas in our parampara like Viswanath Chakravarti Thakur who is rasacarya—so many volumes of books, what he accomplished, how he reinstalled the dignity of Vrndavana after it was practically plundered into ashes. Baladeva Vidyabhushan contributed, and the previous acaryas who are close to us, Bhakti Siddhantha Saraswati Thakur, Gaur Kishor Das Babaji, Bhaktivinod, Jagannath Das Babaji. But what about all the others in parampara? And what about all the others who are not necessarily listed in parampara? Why Devananda Pandit? He hasn’t given us any literatures, he doesn’t have any remarkable lilas. The reason yesterday all over the world people honored Devananda Pandit and they do it twice a year is because the acaryas feel the example that Lord Caitanya taught to the world through him is absolutely essential for any of us to make proper spiritual progress. The very essence of philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is revealed by Lord Caitanya through just a couple incidents regarding Devananda Pandit. So we should listen very, very carefully because if we do not understand the principle that we are about to hear then all of our austerities, all of our learning will be ultimately futile. They will not bring us to receive the mercy of the Lord.
Devananda Pandit was born in a brahmana family. He never had any material inclinations, had no desire for possessions, completely moral and pious. Very, very exemplary in his following of all regulative principles. He was very austere, very gentle and so deeply learned in the scriptures. The only scripture he would speak from was Srimad Bhagavatam and because of his austerity, his simplicity, his perfect mannerisms and his erudite scholarship many, many students were coming to study Srimad Bhagavatam from him.
One day when he was speaking Bhagavatam, Srivas Pandit heard the Bhagavatam being sung. So he came to the ashram of Devananda Pandit and when he heard the sweet sound of the words of Bhagavatam, Srivas Thakur just uncontrollably just fell into a trance of ecstatic love and loudly he sighed. He wasn’t trying to make a show. He couldn’t control himself, he was in ecstasy. He just sighed. The students of Devananda Pandit, they were thinking, “Look at this rascal, bothering with these loud sounds. What a disturbance!” So they met amongst each other and they decided what to do. They picked him up, took him outside and threw him down. Srivas Pandit when he came to external consciousness and found himself just laying on the roadside, he felt very embarrassed, felt very bad in heart and he went home.
A teacher is responsible for the behavior of the students. Because Devananda Pandit saw what his students did and did nothing to stop them, he was responsible.
Prabhupada explains in a beautiful purport where the four Kumaras are cursing Jay and Vijay in the gateway before Vaikunta, and the Lord says that, He says to four Kumaras that, “If My devotees have offended you, you could lop off My arms as an atonement,” because whatever offence is committed by the servant, the master is responsible. And Prabhupada explains if you actually love your Guru, you act in such a way and speak in such a way that will bring glory to the spiritual master. If we act irresponsible, Prabhupada explains any misdeed done by a disciple is a blemish on the image of the spiritual master. That is Love. This ki jai, ki jai, ki jai-you don’t have to have much love to say those things. To give a garland, it’s good. To try to wash someone’s feet, it’s nice. But actual love is to help the spiritual master in mission. The mission is to give integrity to Krishna Consciousness, to the path of bhakti so that people’s lives can be salvaged. If people do not have faith in the vaisnavas, they cannot have faith in Krishna or the path of bhakti.
So because of this offence to Srivas Thakur, many years later when Caitanya Mahaprabhu revealed His pastimes of sankirtan in Navadvipa, Devananda Pandit could not in any way, shape or form appreciate Lord Caitanya. He disregarded Him. One day Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was walking with His associates, in this area called Kulia, and there at the ashram of Devananda Pandit, Lord Caitanya heard him reciting Srimad Bhagavatam and giving very, very academic eloquent commentaries. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard this, He became very angry. “Who is this rascal who is speaking Srimad Bhagavatam? Srimad Bhagavatam speaks nothing but devotional service to Krishna. I do not hear even a single sound of devotional service coming from his mouth. This rascal has no right to speak Srimad Bhagavatam. At this very moment I will stop this rascal, I’ll rip his Bhagavatam to pieces.” Mahaprabhu started running toward the house and the devotees stopped.
