MS: This is Caitanya Caritamrta class, the title of the story is ‘Lord Caitanya Takes Prasadam From The Sanodiya Brahmana In Mathura.’
So we can kind of conclude although we have not found out yet, this may be that brahmana. But some brahmana, eka vipra… Lord Caitanya is dancing in Mathura, and there is crowds’ of people standing in amazement and they are all start to chant along Hari and Krsna.
Where is this going on? Where is this chanting going on? In the temple of Lord Kesava Who is a presiding Deity of the eastern petal of the lotus of Braja. We have Kesava deva in the East and we have Harideva in the West and , I forget Dauji, all these… can’t remember the rest. But there is Harideva and there is Kesava deva and different major Deities.
Oh yaa…Kesava deva, Harideva, Govinda deva, maybe Baladeva, I forget, one of the deva is Govindadeva and Harideva. Harideva is here in Govardhana, Govinda deva is in Vrndavana, Mathura is Kesavadeva, can’t remember the other one.
So that’s rightly as said there…
That’s text 161, chapter 17
TEXT 161
loke kahe prabhu dekhi’ hana vismaya
aiche hena prema ‘laukika’ kabhu naya
SP: When the people saw Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s dancing and chanting, they were struck with wonder, and they all said, “Such transcendental love is never an ordinary thing.”
MS: When the people saw Mahaprabhu’s dancing and chanting, they were struck with wonder, vismaya, and they all said, “Such transcendental love is never an ordinary thing” – laukika, this is not laukika. This is alaokika. Laukika and alaukika. Laukika means, when we say loka vicara, loka vicara means consideration of the people – laukika. Laukika, of the people… Laukika.
This is alaukika prema, this is something, we have never seen this type of love. We are people of this world, we are living in Mathura, this is laukika, and this is the loka, and everything here is laukika. Laukika acitivites, laukika love, localized, ordinary type of love.
This type of prema we have never seen before – The expression on Lord Caitanya’s face, the expression on the face of this brahmana as they are embracing together and love. This is an extraordinary type of love, we have never seen, we are feeling ourselves different. We have seen loving expressions, we have seen in this world a mother expressing her love for her child, we have seen husbands and wives expressing love for each other, and we too have experienced ourselves.
But now what we are seeing here and experiencing here in this Kesavaji mandira is something extraordinaire, which is alaukika. This is beyond the world of our experience, this is beyond the world of what we have ever seen and felt before. And it is touching us, it is touching our hearts, it is touching our minds, it is making some extraordinary impression. We also feel different than we ever felt before in any type of relationship with our mother, with our friends, with our brother, with our husband, lovers, wives. There is something very special going on here between the Lord and His devotee, this brahmana.
Such transcendental love is never an ordinary thing – kabhu naya kabhu naya…
TEXT 162
yanhara darsane loke preme matta hana
hase, kande, nace, gaya, krsna-nama lana
SP: The people said, “Simply by seeing Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, everyone is maddened with love of Krsna. Indeed, everyone is laughing, crying, dancing, chanting and taking the holy name of Krsna.
MS: The people said – these are all the onlookers, the bystanders, the spectators. It’s a spectacle, it’s a love spectacle, alaukika prema spectacle…it’s a ‘Love inn’. They had love inns back in the 70’s in the parks. This is a love inn and it is happening right here in the mandira. It’s a love inn right in the temple. It’s a love happening in a Kesavaji mandira in Mathura.
The Supreme incarnation, the divine incarnation of love for the Kali yuga age, Prema Purusottama Gauranga Mahaprabhu, Kali Yuga patita pavana avatara. He is doing it again. He is spreading the love around. He is magnetizing everyone. He is igniting everyone with His love. He is sharing His love, distributing His love
namo maha -vadanyaya krsna- prema- pradaya te
krsnaya krsna- caitanya- namne gaura-tvise namah
He is freely distributing His love. Now the cloud is moving, the rain cloud is moving, sometime it stops over one field and then releases a downpour, torrential downpour…ksssshhhhhh…and then the wind blows and carries that cloud – ghanasyama, it goes further, may be five, ten, ten more kilometers, not a drop of rain and it goes another ten kilometers and it goes above some other field or some mountain top and ksssshhhhhhh….another downpour
So Mahaprabhu was wandering here and there throughout India, and He was inundating different people, different places with torrential downpour of divine love – prema.
