Ädi Lila 1.36
çré-rüpa, sanätana, bhaööa-raghunätha
çré-jéva, gopäla-bhaööa, däsa-raghunätha
Translation
My instructing spiritual masters are Çré Rüpa Gosvämé, Çré Sanätana Gosvämé, Çré Bhaööa Raghunätha, Çré Jéva Gosvämé, Çré Gopäla Bhaööa Gosvämé and Çréla Raghunätha däsa Gosvämé.
Ädi Lila 1.37
ei chaya guru—çikñä-guru ye ämära
täì’-sabära päda-padme koöi namaskära
Translation
These six are my instructing spiritual masters, and therefore I offer millions of respectful obeisances unto their lotus feet.
Purport
By accepting the six Gosvämés as his instructing spiritual masters, the author specifically makes it clear that one should not be recognized as a Gauòéya Vaiñëava if he is not obedient to them.
Adi Lila :
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in this world for 48 years. The first 24 years of His life are called His adi lila. In the adi lila we read about how the Lord has sent many of His intimate eternal associates to this world to prepare for His coming. Such great soul as Nilamber Chakrawarty, Jagannatha Mishra, Sachi mata, Madhavendra puri, Isavara Puri, Advaitacarya, Srivas, Haridas Thakur. All of these eternal residents of Goloka appeared just to prepare everything for the coming of the Lord. And then it describes that the divine conception of Saci mata. And then on that most celebrated of all nights, the full moon night of the month Falgun, the Lord Sri Krsna appeared as the beautiful son of Saci devi & that is explained in the Caitanya caritamrta. And then it describes His childhood pastimes, His pastimes as a youth, His marriage to Lakshmidevi and while He was traveling in the East Bengal making disciples, preaching the glories of the Lord, Lakshmidevi was beaten by the serpent of separation & when He returned His mother requested that He marry again. And thus He married Visnupriya. The beautiful pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s grhastha life were described. And at the age of 24 He left His mother who was aged. She was over 70 years old. She was a widow & she had no other children. All she had was one daughter in law Visnupriya, who was only 16 years old. But for the sake of providing His causeless mercy to the world He accepted the sanyas order of life. He went to Katwa, where He received sanyas from Srila Kesava Bharati maharaj. And at that junction when He took sanyas the Madhya lila begins.
Madhya Lila :
The Madhya lila describes how Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu after taking sanyas on His way to Vrndavana, Lord Nityananda tricked Him to going back to Shantipur meeting His mother & all of His friends. And upon His mother’s request He decided to settle in the Holy place of Purushottam ksetra, Niladri, Sri Jagannathapuri dham. He spent some time there & on the plea of finding His elder brother, Shankararanya swami who previously was Viswarupa, after taking sanyasa & leaving home. He decided to take a tour of South India. This lasted several years. He traveled to all the Holy places, to all the Holy people & He converted literally 100s & 1000s & millions of people to His Namsankirtana movement. He also met Sri Ramananda Raya. He discovered the Brahma samhita in Krsnakaranamrta during His travels. Then He returned to Jagannatha puri & for some time He was remaining there. And every year for Rathayatra ceremony all the devotees from Bengal would come to Puri to spend several months with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And it describes beautiful dancing, chanting, festivals that they would have together. Madhya lila also describes Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s great longing to go to Vrndavana. How on many occasions He tried. And on one occasion on his route to Vrndavana in village of Ramkeli, He met Rüpa Gosvämé & Sanätana Gosvämé. And then of course Sanatan advised Him go back because there was a large crowd with Him. And after some time, He journeyed to Vrindavana & there it was a grand reunion. Krsna was returning to Vrndavana, the leaves, the trees, the river Jamuna, all the animals everyone was so happy to meet Krsna again. And there Caitanya Mahaprabhu in ecstasy the highlight of His love, He simply immersed His consciousness in being in the Holy abode of Sri Vraj dham. And then He returned to Jagannatha puri. And after some years, the Madhya lila was 6 years.
Antya Lila :
Then He began to very much withdraw Himself from the public scene. And then entered into very very deep into uncontrollable feelings of separation and at that junction the antya lila begins. For 18 years He did not leave Jagannatha Puri during the antya lila. He simply remained into the divine meditation of Sri Radharani’s love for Lord Sri Krsna.