Some days later, Lord Caitanya was walking with Srivas Pandit and they just happened to come on the road as Devananda Pandit was passing. Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu went right up to Devananda Pandit and said, “You were speaking Srimad Bhagavatam, what right do you have? The Srimad Bhagavatam is personified by the person Bhagavatam. Srivas Thakur is a pure devotee of the Lord, you disregarded him, you could not understand his love, you offended him. Therefore you can never understand. If you offend a vaisnava, you can never understand what is the Srimad Bhagavatam. One eats food in order to be satisfied, but day and night you are reciting Srimad Bhagavatam but you are experiencing no devotion, no love of Krishna and no real happiness.” Then Lord Caitanya walked away. Devananda Pandit was very embarrased, but he could not understand. He just went on being the foremost teacher of Srimad Bhagavatam in Navadvipa.
Soon after Lord Caitanya took sannyasa, and went to Jagannatha Puri. Soon after that a wonderful pastime took place. One of the most intimate associates of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Vakresvara Pandit was traveling throughout Navadvipa-dhama performing naam sankirtan. Vakresvara Pandit was the personification of pure devotional service. He had no material desires in his heart. There was only ecstatic love. When Vakresvara Pandit danced, all the demigods would watch and be spiritually enthralled. When Vakresvara Pandit would dance and chant, all the symptoms of ecstasy manifested in his body—there were tears, hair standing on end on his body, his voice would be choked up, his limbs would tremble. Sometimes he would be pale. Sometimes he would roll on the ground, sometimes he would faint, he felt joy and lamentation of separation. Because Vakresvara Pandit was so very, very dear to Lord Caitanya, Lord Caitanya personally manifested the great symptoms of ecstatic love in his body every time he danced to the chanting of holy names [Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare]. Vakresvara Pandit was such an embodiment of humility and devotion.
He came to Devananda Pandit’s ashram and when Devananda Pandit saw the humility, the compassion and the love in Vakreswar Pandit, his heart was attracted, he wanted to serve Vakresvara Pandit with devotion which he did. Here is Devananda Pandit, the very austere learned and famous scholar of the Bhagavata with much devotion and love rendering menial services to Vakresvara Pandit. When Vakresvara Pandit would dance people from all directions would come to see. When he would vibrate the holy names, people would become very much uncontrolled in enthusiasm to participate. Devananda Pandit with a stick in his hands, he would clear an area so that Vakresvara Pandit would dance without anyone interfering. And when Vakresvara Pandit would faint in ecstasy, Devananda Pandit would catch him and with great respect and devotion, Devananda Pandit would take the dust from the feet of Vakresvara Pandit and the dust from all the limbs and rub it on his body to become purified.
Because of this service to a great devotee, something extraordinary took place. Please listen, because of Devananda Pandit’s offence to Srivasa Thakur, even though Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was dancing right in Navadvipa where Devananda Pandit resided. He would be hearing about Lord Caitanya, he would meet Him face to face, he would be chastised by Him. Devananda Pandit, not even a tinge of faith came into his heart. Because he offended a vaisnava, even the Lord is still standing before him face to face and talking, that beautiful form—no faith awakened in his heart. But with humility and sincerity he rendered service, he worshipped Vakresvara Pandit, faith in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu awakened in his heart and he regretted, he repented that, “The Lord was living in Navadvipa and I didn’t care anything for Him and I offended His devotees.” His heart suffered with this thought.
