The story, “Lord Caitanya delivering Amogha the offender.” And we heard yesterday, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya telling his wife to instruct her daughter Shati that she should give up her relationship with her husband, Amogha. Because Amogha is a great offender of Lord Caitanya and father has vowed, taken a sankalpa. Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya has taken a sankalpa to never see the face of his son-in-law again, that blasphemer. And he has vowed to reject him and give up his relationship with him. And he has vowed to never even take his name.
So this is one reaction or one line of behavior one could implement if he meets an offender, if he meets a guru aparadhi or a Krsna aparadha. If someone offends one’s guru or offends Krsna then he could respond with this four point program that was shown in the lila of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya in Madhya lila chapter 17 verses 258 through 290.
So the four points are, it says, “nindakera mukha nä dekhiba.” It says, “I take a sankalpa. I take a firm resolution. From this day forward, I shall never ever ever again see the face of that offender, that blasphemer. Even though he is my own son-in-law.” Very serious. “And I totally reject him, tyägi, parityägi. And I break all relationship. I give up all my relationship with him. that means he is no longer my son-in-law.”
What is the relationship? The sambandha is kutumba. kutumba sambandha. Its a relationship based on family. I am the father-in-law, he is the son-in-law. He is the husband of my daughter Shati. I give up my relationship with him, I am not his father-in-law anymore and he is not my son-in-law. That’s number three. Number four is not only that. Not only, I don’t want to see. I don’t want relationship with him. I have rejected him. But I will never ever mention his name.
This is a four point program. Quite a powerful response to a blasphemer, a sadhu nindaka. So then we heard how he was preaching to his wife. Sarvabhauma was saying that, “If the husband has fallen away from the principles and practices of Krsna consciousness, he is not following the principles, he is not leading and inspiring his wife in the spiritual way then he is considered fallen. And then if a wife gives up association, it is said in the smrti, “That a husband, if he is fallen, a wife should give up her relationship with him.”
So now after all this is going on. Of course Amogha made this offence and he ran away when he was chased by Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya who had a stick in his hand. And then Amogha begged forgiveness and pardoned. Lord Caitanya was simply laughing. He thought it was quite funny, humorous. He didn’t take it seriously. Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya took it very seriously. He took up the issue with Mahaprabhu and then later with his wife and spoke all these things we heard.
So now we know what’s happened to Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sarvabhauma’s wife and something about their daughter Shati. But meanwhile, what is happening to Amogha? Amogha is the brahmana son-in-law of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya and he is the one who made this offence to Lord Caitanya. So what’s happening to him?
Text 266
sei rātre amogha kāhāṅ palāñā gela
prātaḥ-kāle tāra visūcikā-vyādhi haila
SP: That night Amogha, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya’s son-in-law, fled, and in the morning he immediately fell sick with cholera.
MS: That night the son-in-law of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, Amogha, fled from the town. He ran away and in the morning he immediately fell sick with Cholera. pratah kale visuchika vyadi haila.
Text 267
amogha marena–śuni’ kahe bhaṭṭācārya
sahāya ha-iyā daiva kaila mora kārya
SP: When Bhaṭṭācārya heard that Amogha was dying of cholera, he thought,”It is the favor of Providence that He is doing what I want to do.
MS: When the Bhattacarya heard that Amogha was dying of Cholera, he thought. So amogha marena. Marena means he is about to die. Then the father-in-law thought, “Ah, it is the favor of providence that God is doing what I want to do.” In other words, Sarvabhauma want to kill his son-in-law. He want to murder him for making this offence to Lord Caitanya. But he refrained from murdering his son-in-law because the son-in-law was a brahmana. And he did not want to commit brahmana hatya. It is a very grave sin. And he could not give up his own life which was the second alternative. Because if he committed suicide, that would also be brahmana hatya. So he could not kill his son-in-law nor kill himself. So he was hoping that something grave would happen. So then God stepped in, fulfilled his desire and God is starting to finish off the son-in-law.
Text 268
īśvare ta’ aparādha phale tata-kṣaṇa
eta bali’ paḍe dui śāstrera vacana
SP: “When one offends the Supreme Personality of Godhead, karma immediately takes effect.” After saying this, he recited two verses from revealed scripture.
MS: Sarvabhauma said this, “When one offends the Supreme Personality of Godhead, karma immediately takes effect.” īśvare ta’ aparādha phale tata-kṣaṇa. Phal, the fruit of aparadha immediately takes. īśvare ta’ aparadha. śāstrera vacana. paḍe dui. Pade means sloka. After saying this Sarvabhauma recited two verses from the revealed scripture.