Real Gaudiya Vaishnava :
So the adi lila is the first 24 years of His life & Madhya lila & antya lila are His second 24 years of His life. Throughout all the life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu although He taught the greatest scholars Sarvabhaum Bhattacarya, He defeated Kesava Kasmiri, Prakasananda Saraswati, Venkat Bhatta, He instructed Sanatana, Rupa. In this way the most a lucid, of all his teachings of all teachings throughout history of all creation emanated from the mouth of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But during His whole life He only wrote with His own hand 8 verses & that is the Siksastakam. Then He specially spoke to Rupa & Snatana & told them everything I have spoken, everything I have said I am entrusting to you to put into writing, to make it available to all classes of men for all time. Therefore anyone who claims to be a devotee of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who does not very rigidly worship the lotus feet of the six Goswamis & carefully study their literature is not at all is considered to be a genuine Gaudiya vaisnava. Krsnadas Kaviraj Goswami is explaining here, Srila Prabhupada, by accepting the six goswamis as spiritual master the author specifically makes clear that one should not be recognize a Gaudiya vaisnava if he is not obedient to them.
Four Tasks Of Six Goswamis :
In fact Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu at one time Sanatana goswami because he was suffering from a very very terrible physical ailment, he considered himself so polluted & useless that he wanted to commit suicide. But Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu ordered him no. He said I must do many special things through your body. Through you I will reveal all the Holy places in Vrndavana to the world, which have been essentially forgotten. Through you I will establish beautiful temple worship & teach the world how to worship Deity & Sri Krsna in this way. Through you I will establish the highest principles of exemplary vaisnava conduct in which all devotees should follow in the footsteps. And especially through you I will extract all the essence from all the scriptures & establish the path of pure devotional service to Krsna. So these were the 4, you should take note of this, It will be on your test, These are the four essential instruction that were given by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to Sanatana goswami, Rupa goswami. And of course the other four, the six goswamis, they simply dedicated their life for these 4 things. Who remembers what they are? What is number 1? To excavate & reestablish the Holy places of Vrndavana, 2 is to establish temple worship, 3 is to establish the highest example of vaisnava conduct & etiquette & 4 is to extract the essence of all the scriptures of the world to establish that the prema bhakti, pure devotional service is the ultimate goal of life & how to achieve it.
Divinly Empowered :
So all of the great devotees of the Lord in the line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, are gaining their information from the six goswamis of Vraj dham. For instance we reading from Sri Caitanya cartamrta but from where does this information come from? It came from Raghunathdas goswami who heard from them & Rupa goswami. Every chapter that Krsnadas Kaviraj goswami ends çré-rüpa-raghunätha-pade yära äça caitanya-caritämåta kahe kåñëadäsa that falling at the lotus feet of Sri Rupa & Raghunath I Krsnadas narrate Caitanya caitamrta & all of the great histories & biographies of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are directly or indirectly are coming through the grace of six goswamis. They were His divinly empowered representatives on this earth. In fact recently when we were reading when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was dancing at the Rathayatra, so beautiful He was dancing & He was chanting a particular prayer of separation of Radha in Her mood of love for Krsna & it was in the codes & nobody could understand what it meant except, Swarupa Damodar. Swarupa Damodar was no other than Lalitasaki & in Golok Vrndavana Lalitasaki is always aware of every emotion of Sri Radharani, so that she could be right there to serve Her. So Swarupa Damodar could always understand the purport to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s ecstatic symptoms, but nobody else. They were very very private & confidential. But at one time Rupa goswami he wrote in a beautiful handwriting on a palm leaf, the purport to that verse. And he put it in his thatched hut & went to take bath. And Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu & Swarupa Damodar goswami came at that time to the hut & He happened to see that verse. And when Caitanya Mahaprabhu read it His heart was filled with ecstasy & He turned to Swarupa Damodar goswami & said how it is possible that Srila Rupa Goswami has intimately understood the most confidential part of My heart? And Swarupa Damodar said I can understand because you have completely bestowed upon him your infinite causeless mercy. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu turned towards Swarupa Damodar & He said yes, what you are saying is correct. When I met him & his brother at Prayag because of their humility & great sincerity they surrendered their lives to the lotus feet of Sri Krsna. And because I saw that they were certainly qualified & capable & they were full recipients for My mercy. I bestowed upon them My full mercy to broadcast the essence of My heart to the world. So this is the glorious position of six goswamis of Vrndavana.