When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was traveling from Puri in His first attempt to go to Vrndavana, He stopped in Kulia and there He was forgiving all the people who offended Him and His devotees. In order to get the forgiveness of a devotee, one must approach a devotee. Gopala Capala who tried to ruin Srivasa Thakur’s reputation, the Lords wrath on him cast him into a state of misery with his whole body inflicted by leprosy. Gopala Capala in previous occasions approached the Lord begging forgiveness, and the Lord said, “Because you have offended My devotee, Srivasa, what you are suffering now, you will have to undergo for the next 10 million births,” and walked away. Hare Krishna. The Lord didn’t care that he was coming and surrendering to Him. He didn’t worship the devotees. But Gopala Capala came to Kulia, he really became humble and Lord Caitanya said, “Go to Srivasa, if he forgives you and you beg for his mercy with a sincere heart, you will be forgiven,” and He gave Gopala Capala the love of God.
Then another brahmana approached Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and said, “When You were living in Navadvipa, I did not understand who You are and I could not understand Your devotees. Therefore with my mouth I blasphemed Your devotees again and again and again. I was saying such things, “It’s just Kaliyuga. How in Kaliyuga can anyone be a vaisnava? How in Kaliyuga can anyone properly chant the names of the Lord? In this way, I was demeaning the devotees. But now I understand that I have made a great offence. Because I criticized devotees, I was criticizing You. Please tell me what I can do to atone for my aparadhas to the vaisnavas. Please be merciful to me. I surrender to You.” Lord Caitanya said, “My dear brahmana, if one drinks poison with one’s mouth, it will cause suffering and death. But if with the same mouth one drinks the nectar of immortality, it will not only neutralize and eradicate the effects of the poison, but it will give him immortality. Criticism of a vaisnava is poison. By speaking against the vaisnavas, one is drinking poison with one’s mouth. But chanting the glories and the praises of the vaisnavas is like life giving nectar. Therefore you should with that same mouth praise the vaisnavas, sing the glories of the Lord and chant His holy names. [Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare] There is no other way. If you criticize and blaspheme a devotee, then there is no yajna, there is no prayascita, there is no sacrifice, there is no atonement that can save you from that offence. Only when you learn to appreciate and glorify the devotees can that offence be neutralized and you will attain the ultimate perfection of life. Now go and wherever you may be let your mouth always praise the glories of the vaisnavas. and then you will gain Krishna’s mercy.” When the devotees heard Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu speak to this brahmana, they were chanting, “Jai! Jai!” And the brahmana offered his dandavat obeisances again and again and again and because he followed this instruction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he attained the highest perfection of life.
At that time Devananda Pandit was a distance away. He was feeling ashamed to approach the Lord. He was so humble. He was thinking, “I have criticized the Lord, and I have criticized and offended His devotees.” He felt so dirty, that he was sitting some distance away. Lord Caitanya was sitting among His associates, He saw Devananda Pandit. The Lord is the Paramatma in everyone’s heart. He knew, He knew the intent of this scholar and Lord Caitanya called out “Oh Devananda Pandit, you have served, worshipped and pleased Vakresvara Pandit, therefore you may come to Me, I want to see you.” And then Lord Caitanya revealed His heart, He said, “Vakresvara Pandit is the Supreme Lord’s spiritual potency. He is the very embodiment of pure devotional service. Vakresvara Pandit is so pure that Krishna is personally living within his heart. Therefore wherever Vakresvara Pandit may be, all the holy places manifest there. The spiritual world of Vaikunta is present wherever there is Vakresvara Pandit because the Lord is so pleased to always be manifesting Himself within the heart of My devotee. Because you have served him, and you have pleased him with sincerity therefore, Krishna’s mercy will be upon you.
Vrndavana Das Thakur explains that without receiving the mercy of a devotee one cannot receive the mercy of the Lord. The most important of all spiritual principles is to serve the vaisnavas. We were recently discussing the residents of Kulia Gram, they asked Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu “We are fallen grihastas,” they didn’t say grihastas, they said, “we are fallen householders, we do not know what is to be done. Please tell us what is our duty of how to attain the mercy of Krishna.” And Lord Caitanya gave simple instructions to the whole world through them. The path of bhakti is very simple. He said, “You will attain Krishna’s mercy and attain the ultimate perfection of Krishna prema if you just do two things—just chant the holy names incessantly and serve the vaisnavas, those who are dear to Lord Krishna. That’s all.” On three different occasions the residents of Kulia gram asked Lord Caitanya how to achieve the perfection of life and each time He said the same thing—to always chant Hare Krishna and serve the servants of Lord Krishna. That’s all-important.