Now He is in Mathura, and He is arrived – He went to Visrama ghata, He bathed, then there was no downpour there, then He walked a few minutes, fifteen minutes He walked to the north, He went into the Kesavaji mandira and as soon as He saw Kesavaji, He became overwhelmed in ecstasy and again kssssssssshhhhhh….downpour…asru
nayanam galad asru dharaya
vadanam gadagada rudhaya gira,
Nayanam, His eyes, there was a massive downpour, torrential downpour of asru, prema asru, raining down all over the temple floor, bathing Kesavaji with His tears of love, dancing in ecstatic bliss, embracing the nearest person at hand, who is this submissive brahmana, one brahmana, who laid at His feet and clutched His lotus feet with his hands. He picked him up and embraced him with premalingana, “Yes. And Oh you! You have committed to me. Ok, you are the first one in Mathura to get the product. I came here to distribute love, I came here with a basketful of prema, so many fruits in my basket and I am only one gardener how many can I distribute? But you are My lucky friend, you are the first one in Mathura, I am selling, you are the first one in Mathura to buy my product. I just came here as a traveling salesman and I opened up my case and said – listen Dey’s pain ointment – kayataka, go, stomach pain, take it, cure your pain, it’s Rs. 29.”
Sheetal pain balm – 10cc, badiya cc…kamara darda, pet darda…
So Lord Caitanya, here He is, He is snuck into the temple and no one is around and He has started selling His product. And one person said, “Yes I will pay the price, I am willing to pay the price.”
Everyone is watching, all the spectators are there, all the onlookers are there…”Oh! Who is this! Dancing like this! So ecstatically! Such a large figure, golden figure! Ooh, I am amazed, such a sannyasi! Towering figure so effulgent, dancing so beautifully, Gaura Nataraja, this is like the tandava nrtya of Siva, I have never seen such an ecstatic, bewildering, beautiful and attractive dance before in my life. Who is dancing in the temple, He seems to be totally…He is just ignoring everyone, He is oblivious to His surroundings, He doesn’t see any of us, simply locked in a loving gaze with Kesava, there is something going on between this sannyasi and Kesava, He doesn’t say anything, He is only looking at Kesava, crying, cryingm dancing and aaah…sometimes His hunkara, sagana hunkara, He is yelling haaa kesava, ha kesava ha ha ke ke ha kesava…but He doesn’t see it.”
But one man understood, yes, something is being distributed here. This sannyasi is distributing something extra ordinary, I want to purchase this. And he started thinking, what is the price? What is the price? What is he asking? He is absorbed in His own internal ecstasy, absorbed in antardasa internal consciousness. There is no sign telling the price, two for one, five for one, fifteen rupees three, no price. But I can understand, from my heart, yes, the price is submission. The price is humility, if you want to buy this product you must approach the salesman with humble appeal, you must fall at His feet, and clutch on, hold His feet with utmost humility and petition and beg Him, “Please – Oh my Lord, Oh Caitanya, please give me this prema, please give me this prema, I know You have come to distribute. May I be the first to receive Your gift of prema?”
Prema dhana, Prema dhana, Prema dhana…
So this one vipra was very intelligent, in all the Mathura he is the first one, we are hearing about the very first, this is the first sale, historical first sale. Like when a man in the West, when he opens up his store and he makes his first buck, his first dollar and he puts it in the frame on the wall. Have you ever seen that? When I grew up, I used to see in a store, in a frame there will be one dollar bill, and I was a little…I used to say, “What’s that…why do you have a one dollar bill in the picture frame?”
He said, “Son that’s the first buck I made…That’s the first dollar, that was my first sale, so I want to remember that forever. I want to always want to remember that day when I made that one dollar.” After one hour of being open I ripped off somebody for a dollar, now I have been going on and I must have ripped off billions of dollars, but they only put that one up, that first one, that’s the one that counts, that dollar counts, it goes into a frame and is up on the wall behind the cash registry. ‘Yes! That’s my lucky dollar ‘ (laughs…)
So this eka vipra in Vrndavana, he is that lucky brahmana. He is the first one to receive the product. And he got the full product – loving embrace, chest to chest of Lord Caitanya, dancing hand in hand, face to face, eye to eye in the temple and everyone is seeing this…
They are saying, “Oh! This is extraordinary; this is alaukika prema, what is this? What’s going on?” So people were getting interested. Maybe we should purchase, maybe we should step forward and also take part.
So simply by seeing Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu everyone is maddened by love of Krsna, everyone is laughing, crying, dancing and chanting and taking the holy name of Krsna. It’s becoming infectious; it is becoming a contagious disease. At first there were only spectators, innocent bystanders.
As they say sometimes, the terrorist mowed down 50 innocent bystanders. They came to kill some politician and they got excited and said, “Well, might as well, knocked off these guys too.” They knock off the politician but that’s only a few rounds and they have 65 rounds left and they don’t want to go home, you know with full cartridge or magazine whatever they call. Might as well empty this baby…ttrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…Ok, knock off 65 people. And they say, “So and so prime minister mowed down by terrorist gunmen and 65 innocent bystanders also.”
So Lord Caitanya knocked off one vipra, and now all these innocent bystanders, all these innocent bystanders and onlookers, curious onlookers, they were amazed. They never, they were described – camatkara, loke dekhi camatkara…, they were, they were simply amazed, “Ooh vow look at that man, did you see that man!!! Check it out!”