Text 269
mahatä hi prayatnena
hasty-açva-ratha-pattibhiù
asmäbhir yad anuñöheyaà
gandharvais tad anuñöhitam
SP: “‘What we have had to arrange with great endeavor by collecting elephants, horses, chariots and infantry soldiers has already been accomplished by the Gandharvas.’
MS: This is one verse from Mahabharata, (Vana parva 241.15). What we have had to arrange by great endeavor collecting elephants, chariots, horses, chariots and infantry soldiers has already been accomplished by Gandharvas.
So this is about a whole pastime that took place, it actually took place here in Vrndavana, it is told like that, in a forest called Kamyavana. Päëòavas were residing there with Draupadi and Duryodhana had a plan. Duryodhana, he thought, let me go there and when they are in the forest in an inattentive state, they are just relaxing there, I will sneak attack them with my armies. And I will kill them, ambush them and finish them off so that I don’t have to worry about the Päëòavas anymore.
So this army of Duryodhana proceeded from Hastinapur to Kamyavana and they got quite near Kamyavana, very near the camp of the Päëòavas. And the word was given to Indra. Some of the spies and messengers of Indra said to him, “Do you understand my king that the envious kaurava’s army being led by Duryodhana is about to kill your son. They are planning to ambush your son and the Päëòavas in Kamyavana and kill them mercilessly.
Because the son of Indra is Arjuna, if I am not mistaken. Is that right ? Kunti and Indra. So Indra then said, “What? What is this?”. So he immediately dispatched commander of his army, king Chitartha or something like that, and he collected an army of Gandharvas and other soldiers and chariots. They immediately descended from the sky and they landed right in front of the advancing Kaurava army out of nowhere. They just appeared out of the sky. Elephants, horses, infantry, bows and arrows and everything. And they had a huge fight. They started fighting with Duryodhana and the Kauravas and started defeating them, killing them left right and center.
And then Duryodhana started screaming, “HELP! HELP! HELP!” And then Bhima…Because they were quite near the Päëòavas camp. Bhima heard the cries of his cousin brother, then he said, “Listen Arjuna, he sounds like Duryodhana, he is in trouble, he is crying for help. And they summoned their weapons and they prepared for battle. And the five Päëòavas ran out there. And they saw that this celestial army of Gandharvas was massacring the Kaurava army so the Päëòavas immediately attacked the Gandharvas and the Gandharvas were bewildered. “What is this? Indra has sent us to protect his son and now his son is attacking us!” Indra’s son Arjuna is leading up the charges. “We have come here to protect him.” they were sneak attacked by his envious cousin brother Duryodhana and the Kauravas.
So then the Päëòavas drove out, they drove backed the Gandharva army and they retreated into the sky back to Gandharvaloka and they reported to Indra, “Your son is most strange. This army was coming to kill him secretly and we went to defend and then he came and beat us up. Counter attacked us.”
So then Duryodhana, he was so shameful and so embarrassed. His mission, he had come on his nefarious mission to kill his cousin brothers. And then in time of need his cousin brothers came and saved him. Quite a reversal in situation! One would think that he may have given up his animosity. That by this incident, Duryodhana may have given up his animosity, increased his appreciation and gratitude for Yudhistira and the Päëòavas and Arjuna. But he didn’t. That actually increased his envy. He became more angry and more envious. “Now look at this, I came to kill him. And the very person I am coming to kill, he has come to save me!” So much humility and so much forgiveness and so much non enviousness. I have come to kill him. And when I get into some difficulty, about to be killed by some adversary, he comes to my aide.
He risked his life. He could also be killed trying to save me. He risked his life to save me when I am in trouble. So rather than appreciating that good quality, seeing again another display of good qualities which he saw so many times in his life. It simply fuelled his envy.
They have a saying that if you feed milk and bananas to a snake. What does it do? Does it make the snake healthy? Does it make him sweet like milk and make him soft like banana? No. if you feed milk and banana to a snake, it increases his venom. The content of his poison doubles. He converts all the amrta into veesh. Milk is amrta and poison is veesh. So milk and bananas together make a very nice amrta. A health giving tonic for the body. But if you give it to the snake. He doesn’t make tonic. He makes poison. Doubles his poison reservoir. So this is the story that is cited here that what we have to arrange.
So he was remembering this. Sarvabhauma was thinking I wish I could kill my son-in-law but the sastras forbid. So then he is thinking, “O, what I could not do. God has already done. God and providence has arranged to kill him to striking him down with leprosy which is a fatal disease. It eats away the body in a few days or few weeks, whatever.