Devananda Pandit then inquired from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu that, “I am speaking from Srimad Bhagavatam, that is my life. Please tell me how I should do it?” And Lord Caitanya explained that, “Srimad Bhagavatam, in its beginning, middle and end only has one subject—pure devotional service to Krishna. Everything else is temporary. When all the fourteen worlds fall into devastation, pure devotional service alone remains. It is immortal, it is eternal. It is the constitutional nature of the nature of the soul. It is the only reality. Srimad Bhagavatam speaks exclusively on this subject. Just as the Lord has incarnated as Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Nrsimha, and Rama and then those incarnations disappear from the world. The Lord is disappearing and appearing, disappearing and appearing in various incarnations. Similarly, this Srimad Bhagavatam is the incarnation of Krishna. Krishna has appeared as Srimad Bhagavatam within this world. Vedavyasa, the compiler of the Vedic literatures, he was unhappy in his heart until on the order of his gurudeva Narada, he had given the world Srimad Bhagavatam, the essence of all Vedic literatures and therefore he became happy. My devotee Sukhdeva Goswami, he knows the essence of the Bhagavatam, pure love for Krishna. The sadhya and the sadhana is bhakti, the process of devotional service. He churned the essence of all the Vedic literatures to give pure devotional service and that butter that he churned in the form of Bhagavatam was tasted and relished by Maharaj Parikshit. Therefore Devananda Pandit, whenever you speak Srimad Bhagavatam speak nothing else except the subject of unalloyed bhakti. There is only one goal of life—Krishna prema and there is only one way to achieve it—through bhakti, devotional service. In this way you will understand and you will reveal the essence of Bhagavatam and your life will be perfect.”
There are two types of Bhagavatam, the Bhagavatam that was spoken by Sukhdeva Goswami and the person bhagavat, one who hears and follows these teachings. One cannot understand the book Bhagavatam without rendering service to the person Bhagavatam. Our scripture tells us, Vrndavana Das Thakur quotes from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that the Bhagavatam is so pure, that any house where the Srimad Bhagavatam is present, that is considered to be a holy place, a pilgrimage. What is Srila Prabhupada’s mercy? Srimad Bhagavatam reveals Krishna and Krishna’s Vrndavana lilas. Srimad Bhagavatam is non-different than Vrndavana, it is a holy place. The Lord Himself exclaims. Srila Prabhupada had devotees like Trnakarta Prabhu, Niranjan Swami Maharaj, Titiksh, Karunakar and others and we just had our Marathon, where millions and millions of Srimad Bhagavatams, Bhagavad Gitas are being distributed and people are—even if they don’t read them, if they just put them in their home, their home becomes a holy place. They will be purified simply by the presence of Srimad Bhagavatam.
But they cannot actually enter into the truths of the Bhagavatam without worshipping and serving the person Bhagavatam, the devotees. ‘cäòiyä vaiñëava sevä, nistära päyeche kebä,’ Narottam Das Thakur explains, “Who could possibly attain the perfection of Krishna Consciousness without serving the vaisnavas? It is simply impossible. And herein Srila Prabhupada quotes from Prahalad Maharaj,
naiñäà matis tävad urukramäìghrià
spåçaty anarthäpagamo yad-arthaù
mahéyasäà päda-rajo-‘bhiñekaà
niñkiïcanänäà na våëéta yävat
One cannot become the Lord’s pure devotee without taking the dust of a great devotee on his head, ‘pada rajo abhishekam.’ A pure devotee is niñkiïcanä, he’s no material desires to enjoy the material world. One has to take shelter of such a pure devotee in order to attain his qualities. Maya is very strong. Without the mercy of Krishna, one cannot ever be free from maya’s clutches. And here the secret is revealed—just chant the holy names of the Lord with sincerity, be very careful not to offend vaisnavas but to worship and serve the great souls. Then Krishna showers His unconditional mercy upon His devotee. That is the eternal truth. So devotees should take this principle very, very seriously.