“Hey, let’s go a little close…”
“…no…no watch out and step back…this one is crazy…”
“What’s going on here?”
“These Hare Krsnas, look a little strange, jumping up and down, laughing, dancing – hey move back, move back, keep your distance, don’t go too close, they look dangerous, they may have some disease. They are smiling ear to ear, they are blissful, they are effulgent. They seemed to be very happy. Something is weird about them. Nobody is happy in the city. Everybody is morose, unhappy, dragging their chins on the ground!”
“So forlorn, alienated, frustrated, disappointed. So what’s wrong with these guys? They look satisfied, fulfilled, joyful, blissful. There is something wrong, they are crazy, must be on drugs. They are taking some of that new drug, my son told me about ‘ecstasy drug’, I was thinking about trying some myself. Life got me so down, I don’t know what to do!”
So all these bystanders of Mathura, then all of a sudden, they don’t know what happened. They are going crazy too. It says darsane loke preme matta hana
Preme matta, they all became mad also. Everyone is mad with love for Krsna, simply by seeing Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And later on South India tour, Krsnadasa Kaviraja says, this is how Caitanya Mahaprabhu is distributing love of Godhead by His saundarya rupam, by saundarya rupam and His loud chanting of the holy name.
So by sight and by sound He was distributing love of Godhead. Saundarya rupam, means His beautiful form, people simply looked – “Oh so beautiful, so handsome, attractive effulgent, I cant take my eyes from Him. I want to follow; I want to be His associate. I want to go wherever He goes, I don’t care anything, family, friends whatever, forget it.”
Just by seeing Him, He didn’t even say anything, wasn’t even chanting, just walking down the street. Just to see Him, that saundarya rupam, and then when He started chanting in ecstasy ‘Krsna Krsna Krsna Krsna Krsna Krsna he!’
Then when they heard that sound vibration, then they also attained prema.
Here the people were just saying that alaukika prema is being distributed on the face and form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and then their cohort, their fellow brahmana was also exhibiting this ecstasy.
So what happened was, they looked for too long. They were looking too long at Lord Caitanya, they got infected, they stayed too long, they didn’t get out in time, you had to be careful. You are too close to Hare Krsna, you will be finished.
They became maddened with love of Krsna. Everyone started laughing, crying, dancing and chanting taking the holy name – hase, kande, nace, gaya, krsna-nama lana.
TEXT 163
sarvatha-niscita——inho krsna-avatara
mathura aila lokera karite nistara
SP: “Certainly Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is in all respects the incarnation of
Lord Krsna. Now He has come to Mathura to deliver everyone.”
MS: After this Mahaprabhu took the brahmana to the side. Sitting in a solitary place the Lord began to question him. So, I could even title this story – ‘Mahaprabhu Takes Mathura By Storm.’ He overtakes, He conquests, the conquest of Mathura by Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu conquers Mathura, so He conquered Mathura with love. Because first you conquer the top most class, the ruling, the guiding class, then everyone else follows.
yad yad acarati sresthas
tat tad evetaro janah
sa yat pramanam kurute
lokas tad anuvartate
(Bhagvad-gita 3.21)
Krsna is telling in Bhagvad-gita, whatever a great man does, the common man follows. Whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues, sarvaloka. So the leaders among men are brahmanas, they are the visionaries, the guides for society. They guide the Ksatriyas, give them advice, ministerial advice, and then the executors of the brahminical advice are the Ksatriyas. They execute and they enforce, they are arms. Ksatriyas are the arms, they execute and they enforce, they understand with their intelligence, they execute with their bodies. So the guidance is coming from Supersoul and sastra.
The Brahmins are Supersoul realized and sastric realized. So when the combination of Supersoul, sastras and Brahmins guide the Ksatriyas and the Ksatriyas absorb it, understand with their intelligence and then with their passion. Because Ksatriya is a mixture of sattva and raja, they understand with their sattvika element and they implement it with their rajasika element, which is their arms, so they implement, they execute, enforce. Law enforcement agency. And then the Vaisyas, they pay the taxes, and if they don’t, they get ‘enforced’, they get hit on the head. And the Sudras assist everyone. So legs are there, stomach is there, brain is there and arms are there. This is varnasrama dharma.
So Lord Caitanya is conquering Mathura first by conquering the Brahmins, brahminical class. First one He conquered, was one brahmana He met in Kesavaji mandira. He gave him premalinga, lingata, He embraced him and filled him with prema and danced with him.
Then He attracted all the other Brahmins in the temple, and other devotees, and they became mad also. Now we have a whole group of Brahmins, vipras and Brahmins that has been influenced by the first conquest and the first skirmish. Mahaprabhu’s first skirmish upon entering Mathura, He is taken bath in the Yamuna, Visrama Ghata, then He is entered privately in the temple.