Then he remembered, yes this is just like the Päëòavas. What they could not do, they were sleeping in their camp in Kamyavana, the Gandharvas, they arranged instantly all these armies. So what they had to arrange with great endeavor like elephants and horses, has already been accomplished by the Gandharvas. This is the story.
Then he is going on and now he is quoting a verse from 10th canto of Bhagavatam. First Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya quotes the pramana or evidence or proof from the Vedas, smrtis, the corollaries – Mahabharata. Then he quotes from Srimad Bhagavat purana
Srimad Bhagavatam – 10.4.46 and
Text 270.
āyuḥ śriyaḿ yaśo dharmaḿ
lokān āśiṣa eva ca
hanti śreyāḿsi sarvāṇi
puḿso mahad-atikramaḥ
SP: “‘When a person mistreats great souls, his life span, opulence, reputation, religion, possessions and good fortune are all destroyed.’
MS: When a person mistreats great souls, his lifespan, āyuḥ; his opulence, śriyaḿ; his reputation, yaśo: his religion, dharmaḿ; his possessions and good fortune are all destroyed. So basically everything is destroyed. If your life span is destroyed then everything connected with it is also destroyed. Ayuh hanti means, killed the life. Hanti, destroy, kill, annihilate. Ayuh means life, life force, body etc. It says hanti śreyāḿsi sarvāṇi. Sarvani, if you kill the body, everything is finished. Obviously, if you are dead, your fame, everything…
Interesting though, sometimes if you are a Vaisnava or a good person, then you are dead, your body is dead, your fame lives on. They say, “That you may die but your fame lives on.” But here, it is very interesting, you may die, and your body is dead, when you die your opulences are finished and your lifespan is finished and your reputation, your religion, your possessions, your good fortune, everything may be finished, but your fame will go on.
But here the Bhagavatam is saying in relation to Kamsa because he is about to offend a great devotee, Devaki. Not only his lifespan. He will be killed. But his opulence, reputation, religion, possession, good fortune, but even his fame will be killed. Any fame he has had being good king or benign king of Mathura, whatever he may have had. It will be all destroyed. Everything will be lost. Even your fame.
This concerns the attempted killing of Krsna’s sister Yogamaya, who appeared, it says before Krsna’s birth, usually it is after, anyway here it says before. Before Kṛṣṇa’s birth as a daughter of mother Yasoda. The daughter Yogamaya and son Krsna were born simultaneously and Vasudev replaced Yogamaya with Mathura Krsna and took Yogamaya away. When she was brought to Mathura and Kamsa attempted to kill her, Yogamaya slipped out of his hands. She could not be killed. Yogamaya, Krsna’s sister then informed kamsa about the birth of his enemy, Krsna. Being baffled, kamsa consulted his associates who are all demons.
When this big conspiracy was taking place, Sukadev Gosvami spoke this verse –
āyuḥ śriyaḿ yaśo dharmaḿ
lokān āśiṣa eva ca
hanti śreyāḿsi sarvāṇi
puḿso mahad-atikramaḥ.
Sukadeva Gosvami points out that a demon can lose everything because of his nefarious sinful activities. So this verse is also being quoted by Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya.
Now there are some more characters entering into this lila drama. So we have to keep all these characters in our mind. All these personalities. There is Lord Caitanya, the main character, then there is Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, next main character. Then there is Amogha, the son-in-law. Then there is some secondary heroines etc There is Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s wife and his daughter Shati.
Text 271
gopīnāthācārya gelā prabhu-daraśane
prabhu tāṅre puchila bhaṭṭācārya-vivaraṇe
SP: At this time, Gopīnātha Ācārya went to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and the Lord asked him about the events taking place in Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya’s house.
MS: At that time Gopinatha Acarya went to see Mahaprabhu and the Lord asked him about the events taking place in Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s house. I believe Gopinatha Acarya is a nephew of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya as much as I can remember.
Text 272
ācārya kahe,–upavāsa kaila dui jana
visūcikā-vyādhite amogha chāḍiche jīvana
SP: Gopīnātha Ācārya informed the Lord that both the husband and wife were fasting and that their son-in-law Amogha was dying of cholera.
MS: Gopinatha Acarya informed Mahaprabhu that Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya and his wife were fasting and that their son-in-law Amogha was dying of Cholera.