Yes, would you like to speak something, Niranjan Swami Maharaj? Please give the mike to speak something. Danudar Swami Maharaj, please give Maharaj microphone.
Niranjan Swami Maharaj: I was just thinking, just two points where you mentioned the Devananda Pandit even though he was in the association of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he couldn’t appreciate it and I was thinking of something that Sri Jiva Goswami said about the effect of the association of the vaisnavas. He said even a person who has no awareness particularly that he is with a vaisnava will benefit, but he said there’s only one person who cannot benefit from the association of a vaisnava, it was some Sanskrit term that meant, either something like one who has little knowledge and is proud, or maybe it was someone who is proud of his knowledge. That’s the only person, he won’t take, he can’t take the benefit and he was talking about you have to beg forgiveness if you offend a vaisnava. You can beg forgiveness and he meant something very interesting thing is that, if the person won’t forgive you, you have to chant incessantly but he said what you are actually doing when you are chanting incessantly is you are actually praying to the Supreme Lord to somehow inspire that devotee to forgive you.
HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj: Thank you.
Devananda Pandit had every possible good quality except devotion. Humble, he was actually humble. At least he appeared to be, gentle, austere. He had no attachment to any material possessions, moral, extremely learned in the scriptures. He was gentleman to everyone. But why? Why he couldn’t appreciate the Lord? The very culmination of the Bhagavatam, ‘kåñëa-varëaà tviñäkåñëaà, säìgopäìgästra-pärñadam.’ In the age of Kali, Krishna appears in a beautiful golden complexion with all His associates and here Lord Caitanya with the Panchatattva performing harinaam kirtan everyday in Navadvipa and Devananda Pandit seeing it. But he had no appreciation, he had no faith, nothing. Why? He was an impersonalist. He was an impersonalist. The Personality of Godhead dancing at his door. Because he had some pride in his scholarship, he had some pride in his knowing Bhagavatam and he didn’t even directly offend Srivas. He simply didn’t do anything when his students did because of that pride and that vaishnava aparadha. There is no one like Devananda Pandit in human society today, as far as pious religious qualities. But pious religious qualities is not the qualification to get the Lord’s mercy, it’s the willingness and the sincerity to serve the Lord’s devotees.
During Nawadvipa, Jagai and Madhai got pure devotional service. Those drunkards, those drunkards who were just totally intoxicated with wine all their lives, they got pure devotional service. And Devananda Pandit is just carrying on reading Bhagavatam with not of touch of it. That is why we celebrate his Appearance Day and Disappearance Day because it is the most important of all lessons that Lord Caitanya gave through him that we must not offend vaisnavas. We must learn to serve and worship the vaisnavas. We must learn to put, to every morning just like we are bathing every morning, every day we should give our consciousness abhishekam of the dust of the feet of the devotees. Then only will Lord Caitanya be pleased to manifest His full Mercy when we chant the holy names [Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare]
Srila Prabhupada ki Jai! Thank you very, very much.
Tags:
- Lesson taught by Caitanya Mahaprabhu through Devananda Pandit.
- Purpose of performing a yajna by Maharaj Nabhi.
- Difference between Monarchy and democracy.
- Purpose of celebrating Appearance and Disappearance days of Devananda Pandit.
- Two types of Bhagavatam—Book Bhagavatam and person Their importance.
- Master is responsible for the acts of his servant.
- Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Kulia gram pastimes message—to chant the holy names incessantly and serve vaisnavas.