No one really know He is even in the city, only a handful know. So Lord Caitanya has infiltrated among the ranks. He has infiltrated into the city, privately in the Kesavaji Mandira. Krsna knows everything – Kesava knows the appearance of the Lord. He has come to My city…aaah very good, Mahaprabhu has come, I am so happy to see My Lord. Now My work will be done, prema will be spread in Mathura. There will be an inundation of prema here. Then He influenced the Brahmins, they became made, they started dancing, nace, gaye… singing, dancing…unmata, they became mad.
First they witnessed aloukika prema, they witnessed and watched the aloukika prema of this eka, one Brahmin and Lord Caitanya. This is amazing…loke dekhi camatkara, this is the most amazing site that I have ever seen… What am I hearing, I am hearing prema nama sankirtana from Gauranga’s lotus mouth and I am seeing sweet the display of divine ecstasy as He dances in abandon with one devotee in the temple of Kesava, and I am becoming helplessly attracted and compelled like a magnet pulling the filings.
And all of a sudden, I find myself laughing (laughs…) ooh this is wonderful! Now I find myself, I am chanting! I don’t know why? It’s as if I am hypnotized. I am laughing, I am dancing and now I am also chanting and I am going mad and this whole temple going mad with this one golden madman, this sannyasi, what is happening?
Now the kirtana comes to a close and Lord Caitanya says, “Yes, brahmana, now you come, sit with me in a private place. I want to enquire something from you.”
TEXT 165
‘arya, sarala, tumi——vrddha brahmana
kahan haite paile tumi ei prema-dhana?’
SP: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “You are an elderly brahmana, you are sincere, and you are advanced in spiritual life. Wherefrom have you gotten this transcendental opulence of ecstatic love for Krsna?”
MS: Mahaprabhu said, “You are an elderly brahmana.” So not only is he member of this eka vipra, now we know something more. Only we knew eka vipra, that one vipra met the Lord in Kesavji mandira in Mathura and he started dancing, first he submitted, he laid at the feet of the Lord and clutched His feet …Mahaprabhu carana dharila…. He clutched is feet, He submitted himself, tad viddhi pranipatena.
He submitted himself at the Lord’s feet. He was accepted by the Lord and the Lord blessed him with prema, they danced together for the pleasure of Krsna, for the pleasure of Kesavaji. They attracted the attention of all the other Brahmins.
So not only was he a member of the guiding class, the intellectual class, the intelligent class which guides and rules the society by their intelligent guidance but he was an elderly member. So it’s one thing to be a Brahmin, that’s a respectful position, but age is also respectable and generally if you are an elder brahmana, that means you are a wiser brahmana, more wise, more perceptive, more talented.
So now he is a very, very powerful guiding light. One of the leading guiding lights of Mathura, leading brahmanas, elderly brahmanas. Not a kid brahmana (vidvan)
‘arya, sarala, tumi——vrddha brahmana
kahan haite paile tumi ei prema-dhana?’
MS: “You are an elderly Brahmin, you are sincere, you are advanced in spiritual life. He says you are sarala, you are simple, arya. You are advanced in devotional service, vrddha. I have a question – from where have you attained, where have you my dear brahmana, elderly brahmana, vrddha brahmana, where have you attained this ecstatic wealth of Krsna, ecstatic love for Krsna? Where have you attained it?”
That’s like the ocean asking the cloud – “Oh rain cloud where have you attained your water?” What’s the answer? You understand my English? The ocean asks the rain cloud, “Rain cloud, where have you attained your water?” So what’s the answer? “The ocean! From you!”
Lord Caitanya is asking the brahmana, “Oh brahmana, I am amazed kahan haite paile tumi ei prema-dhana?”
MS: Where have you attained you ecstatic wealth, the prema-dhana, the wealth of your ecstatic love of God.
TEXT 166
vipra kahe,——‘sripada sri-madhavendra-puri
bhramite bhramite aila mathura-nagari
SP: The brahmana replied, “His Holiness Srila Madhavendra Puri came to the city of Mathura while he was on tour.
MS: So that’s why this whole group of brahmanas taking darsana that one fateful morning in Mathura. That group of brahmanas taking darsana in a Kesavaji mandira, one of them was most intelligent. He was most arya, and sarala, simple. And why was he most intelligent because he had guru krpa. He had received krpa from his guru. Who is his guru, his guru is Madhavendra Puri.
Who is Madhavendra Puri? Madhavendra Puri is the parama guru of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Madhavendra Puri is the guru of Isvara Puri. So because of that connection, guru-sisya sambandha, this brahmana, this elderly brahmana was very intelligent, he could understand, he could discriminate, he could understand this golden sannyasi, that has entered our temple on this day, He is special. He is carrying a great treasure of alaukika prema and He is dancing in ecstasy due to His intense loving relationship with Kesava and I want to show my respect to Him, right here, right now. So He immediately offered dandavats at the feet of the Lord and clutched His feet. They say – it takes one, to know one.