Upavasa, upavasa means fasting. In other words, even after a few days or whatever the time is, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya is feeling so much repentance, so much distraught over the offence of his son-in-law that he could not even eat. As soon as Lord Caitanya left his house after being fed sumptuously but also being offended by Amogha. Then Sarvabhauma reacted by saying, “I don’t want to eat anymore.” And his wife followed the lead. Because the wife can only eat if the husband eats. So he was fasting and she was fasting. So they were dying slowly. Because if you don’t eat, you die. So they were also dying. And on the other side the son-in-law Amogha, he was dying directly of the disease of Cholera. So they are both basically giving up their bodies. The offender Amogha is giving up his boy by the arrangement of providence. God has arranged for him, against his will obviously. God has stricken him down with Cholera as a reaction to his heinous offence to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So he is dying by God’s arrangement and Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya and his wife, they are dying by their own arrangement, by their own choice. And both of them are dying because of the offence made to Lord Caitanya. So this news was passed on to Lord Caitanya by Gopinatha Acarya, who I believe is a nephew of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya.
Text 273
śuni’ kṛpāmaya prabhu āilā dhāñā
amoghere kahe tāra buke hasta diyā
SP: As soon as Caitanya Mahāprabhu heard that Amogha was going to die, He immediately ran to him in great haste. Placing His hand on Amogha’s chest, He spoke as follows.
MS: As soon as Mahaprabhu heard that Amogha, the brahmana son-in-law of Sarvabhauma is going to die from Cholera. He immediately ran to that place with great haste. He ran quickly.
Placing His hand on Amogha’s chest, Mahaprabhu spoke as follows
Text 274
sahaje nirmala ei ‘brāhmaṇa’-hṛdaya
kṛṣṇera vasite ei yogya-sthāna haya
SP: “The heart of a brāhmaṇa is by nature very clean; therefore it is a proper place for Kṛṣṇa to sit.
MS: Sarvabhauma said, “The heart of a brahmana by nature is very clean, sahaje nirmala hṛdaya. sahaje means the nature. The heart is clean, nirmala, no dirt. Therefore it is a proper place for Krsna to sit. kṛṣṇera vasite ei yogya-sthāna. yogya-sthāna is a proper place for Krsna vasa. In other words Krsna lives in a clean heart, nirmala hṛdaya. When the heart is free from all the dirt and contamination, then yogya-sthāna, the Lord will sit there in union with the devotee. yogya-sthāna Krsnera vasa, Krsna bhavan, Krsna niwas. Krsna will reside in the purified heart. That is the first principle of devotion, to purify the heart and Krsna will be happy to reside there. ceto darpana marjanam, cit darpana.
The mirror of the consciousness, the mirror of the heart must be cleansed by the chanting of the holy name and serving the Lord. And then the Lord will come and stay there, Krsnera vasate. So He is speaking this, Lord Caitanya is giving us the instruction.
Amogha, what happened to you? You are born a brahmana. You are raised in a high class family. Now you have grown up and now you are married in a high class family, the daughter of the famous acarya, Bhattacarya. And now you did such a bad thing. So much envy came inside your heart. So much mala. So much dirt. Your heart should be nirmala, nirmala hṛdaya. It should be a pure heart. How so much dirt came in your heart? This is very bad. What happened to you Amogha?
Don’t you know you are a brahmana. You remember, sahaje nirmala. This is supposed to be your nature as brahmana, a nirmala hrdaya, a pure heart. What happened to you? Why you became so envious and made offense? Krsna will sit in the heart that is pure. Krsna will reside there, yogya-sthāna, kṛṣṇera vasite ei yogya-sthāna. Krsna will sit there and take residence in the heart that is pure.
Text 275
‘mātsarya’-caṇḍāla kene ihāṅ vasāile
parama pavitra sthāna apavitra kaile
SP: “Why have you allowed jealousy to sit here also? Because of this, you have become like a caṇḍāla, the lowest of men, and you have also contaminated a most purified place-your heart.
MS: Sarvabhauma continued, “O Amogha, why have you allowed the caṇḍāla of jealousy to sit in our heart also. In this way you have contaminated the most purified place-your heart.”
‘mātsarya’-caṇḍāla. This very low class person named matsarya, envy. You have allowed to contaminate your heart. parama pavitra sthāna apavitra kaile. Your heart was previously so pure, so soft, so komala, so tender, so innocent. So now, how is this very filthy, dirty envy enveloped your heart? What has happened? Your heart was so pavitra and now it became parama apavitra, most contaminated.
That is Lord Caitanya speaking. He is rushed out. He is heard the news that Amogha is dying of Cholera. Lord Caitanya has placed His hand on His chest. And of course you can imagine, if his heart which was inside His chest was nirmala hṛdaya, by contacting the lotus hand of Lord Caitanya, there is a good chance that it would not be contaminated for two much longer.