Praying For Mercy :
And here Krsnadas Kaviraj is humbly falling at the lotus feet, as he does at the end of every single chapter by falling at the feet of the six goswamis, giving all credit to them. When we read Srila Prabhupada’s books, when we read Srila Bhaktipad’s books or even the books by Bhaktivinod Thakur, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, translations of Viswanath, Narottam das’s, beautiful songs, we should know what they are saying is all coming through the via media of six goswamis. Srila Prabhupada described to us on many occasions that we should pray to the lotus feet of six goswamis, to kindly always protect us & help us in our Krsna consciousness.
bhagavänera bhakta yata çréväsa pradhäna täì’-sabhära päda-padme sahasra praëäma
There are innumerable devotees of the Lord of whom Srivas Thakur is the foremost, I offer my respectful obeisances 1000s of times unto their lotus feet. Here we find something very beautiful. First he is offering his obeisances, to the two types of spiritual masters, the instructing guru & the diksa or initiating guru. And here he is personally describing his indebtedness to all of his instructing spiritual masters. Another word, he is taking dust of the feet of all of the vaisnavas on his head, before he begins the great work of Caitanya caritamrta. And of course we should learn to follow in his footsteps, by learning how to glorify & truly appreciate the mercy of the vaisanavas.
Advait acarya prabhu amsa avatar tandera pad padma kotipranati amar.
Adviata acarya is Lord’s partial incarnation & therefore I offer my obeisances millions of times at His lotus feet.
nityänanda-räya—prabhura svarüpa-prakäça täìra päda-padma vando yäìra muïi däsa.
Srila Nityananda Rama is a plenary portion of the Lord & I have been initiated by Him. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto His lotus feet.
Initiation – Real / Formal :
We told the story on the first day of how Lord Nityananda appeared in a dream of Krsnadas kaviraj goswami & mercifully cast His glance upon Him. And told Him go to Vrndavana, All your desires will be fulfilled. According to this here, we find that this was the initiation of Krsnadas kaviraj goswami, because he pleased Lord Nityananda by defending His good name. Lord Nityananda accepted him as a personal disciple & gave him instruction. And of course the seal of the initiation is not just the ceremony. The seal is when the disciple follows the instruction. That’s when the initiation is actually sealed, when we take initiation we take a vow, to be obedient to the guru & guru gives the instruction & we follow that instruction. Of course it’s a continual process & then the initiation is confirmed, truly confirmed. Formally, as far as formality is concerned, after the second initiation, but in spirit, its not, In spirit it is confirmed when the disciple surrenders to the order of the guru. And the spirit is far more important than the formality. The formality is only a facilitation to create that spirit of that loving exchange between that spiritual master & the disciple. So here Krsnadas kaviraj goswami is explaining that Lord Nityananda is initiating guru.
gadädhara-paëòitädi—prabhura nija-çakti täì’-sabära caraëe mora sahasra praëati
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the internal potencies of the Lord of whom Sri Gadadhar pr is the foremost.
çré-kåñëa-caitanya prabhu svayaà-bhagavän täìhära padäravinde ananta praëäma.
Lord Sri Krsna, even if you don’t know Bengali just sound of this is so beautiful & sweet completely conquers ones mind, this transcendental sound vibration, filling the pages of Caitanya caritamrta.
Sri Krsna Caitanya prabhu swayam bhagavan tandar padarvinde ananta pranam
Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the personality of Godhead Himself & therefore I offer my innumerable prostrations at His lotus feet. We find that before he approaches to offer his obeisances at the feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, first he prostrates & offers his obeisances to those devotees who are near & dear to him.
sävaraëe prabhure kariyä namaskära ei chaya teìho yaiche—kariye vicära.
Having offered obeisances unto the Lord and all His associates, I shall now try to explain these six diversities in one.
Purport
There are many unalloyed devotees of the supreme personality of godhead, all of them are considered associates surrendering the Lord. Krsna should be worshiped with his devotees. The diverse principles are therefore the eternal paraphernalia, through which the absolute truth can be approached.
yadyapi ämära guru—caitanyera däsa
tathäpi jäniye ämi täìhära prakäça
(Adi lila 1.44)
Translation :
Although I know that my spiritual master is a servitor of Çré Caitanya, I know Him also as a plenary manifestation of the Lord.
Purport
Every living entity is essentially a servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the spiritual master is also His servant. Still, the spiritual master is a direct manifestation of the Lord. With this conviction, a disciple can advance in Kåñëa consciousness. The spiritual master is nondifferent from Kåñëa because he is a manifestation of Kåñëa.