If you are an advance devotee, or you are an advanced spiritualist, when you meet someone or see someone, then you can understand, where they are, who they are, how they are? What is their level? But if you are not advanced then, oh everyone is a pure devotee.
So Lord Caitanya, now He is saying, what is He saying? That’s pretty simple. Question is – “Where did you get this prema dhana? Oh Mathura brahmana, where did you get this wealth of prema?”
And he says – His Holiness Srila Madhavendra Puri, bhramite bhramite He was wondering …Brahmanda bhramite kona… So he was wondering, here and there, he came to Mathura nagari. He came once, Madhavendra Puri came once, like You he also came once and visited Mathura while he was on a tour to India.
He also came here to Radha Kunda. This is again, as I was saying, all the great devotees, they first enter Braja mandala, where do they go? They go to Mathura, and what do they do? Take bath in Visrama Ghata, in the Yamuna and then what do they do? They tour the holy places of Mathura.
First the birth place, then the 21 ghatas along the Yamuna. Holy ghatas and all the Dirgha Visnu temple and the Adi-varaha temple, very, very ancient temples and the Rangeswara Siva temple and the Buteshwar Siva temple and the Pimpaleshwar Siva temple, and the Gokuleshwar Siva temple. They visit all these most holy ancient, ancient places of Mathura.
Then they come to Braja-mandala, they tour the twelve forests of Vrndavana and then later they visit the original gosvami temples and in this way they complete their yatra. Yatra is saphala. So here is another example, not only Caitanya Mahaprabhu, not only Nityananda Prabhu, not only Advaita Acarya, not only Jahnava Mata, not only the six gosvamis, not only all the great devotees, also Madhavendra Puri, when he came to Braja-mandala, he and all the, ones I mentioned, first they went to Mathura, then they took bath in Visrama Ghata, then he took the Janmasthana of Kesavaji, Lord Kesava’s Janmasthana, then he entered Vrndavana. There is another example which is being told here, while he was on tour.
Madhavendra Puri, after he went to Mathura, then he toured the caurasi-kosa, the 168 square miles of Vrndavana and during that tour he came to a place known as Radha Kunda. You know Radha Kunda?
It’s nearby. And in Radha Kunda he has a sitting place called Madhavendra Puri Baithak. Did you see anytime? So that’s there, right near Gopi Kua, there is one well there where we go around called Gopi Kua, where they collected the drinking water, that’s there.
So he came there, and during that opportune time, then this brahmana, Mathura brahmana met this illustrious pure devotee Madhavendra Puri. And now he goes on to narrate more and answer to Lord Caitanya’s question. And the brahmana said…
TEXT 167
krpa kari’ tenho mora nilaye aila
more sisya kari’ mora hate ‘bhiksa’ kaila
SP: “While at Mathura, Sripada Madhavendra Puri visited my house and accepted me as a disciple. He even took lunch at my home.
MS: When he was in Mathura Sripada Madhavendra Puri visited my home and accepted me as a disciple. He even took lunch in my home. So that’s quite full scale, wholesale acceptance, because he accepted him and immediately accepted food from his hand.
krpa kari’, mora nilaye aila… He came to my humble place, it is very interesting, the word-for-word, it says he visited my house, that’s the translation, and Prabhupada’s word-for-word, he said, ‘by his causeless mercy,’ it doesn’t even say, just says in the translation, because Prabhupada was in a hurry actually, because Prabhupada knew how much time he had, so he did the word-for-word very painstakingly and the translation…It appears sometime that he is going very fast. Because this book was completed in about a year with translation, then he ordered to be printed in six months.
I was in LA during the marathon of this book or two months, was it? It was two months, wasn’t it? It was two months. I think after two weeks or so many months, Rameswara had produced one volume and there were 16 to go, and he said, “Prabhupada we finished Adi lila part one and at this rate, if we keep it up, Srila Prabhupada, I think within two or three years we should finish the 17 volumes.”
He said like this – within two years , at our present production scale, which is full scale. Prabhupada said, “Hmmm hmmm…two years..acha..If you don’t complete these 17 volumes in 2 months, you are not my disciple…”
“Prabhupada!!! Two months!!!”
“Yes that’s it…baas two months…”
Then everything just exploded in LA and that was when I joined, in the middle of that, I had many fond memories of that. I was part of that also, I was doing book distribution, also helping with the paintings and different things, everybody was part of that. No one could escape that.
So the word-for-word is saying, ‘by his causeless mercy,’ by the causeless mercy of Madhavendra Puri, ‘he came to my humble place’ mora nilaye.. ‘and accepted me as a disciple and he accepted lunch from my hand.’