You know Lord Caitanya is cinmoya svarupa. Spiritual energy coming out of His hand, you talk about healing hands. They have phrases like healing hands, healing energy, pranic healing, reiki. So what to speak of when Lord Caitanya puts His golden hand on your chest? Which is where you heart resides. And envy also resides in the heart and jealousy. So Lord Caitanya, He is addressing the problem. Literally and figuratively, He is addressing the problem with Amogha. Amogha’s problem is the problem of the heart. Envy is the heart problem. Love is the good quality of the heart and envy is the bad quality. Love is the pure quality of the heart and envy is impure, the parama apavitra. parama apavitra is not pure. Pavitra means pure.
So He is resting his hand on Amogha’s heart and Amogha is lying down dying…Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh of Cholera. So Lord Caitanya comes and puts His hand on the heart. What happened to you? You are pure brahmana by birth, you became parama apavitra. So much contaminated. This candala of matsarya, envy, is dancing in your heart. Why did you let this come in your heart? You contaminated the most pure place. Parama pavitra sthana, parama pavitra sthana your heart is supposed to be a topmost purified place. But you made it apavitra, impure, because of envy. In other words, first He said, “sahaje nirmala ei ‘brāhmaṇa’-hṛdaya. Means the natural position of the heart is nirmala. Sahaja means natural. What is the natural. The nature, jivera ‘svarupa’ haya krsnera nitya-dasa. This is our nature. This is our natural position. We attain our natural position, we cannot leave that. This is our real position.
So in our real position we are serving Krsna and you can only you serve someone when you are free from envy. You serve someone you love. This is the purified heart. The loving heart. The serving heart is the purified heart. The loving heart is the serving heart and the loving and serving heart is the purified heart. nirmala hṛdaya, a heart which is free from dirt. Ceto darpana marjanam. The darpan is marjan, is cleansed.
And now He is saying, “But now this thing. What is this envy. Envy is like a Candala. Candala is below sudra. Like dog eater and dirty filthy thing. Then Mahaprabhu says to Amogha
Text 276
sārvabhauma-saṅge tomāra ‘kaluṣa’ haila kṣaya
‘kalmaṣa’ ghucile jīva ‘kṛṣṇa-nāma’ laya
SP: “However, due to the association of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, all your contamination is now vanquished. When a person’s heart is cleansed of all contamination, he is able to chant the mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa.
MS: “However, Amogha due to your association with Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, all your contamination is now vanquished. When a person’s heart is cleansed of all contamination, he is able to chant the maha-mantra, Hare Krsna.
MS: ‘kalmaṣa’ ghucile jīva ‘kṛṣṇa-nāma’ laya. So it’s kalmaṣa. The kalmaṣa, once the contamination is dispelled than the living entity can take, jīva ‘kṛṣṇa-nāma’ laya, literally it means, the jiva, the living entity can take, can accept Krsna nama. Srila Prabhupada explains, the living entity becomes able to chant Hare Krsna maha-mantra. By good association he gets his eligibility and also once the heart is cleansed one can really chant the pure name.
So now this is the conclusion. After touching the chest of Amogha with His beautiful blessings. The blessings from His hand. Gauranga has touched the chest of the offender Amogha, a Vaisnava offender, an offender to God because of envy residing in his heart. Lord Caitanya has touched his heart, literally and figuratively with His hands and with His words. Then He concludes His healing, Lord Caitanya did healing. Lord Caitanya performed the laying on of the hands.
We have these things in the Bible, where Jesus, he goes… Same thing is there actually, it is actually quite funny. In the bible Jesus goes to lepers and people diseased and Jesus puts his hands on their heads, he says, “Rise thou leper and take the name of the Lord” And touches his hands. The miracles of Jesus. You must have heard or may be you’ll probably haven’t heard. You are all Hindus. But if you have been raised in the West, you hear about the miracles of Jesus and laying on of the hands, the healing hands. Hands across the water. Hands across the heart.
So here we have, right here, five hundred years ago, Jesus is back again. Golden Jesus.
Just like when Prabhupada was in Butler Pennsylvania, when Prabhupada was staying with Sally Agarwal. Butler Pennsylvania when he first came to America in 1965. He was staying in a place called Pennsylvania with one western American lady who married an India guy named Agarwal. Her name was Sally Smith Agarwal. Agarwal is an Indian name and Smith is American. And Sally is, its kind of like Sanskrit, Sal. No Sally.
This lady had a daughter when Prabhupada was there. And then that daughter used to refer to Prabhupada as Swami Jesus. That was very nice term. And then Prabhupada, he got a letter from her one time, this girl wrote a letter to Prabhupada in New York – Dear Swami Jesus. So Prabhupada thought that was quite cute.
So anyway, here we have the laying on the hands, Lord Caitanya is healing. He is putting His hand on Amogha’s chest and now He is giving the healing benediction. With these words..