Lord Nityänanda, who is Balaräma Himself, the first direct manifestation or expansion of Kåñëa, is the original spiritual master. He helps Lord Kåñëa in His pastimes, and He is a servant of the Lord.
Every living entity is eternally a servant of Çré Kåñëa Caitanya; therefore the spiritual master cannot be other than a servant of Lord Caitanya. The spiritual master’s eternal occupation is to expand the service of the Lord by training disciples in a service attitude. A spiritual master never poses as the Supreme Lord Himself; he is considered a representative of the Lord. The revealed scriptures prohibit one’s pretending to be God, but a bona fide spiritual master is a most faithful and confidential servant of the Lord and therefore deserves as much respect as Kåñëa.
Guru – Representative Servant Of God :
säkñäd-dharitvena samasta-çästrair
That the spiritual master worshiped as Krsna Himself because he is in the position like Viceroy. When the king does not come to a place or a land he will send the viceroy & it is the duty of the citizens to treat the viceroy as the king. Any offense against the viceroy is the offense against the king & any gift you offer to the viceroy is a gift given to the king. But if the viceroy thinks that anything is for him then he loses his position. The king will not tolerate that. So in the same way the spiritual master is simply the surrendered servant of the Lord. And because of his surrender he is very dear to the Lord. In fact he is more dear to the Lord than Lord Himself. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu when He was preparing to leave for His South Indian tour he brought His devotees together to ask their permission. It is described in the Bhagavatam the absolute truth is the “abijna, swarat” that means infinitely independent & all knowing, so why the Lord is asking permission? Because He explained to them that I am simply bound by your love. I am subordinate to your love. He said to give up my own body would not be difficult for me, but to give up your association is too painful to even consider. It’s worse than death. Therefore I can understand that my love for you is far great than, My love for Myself.
He Is Very Dear To Krsna, Because He Takes Risks On Krsna’s Behalf :
The beauty of the nature of Krsna is that He completely gives up Himself cent per cent to the love of His devotees. Therefore the devotees are more dear than Krsna. And the spiritual master is that devotee, who is taking all risks making great sacrifices, just to help others to love Krsna. Therefore he is the topmost servitor of Krsna & the disciple must see him in this light that he is the topmost servitor of Krsna. It is elsewhere explained in the Caitanya caritamrta, Caitanya Mahaprbhu is talking to Haridas Thakur & He is revealing His mind that I have no peace of mind. I am in so much anxiety. In Kaliyuga people are suffering so badly due to ignorance & illusion. The Supreme Lord like father He feels great pain when He sees His own children suffering due to ignorance. And Haridas Thakur being a perfect servant, he said to Caitanya Mahaprabhu that my Lord, that just you have come to this world & chanted Holy Name is enough to liberate all the universe. And this way Srila Prabhupada explains Srila Haridas Thakur wanted to pacify the pain in the heart of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the pain of seeing His children suffering due to Maya. And he says therefore, there is no greater service one can render to the Lord than this, helping Him to bring His children back home back to Godhead. And the spiritual master who is taking all the risk, who is willing to die to bring others to Krsna. And therefore the spiritual master is the most confidential servant of the Lord, and as we treat the guru that’s how we treat the God.
säkñäd-dharitvena samasta-çästrair that we should worship the guru as we worship the God. Here Krsnadas Kaviraj goswami is confirming his spiritual master & he is talking about all of these great souls who are inspiring & enlivening him in Krsna consciousness that the spiritual master should be worshipped as good as God. But at the same time one must always understand that the guru is always in the position of the servant. Why do we worship him as good as God? because he is so dear to Krsna.
His Words Are Krsna’s Word :
nama oà viñëu-pädäya kåñëa-preñöhäya bhü-tale
çrémate bhaktivedänta-svämin iti nämine
What does that mean? What is the translation? I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, because he is most dear to Kåñëa having taken shelter at His lotus feet. This is why we worship him as good as God. And this is why we see our guru as representative. Of course Prabhupada often said guru means heavy. What does that mean? It is explained that if you put everyone else’s opinion on one side of the scale & the gurus opinion on the other, the guru out weighs all others opinion, other philosopher, all scientist, all professors, everyone. Why? Because his word is the word of God.
Any questions ?
Reading this Krsnadas Kaviraj goswami, very very clearly describes exactly how the spiritual master should be understood as non different from Krsna. So please be here tomorrow for this very very important & wonderful narration.