This is all the word-for-word, he came to my nilaye, he came to my humble place, and accepted bhiksa from my hand and the translation is – while at Mathura, Sripada Madhavendra Puri visited my house, accepted me as a disciple and took lunch at my home.
But often times, at least I can’t say why, no idea – it’s speculation. I often mentioned this, there is a kind of desire in my mind, I had the desire which I said is to produce only English Caitanya Caritamrta completely based on the word-for-word translation of each verse of Srila Prabhupada. So I would say, full unabridged English edition of Caitanya Caritamrta, put it all in one volume, Bible paper. Caitanya Caritamrta in English, based on Prabhupada’s word-for-word translation.
And I would just be the, you know the assembler, its like you build the car, I didn’t design it, I just put the parts together. Because it is really, really nice, the word-for-word.
And Prabhupada took so much time to translate these word-for-word, why not bring it out?
TEXT 168
gopala prakata kari’ seva kaila ‘mahasaya’
adyapiha tanhara seva ‘govardhane’ haya
SP: “After installing the Deity of Gopala, Srila Madhavendra Puri rendered
Him service. That very Deity is still being worshiped at Govardhana
Hill.”
MS: And the other thing, it would be like a whole new, like a fresh presentation, like a new Caitanya Caritamrta. But it is almost like getting new, hearing new unreleased lectures of Srila Prabhupada discovered somewhere. It is like, hearing Prabhupada’s language – same old wine in a new bottle. The same language of Prabhupada and the same stories but new flavors, flavors of language and new answers of meaning which will enhance our absorption in the book itself.
Let’s see, I have to cultivate this idea and I also meet with some seniors, get their viewpoint.
So, after installing the Deity of Gopala, Sri Madhavendra Puri rendered service to the Deity, that very Deity is still being worshiped at Gorvardhana hill.
So now the Mathura brahmana, he is describing something about, as if he didn’t know. He is describing, who is this personality of Madhavendra Puri that graced my home. He is describing his identity, he is identifying him to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and he is identifying him not by saying where is his birthplace or what degree he got from IIT. Or do you know he has a PHD from IIT- BITS BILANI. He went to BITS-BILANI and he has a degree in organic chemistry, he didn’t say anything like this.
He identified this great saintly personage who visited his home in Mathura and took food from his hands (bhiksa) from his hand. He identified him by describing the wonderful service he had rendered to Krsna. So this is actually our bio-data. What service have we rendered to Krsna, what pleasure have we given to the Lord, what pleasure have we given to the Lord’s devotee.
Like we may introduce someone and say, this is Mr. Agarwal, so instead of saying, he has ten crores of rupees, he owns action shoes, he has this and that, and he has, we say, “This is Mr. Agarwal – he built his beautiful temple for Radha and Krsna for the service of the Lord.”
Glorifying him, identifying him in relation to the service he has rendered to the Lord. This is real mahima, loka mahima…This is glorious, if someone renders some service to the Lord and Lord’s devotees, this is something glorious. This is something to be honored and considered.
So this is some type of behavioral lesson, language is an expression of behavior and expression of thinking and outlook, so the outlook of this Mathura brahmana is being revealed in his language and what he chooses to describe here in relation to this meeting with Madhavendra Puri. In other words, you cannot separate the devotee from his service, the devotee and his service are synonymous. Devotee means an embodiment of service. So if you talk about the service, you have to talk about the devotee, and if you talk about the devotee, you have to talk about the service. They go hand in hand.
If there is fire – there is heat and light. So then he says, “Yes this devotee Madhavendra Puri came,” so then Lord Caitanya is saying, he is thinking, “Oh that’s nice. What did he do? Or who is he?”
“Oh! Do you know about him, he is the one who installed that famous, beautiful Deity of Sri Gopala who is residing, or if You don’t know, let me inform You. There is a most beautiful Deity in Govardhana, residing on the top of Govardhana at Jatipura and His name is Sri Gopala Nath, Gopalnathji, and he installed him there and that very Deity is still being worshipped on Govardhana hill.”
Of course, Madhavendra Puri, he is not here in Mathura, and he is not there in Govardhana, he visited my house, but he made this great contribution to Mathura mandala by installing this Deity of Sri Gopala. So of course naturally Lord Caitanya when hears that, He will appreciate the devotional feat, He will appreciate the devotional contribution of Madhavendra Puri and it will also awaken within Him a desire to take darsana.
Because as I said, the system is after visiting Mathura, then you visit Braja-mandala. This will create an excitement, an uddipana in the heart of Caitanya to visit Vrndavana, Braja-mandala even sooner.
“Oh that Gopala is there? I am looking for Gopala. Gopala Kahan! Krsna Kahan! Krsna Krsna Krsna Krsna he!…and you are telling Me that I will find Gopala on the top of Govardhana hill, ok bye!”