Text 277
uṭhaha, amogha, tumi lao kṛṣṇa-nāma
acire tomāre kṛpā karibe bhagavān
SP: “Therefore, Amogha, get up and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra! If you do so, Kṛṣṇa will unfailingly bestow mercy upon you.”
MS: “Therefore Amogha, get up, stand up, chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. If you do so, Krsna will unfailingly bestow His mercy upon you.”
So now Lord Caitanya has cured him with the touch of His words and the touch of His lotus hand. Now He is ordering him, stand up, Krsna will give you His mercy.
Text 278
śuni’ ‘kṛṣṇa’ ‘kṛṣṇa’ bali’ amogha uṭhilā
premonmāde matta hañā nācite lāgilā
SP: After hearing Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and being touched by Him, Amogha, who was on his deathbed, immediately stood up and began to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Thus he became mad with ecstatic love and began to dance emotionally.
MS: Hearing Mahaprabhu’s words and being touched by him, Amogha who was on his deathbed, immediately stood up and began to chant the holy name. He became mad with ecstatic love and he began to dance emotionally.
“I am saved. I am saved. I see the light. I see the light. Throw away these crutches. I can walk, Jesus healed me. Jesus loves.”
So Mahaprabhu did it again. Superman ki jai. Super God. Super Hero.
So Caitanya Mahaprabhu is a super hero. premonmāde matta, he became mad in ecstatic love. It says, premonmāde and. So he is like double mad. He was mad in love and mad in general. Because matta means mad and premonmāda means uttama mada, it means topmost pitch of madness. Premonmāda means divyonmada.
Lord Caitanya blessed him with this bhava , His highest divyonmada braja bhava in his heart. And premonmāda, this prema came in his heart then he became mad also. Nacite lagila, he started dancing the mad dance. Like some kind of rain dance or something. Abaho Indians or something! He became wild. Rain dance and like that.
Text 279
kampa, aśru, pulaka, stambha, sveda, svara-bhaṅga
prabhu hāse dekhi’ tāra premera taraṅga
SP: While Amogha danced in ecstatic love, he manifested all the ecstatic symptoms-trembling, tears, jubilation, trance, perspiration and a faltering voice. Seeing these waves of ecstatic emotion, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu began to laugh.
MS: While Amogha danced in ecstatic love he manifested all the ecstatic symptoms. So this is what happens when one contacts prema. He got such charge of prema from Lord Caitanya’s order and His touch. The touch of golden lotus hand of Lord Caitanya on his chest and His divine words entering his ears and heart, then he became transformed and received this premonmāda. He was dancing maddened in prema, he started exhibiting all the sattvika vicaras, transformations in sattvika bhavas. It says all the ecstatic symptoms, not just two or three.
When one approaches at the level of bhava or enters into the level of bhava, he may manifest to some limited extent, one or two symptoms of ecstasy, sattvika vicaras. Romanca kampasru taranga bhajo, we sing. So romanca, hair standing on end, pulaka, trembling, goose bumps and then asru, tears. Its three. But here it is all eight.
kampa is trembling. Asru is tears. Pulaka is jubilation. Trance, perspiration and faltering voice. Seeing these ways of ecstatic emotions, Mahaprabhu began to laugh. prabhu hāse dekhi’ tāra premera taraṅga. Seeing these waves of premonmada and braja prema wash over the mind and heart of Amogha, the offender and washed clean his heart from all envy and enlivened his mind with transcendental feelings and symptoms to the point where he was dancing madly, displaying all the eight symptoms of ecstasy in sattvika bhavas.
Lord Caitanya, seeing this wonderful and glorious transformation of the envious offender into an ecstatic lover of God. At one point he was an envious offender of God himself and next moment by the mercy of God, he became an ecstatic lover of God displaying all symptoms of transcendental loving ecstasy.
So seeing this beautiful transformation, the most astounding and incredible transformation which was all due to His mercy and of course the blessings of Sarvabhauma, indirectly. Then Lord Caitanya was happy. He was smiling, prabhu hasite. He actually began to laugh.
Text 280
prabhura caraṇe dhari’ karaye vinaya
aparādha kṣama more, prabhu, dayāmaya
SP: Amogha then fell before the Lord’s lotus feet and submissively said, “O merciful Lord, please excuse my offense.”
MS: Amogha fell down at the Lord’s feet and clutched them tightly and submissively prayed, “O merciful Lord please excuse my offense, aparādha kṣama more, prabhu, dayāmaya.o prabhu dayāmaya… karaye vinaya. With great submission, caraṇe dhari’, catching hold of Lord Caitanya feet.