Lord Caitanya – “Nice meeting you in the temple, I am out of here, I am gone!”
“Wait wait wait I want to tell you more!”
“No no I am going to Govardhana bye!”
(Sings) Jai Govinda, Jai Gopala, Kesava Madhava Dina Dayal …..
Jai Govinda, Jai Gopala
And out He goes…
(Sings)
hari haraya namah krsna yadavaya namah,
yadavaya madhavaya kesavaya namah
Bye Kesava, kesavaya namah
Dandavat, Dandavat then He backs out of the temple, onto Govardhana –
Giri Govardhana Jai Giri Govardhana
Giri Govardhana Jai Giri Govardhana…
Radha Ramana Giridhari
Giridhari Syama Banawari
Mero Radha Ramana Giridhari
Giridhari Syama Banawari
Mero Radha Ramana Giridhari
Mero Radha Ramana Giridhari
Giridhari Syama Banawari
Mero Radha Ramana Giridhari..
Sri Radha Sri Radha Sri Radha Sri Radha Sri Radha Sri Radha
Hamaro dhana Radha Radha Radha Radha Radha
And out He goes dancing down the road and then He wants to hear some chanting of prema nama sankirtana who sees His beautiful form…”Oh who is this! Aah aaah”
TEXT 169
suni’ prabhu kaila tanra carana vandana
bhaya pana prabhu-paya padila brahmana
SP: As soon as Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard about Madhavendra Puri’s relationship with the brahmana, He immediately offered obeisances at his feet. Becoming fearful, the brahmana also immediately fell at the Lord’s feet.
MS: As soon as Mahaprabhu heard about Madhavendra Puri’s relationship with the brahmana, Mahaprabhu immediately offered obeisances at his feet. First the devotee brahmana offered obeisances at the feet of God, carana dharila, he clutched His feet, we heard that, he offered dandavats. That’s the whole beginning of the relationship, it began with submission at the feet of the Lord – guru padasraya. Relationship with Krsna or God begins with submission – tad vidhi pranipatena… so he submitted himself and that began the relationship, there is a verse saying – that’s the first limb of devotion – guru padasraya.
So Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Guru, Supreme Guru and the brahmana is submitting at His feet, that’s how the story began. Then the Lord – “Oh you are submitting at My feet, holding at My feet? Oh I accept, let Me uplift you.”
You talk about God uplifts us aparoha pantha, the mercy descends (aparoha pantha) the path of dissension. The mercy descends, this is a good example of it, the brahmana bowing at the feet of the Lord and the Lord reaches down, and He, what does He do, uplifts him, lifts him up, that’s called the path of upliftment…classic example…Lord Caitanya reaches down, “Oh brahmana, you are lying at My feet, clutching My feet, you are accepting Me, submitting to Me, so – submission, permission, admission, yes….I give you permission, I admit you, I lift you up and when I lift you up, you are standing before Me and I see and I examine you, I do an examination…”
Guru examines disciple. Are you sincere, are you pure in purpose, are you sincere, are you dedicated, are you surrendered? Yes! I see you passed the examination, then acceptance, then admission, then premalingana.., then He embraced him tightly and transferred that with a diksa, that was the transfer of His heart to the heart of brahmana, that is diksa.
Diksa means transferring the heart of the guru to the disciple through the means of mantra…Mantra diksa, so you can also get diksa from body to body, heart to heart, eye to eye…So Mahaprabhu initiated and then He said, “Now I have initiated you by embracing you and looking at you, now chant the mantra,” and then they chanted the mantra together …nace gaya, prema unmata…and by chanting that mantra he became prema unmata, he became mad in prema, this has all been told in the story, you heard all these points, this same thing happens at diksa, this whole exchange between this eka vipra – this brahmana and Lord Caitanya is just like guru and disciple. Getting mad in prema and appreciating it, because we read earlier in Prabhupada’s purport that the guru feels so much happy to see his devotee advancing, remember we read that.
How happy the guru feels that he sees his disciple advancing in Krsna consciousness! He feels great thrill and he considers, the guru considers his entire preaching campaign, his entire preaching mission a success if he can turn one disciple into a pure devotee of the Lord.
So this one brahmana – eka vipra, eka Mathura vipra, he is become not only a pure devotee but mad, prema unmata, he is become mad in prema and then his dancing with the Lord has maddened everyone else in prema. Saba loka, all the other spectators and, the bystanders and onlookers in the temple of Kesava, they became mad and started dancing and laughing – hase kandhe nache gaye, prema unmata… they were laughing and singing and dancing and kandhe, crying in ecstasy seeing this pure devotee and the purer Lord, Prema Purusottama Bhagavan Gauranga dancing.