So Amogha has become very much repentive and very much appreciative and very much grateful to the great mercy Lord Caitanya bestowed upon him.
So we can think by this, well, Amogha was a big offender, he was a great offender to God and the devotees. Because, by offending Lord Caitanya, he was also offending his father-in-law. So he was offending the devotees and Lord, usually it goes together. It is hard offend one, without offending the other. You offend the devotees, you automatically offend God. If you offend God, you automatically offend the devotees. You can’t separate them really.
So such a great offender has become such as great devotee. So we can look at ourselves and take this story and turn this story into microscope. And put ourselves on the slide and put that slide on the microscope and examine ourselves. Have we offended God? Have we ever made any Bhagavan aparadha? Have we ever made any offenses to God and His devotees? Have we ever committed offenses to Krsna’s devotees and thereby also to Krsna? Then if we have done such aparadhas, then it is also still a chance for us to be successful.
If we can somehow receive the mercy of Lord Caitanya, we will be forgiven and blessed with the highest level of prema. Prema taranga, the waves of prema will wash over the envious offensive hearts and inundate and flood out, and let’s say, submerge of those envious, non-devotional feelings, all those offenses will be washed away and we will be dancing in ecstasy experiencing all the sattvika bhavas. So what happened once can also happen again.
This is different than lighting. They have a phrase in English – Lighting doesn’t strike in the same place twice. It goes boink and boink and boink. Lighting, vidyut, thunderbolt. But in this case, this science, this is bhakti science. So the very meaning of the word science is repeatable results. You do the experiment and you get the same result I got. So what happened once can happen again. It happened Five hundred years ago an offender became a premi. A matsarya-vadi, someone who is full if offences. Someone who is an abode of offences became an abode of prema. He became premasraya. He became a receptacle of Gauranga’s mercy, prabhu doya moy. When you receive the prabhu dayāmaya, incredible mercy of Lord Caitanya, he became transformed into an ecstatic loving devotee. So there is hope for us too. We can also become ecstatic loving devotees by the divine intervention of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, parama karuṇa, pahū dui jana
nitāi gauracandra. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu kripa dayāmaya.
Text 281
ei chāra mukhe tomāra karinu nindane
eta bali’ āpana gāle caḍāya āpane
SP: Not only did Amogha beg the Lord’s pardon, but he also began slapping his own cheeks, saying, “By this mouth I have blasphemed You.”
MS: Not only did Amogha beg pardon from Lord Caitanya and forgiveness, but he also began slapping his own cheeks saying, by this mouth I have blasphemed You.” In word for word it says, “By this abominable mouth I have blasphemed You and then he slapped himself on the cheeks.
So then, of course he is speaking to Gopinatha Acarya. Gopinatha Acarya was there with Amogha and Lord Caitanya came and said these things and blessed him.
We will soon find out tomorrow what happened to Amogha’s cheeks. Did he get swollen, black and blue.
Some question from the audience – question is in relation to when an offender becomes destroyed like Kamsa. Ultimately he became destroyed because of his offences, trying to kill Krsna’s sister Yogamaya and also trying to kill Krsna’s mother Devaki. All accumulated, the offences to Devaki accumulated, then when Yogamaya, Krsna’s sister was born, he tried to kill her and in context of that everything was lost and then we find, in the same time period, Balarama is also there. And then we see Duryodhana, of course Duryodhana also lost everything.
But you want to know why Balarama was affectionate towards Duryodhana? I can’t say specifically, just but philosophically. There may be specific reasons that have escaped me right now. What is the underlying cause for the affection? But!
Because there are two things to look at here, one thing to look at is of course their family relationship is there. There is family connection. Which means Duryodhana’s family and family of Balarama through the actual family lines. So as you know in India, people are very affectionate towards their family members even if they are like tenth removed cousins.
So where are you going? O I have to go to this wedding party in Delhi. It is important. It is my brother’s sister’s cousin’s nephew’s grandson’s uncle’s nephew’s cousin’s cousin’s second cousin’s friend and he is very close member of the family and I absolutely must, there is no way I cannot go and attend the wedding.
So there are very extremely extended families and not only do they extend the line of the family but also the affection goes there. They actually feel that way, whether by imitation or whatever, but somehow they feel duty bound and maybe sometimes more than duty, they actually want to…
So that is one point, Balarama had some family connection with Duryodhana which He wanted to show that and to respect that, he didn’t want to take sides or take part. Because this was Krsna’s thing.
Kurusektra was His little brother’s program and Arjuna was primarily Krsna’s friend. Because it is personal, although you say that there are aspects of same Godhead. In tattva they are one but in rasa they are different. So Visnu is also there. I mean all the Godheads, so because there is difference in these personalities and then there are also different feelings and moods.
And the same issue is there in Dvarka. Again in Dvarka, Balarama had a different opinion than Krsna. They are both God. But the same God can have difference of opinion. One God differs from another God. Krsna is also God and Balarama is also God. The only difference is one is white God and one is blue God. They are both the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They both play the flute. They both tend the cows. They both have gopis. They both have rasa dance. They do everything. But one is white. One is blue. So if you like black God, then you have Krsna. If you like white God you have Balarama. So all the black men can worship Krsna and the white men can worship Balarama.
So in Dvarka lila Balarama, he wanted to marry the sister, who is actually His sister, because Balarama is the son of Rohini and Vasudev. And Subhadra is a daughter of Rohini and Vasudev or may be some other queen, because Vasudev had ten queens. But generally I understand that its Rohini’s daughter. So actually it was His sister. As far as Krsna’s relationship with Subhadra is, Subhadra is His step sister. Because Krsna’s mother, our Krsna, the Krsna we worship is the son of mother Yasoda. Because Krsna’s sister is Yogamaya. And we just heard that. Yasoda gave birth to a boy and a girl. Krsna and Yogamaya. And Yogamaya left Kamsa’s hand went to Vindya mountain range, here and there, and different places.
Now Subhadra was born in Mathura. You don’t hear anything about Subhadra. Subhadra is another personality. Completely different personality. The daughter of Vasudev and Rohini. And she grew up in Mathura. You don’t hear anything much about her. When everything in Mathura was shifted to Dvarka then you see Subhadra manifesting in Dvarka marrying Arjuna. So there was a difference between the two Gods in there in Dvarka because Krsna, He was favoring that Subhadra marry Arjuna, even though Arjuna came as a sannyasi and all that. But Balarama had a difference of opinion, Balarama wanted Subhadra to marry may be Duryodhana, I think so. I cant remember.
So there was a difference of opinion. So there and also later when there was a Kurukshetra battle, then He chose to default rather than fight each other. So Balarama went on a pilgrimage because He didn’t want to take sides. So that was His personal choice, because there was personal affection. So you could say that His affection was higher than duty.
Because His brother said “Come on I am fighting this war too. Come on. Let’s go”.
But Balarama said, “No”
First of all I have affection for him. We have a family connection. Our family has a connection with Duryodhana’s family. Which I can’t trace now, but you see in family lineages, how they are same family basically. And secondly is, “He is My friend. I like him. And the reason I like him because I was his teacher. I taught him club fighting and he was a good student and I have some affection for him. So I really don’t want to take sides against My student.”
Because on one level this is also adharmic. It is adharmic for the student to fight the teacher. Student doesn’t try to kill the teacher, of course in Kali yuga they do. It’s a fact, if you see in sastra, the disciples would try to kill the guru, sadly enough.
But this wasn’t Kali yuga yet. So it was highly irreligious for the teacher to go fight against the student. So for Balarama to fight against his student Duryodhana would be adharmic. So He chose that course, due to his affection, due to he being His student and due to the fact that He has his own personality. God has His own personality. He is not…And that was His choice. That was His will. That is my answer.
Because if you look on the Krsna’s side, you find Arjuna, you see the same argument. He said, “My Dhanurveda guru is there. He taught me archery, his name is Dronacarya. He is on the other side and You are asking me to fight my teacher. This is adharmic.” So Krsna said, “Forget it. Do it.” So Krsna overruled that rule of dharma but Balarama didn’t want to follow that line. Because He is independent. “Ok Krsna You can do it that way. You are doing it that way, but I am not going to do it that way. You are going to engage the student against the teacher. well I am not going to engage against My student, so I am going on pilgrimage.”
So it is like, showing two sides of dharma. Two different ways to see dharma. The sastric consideration of dharma, you could say Balarama is showing that in one sense but then the higher principle, the bhakti aspect of dharma, the Krsna bhakti aspect. So then Arjuna and Krsna are showing that aspect. Then the individual personality and the choice of the Lord being an individual, that is how I could adjust that.
Because I cant recall anything that I have read, any commentaries or something to describe this particular phenomenon. So I am only answering the basis I can perceive. This is bhakti and this is Krsna’s will. Because even Balarama is subordinate to Krsna’s will, because Balarama is simply an agent of the pleasure of Krsna.
It is told in Adi lila, Lord Nityananda and Balarama is the same, He is always absorbed in sevananda, the bliss of serving Krsna. So He chose this path of action knowing that this would be the best way to serve Krsna. That’s another point. The path of action means to avoid being there and to go on pilgrimage.