Now the Lord, hearing the…”Oh this person I have been dancing with, this person I have been laughing and crying with, He is the disciple of my parama guru..how fortunate I am to meet him, I am meeting a disciple of my parama guru..how fortunate…! What to speak of meeting a Godbrother of the parama guru… I am meeting the disciple of parama guru, I am so fortunate…Oh I can’t I can’t bear the weight of this fortune…I fall at his feet!” So now Mahaprabhu is falling at the feet of the brahmana…becoming fearful, bhaya pana prabhu-paya padila brahmana
Becoming fearful the brahmana immediately fell at the feet of the Lord. The brahmana said– “What’s going on! Oh my god! He is falling at my feet! MY feet?”
Because he understood that this is the Lord. That is said in the story, I understood that the Lord has come to the temple, and I must submit to him, and now the Lord is falling on my feet. What’s going to happen to me, what’s going on? Then immediately he fell at the Lord’s feet. So he is lying on the ground, the brahmana is lying at the ground, the Lord is lying on the ground… what’s going to happen…?
TEXT 170
prabhu kahe,——“tumi ‘guru’, ami ‘sisya’-praya
‘guru’ hana ‘sisye’ namaskara na yuyaya
SP: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “You are on the platform of My spiritual master, and I am your disciple. Since you are My spiritual master, it is not befitting that you offer Me obeisances.”
MS: Mahaprabhu said, “Oh brahmana you are on the platform of my spiritual master” “tumi ‘guru’, ami ‘sisya’-praya, praya means almost like…sisya praya means like Vaisnava praya – almost like a Vaisnava. He said “tumi ‘guru’, ami ‘sisya’-praya, “You are My guru, I am like your disciple. Since you are My spiritual master it is not fitting that you offer obeisances to Me,” because before he offered obeisances.
TEXT 171
suniya vismita vipra kahe bhaya pana
aiche bat kaha kene sannyasi hana
SP: Upon hearing this, the brahmana became afraid. He then said, “Why do You speak like this? You are a sannyasi.
MS: After hearing this, the brahmana became afraid. He then said, “Why do you speak like this? You are a sannyasi!”
Because brahmana is the guru of the varna and sannyasi is the guru of the brahmana. This is the hierarchy, this is the Vedic law. All right I took initiation from your parama guru. Of course that has not been said yet, that has been understood, but still what I can observe, what I can see, we haven’t talked very much, I don’t know exactly who You are and You only know little bit about me, You only know that I am a Mathura brahmana, and You know that I have taken initiation from Madhavendra Puri.
And I told you something about Madhavendra Puri but I haven’t really learnt anything, I don’t know about Your connection with Madhavendra Puri, that’s not told yet, have we heard that. All that I know is, you are a sannyasi and you a very influential sannyasi.
You made me mad with prema and you made everyone else mad, and so, this is all we know so far. They are all in the temple going mad and now, now the sannyasi, You are sannyasi, I am a brahmana, grhastha brahmana of Mathura and by vedic law You are my guru, You are my guru, why You saying, You are saying tumi guru, that I am Your guru, and what is this? This doesn’t make sense! I am vismaya, I am bewildered, I am fearful at Your statement. I am simply a grhastha brahmana, You are a vairagi – renunciate. Paramhamsa, parivrajakacarya sannyasi bhiksu, trdandi bhiksu.
You are far, far above me, far superior to me, You are worshipable by me, You are honorable by me. That’s why I fell at Your feet. My position is at Your feet, You are my guru. By definition, by law, by sastra. How are You saying this, why are You saying this, how are You saying this, that I am Your guru, and that You are my disciple ami ‘sisya’-praya. You are saying ami ‘sisya’-praya, I should be saying ami ‘sisya’-praya but not praya ami ‘sisya’-praya, Praya means like, You are saying, You are saying, “Oh Mahaprabhu – You are saying You like my sisya, ami ‘sisya’-praya I would have to reply to You by saying ami sisya, ami saksat sisya, I am Your direct disciple, not almost.”
So tomorrow, we will find out more… Sri Caitanya Caritamrta ki jai!
There they are Lord Caitanya and the brahmana. What do we know about this brahmana, we know that he has been initiated by Madhavendra Puri, Madhavendra Puri ka sisya and we know that he is sarala, simple, straight forward. We know that he is vrddha, olderly, we know that he is arya he is very advanced on the path of spiritual improvement, arya path. He is aryan in the true sense of the word. He is very advanced in spiritual life. He is an aryan. And we know he is mad in prema. But know he is mad in prema influenced by Lord Caitanya and he has danced in ecstasy with the Lord and now we leave them. He is lying at the feet of the Lord in the temple room of Kesavaji and Lord Caitanya is lying at his feet in the temple room. They both are lying on the ground, not having a conversation – Lord Caitanya is saying, I am your disciple, and he is saying – what are You talking about! Just keep that, just freeze that frame in your mind’s eye, meditate on it, chant japa, reflect on it, and we will pick it up tomorrow.