MS: Yesterday we were discussing, of course it’s an ongoing discussion of the story, “Sri Caitanya chastises chota Haridäsa”. And we heard that Bhagavän Äcäryawas cooking a wonderful feast with his own hand to feed Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannatha puri in his private house. And he was supplementing the feast with Jagannatha mahaprasadam and while he was cooking he ran out of rice or he required some very nice rice so he asked Chota Haridäsa to go to another very intimate devotee of the Lord, Mädhavé Mahiti. And we heard that she was described as a prasiddha Vaisnavi and a parama mahanti, a vriddha. Vriddha prasiddha Vaisanvi parama mahanti. Vriddha means she was old lady. She was an old lady about 70-75 years old. She is very old and she is prasiddha Vaisnava. She was an accomplished perfected Vaisnava. She had attained perfection in devotion and she was a parama mahanti. She was very famous and she was a tapasvini, we forgot to mention. She was a very austere personality.
She ate plain inexpensive rice every day, had some boiled vegetables and continually chanted the Holy Name and spoke Hari katha. So this is whom Chota Haridäsa was sent to beg some rice because Bhagavan knew she had some good quality rice which she used to offer to her Thakurji on special occasions but she was not eating herself. So he had sent Chota Haridäsa to beg some rice to cook for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Now this is what Krsnadasa Kaviraja, how he describes the character of Mädhavé Mahiti, who is a sister of Siki Mahiti. And Krsnadasa Kaviraja explains that Caitanya Mahaprabhu had 3 and a half most intimate associates in Jagannatha Puri. One was Svarupa Damodar Gosvami, the other was Raya Ramananda, Siki Mahiti and Siki Mahiti’s sister, Mädhavé Mahiti. So this is the person involved here. There is Bhagavän Äcäryaserving Lord Caitanya, there is Chota Haridäsa and there is Mädhavé Mahiti. These are the characters of the drama. It’s a drama. It’s a lila.
So this is the view point of Krsnadasa Kaviraja. So what is the viewpoint of Mahaprabhu? What did He think of her? Because in any social circle different people have different opinions of another person.
So Krsnadasa Kaviraja, he explained basically the position, the identity and then he cites what did Lord Caitanya think about this Vaisnavi? What was Lord Caitanya’s opinion or viewpoint, which off course is absolute and perfect. It’s not a prejudice. It’s not a bias. It’s not a viewpoint. It’s the absolute truth. But for the point of discussion in the light of nara-lila of Mahaprabhu, what was the viewpoint or opinion of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu? His viewpoint was that she was pruva radhikera gana. That previously she was in the gana or sakhi gana or group of Radharani’s sakhis. So previously means in Krsna lila, that’s previous. Because previous to Gaura lila is Krsna lila. Lets say 4500 years ago, from the time of Lord Caitanya there was Krsna lila. So in Krsna lila Mädhavé Mahiti is also a female and she is in the group of Radharani’s sakhis and gopis. So obviously the conclusion is that Mädhavé Mahiti is an extremely exalted eternal associate of Radha and Krsna and Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Is that clear? Very clear!
So Chota Haridäsa was going to visit this elderly exalted personality to beg some rice.
Text 109
madhyähne äsiyä prabhu bhojane vasilä
çälyanna dekhi’ prabhu äcärye puchilä
SP: At noon, when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to eat the offerings of Bhagavan Acarya, He first appreciated the fine rice and therefore questioned him.
MS: This is madhyahne kala. This is madhyahna lila. This is asta kaliya lila of Lord Gauranga, madhyahne kala. Madhyahne kala occurs from 10.48 a.m. every morning until3.36 p.m., madhyahne kala. And during madhyahne kala, it can be also translated, the middle of the day.
At noon Lord Caitanya went to Bhagavan Acarya’s house to honor the prasada. He came to eat the offerings of Bhagavan Acarya. He first appreciated the fine rice and therefore He questioned him.
Text 110
uttama anna eta taëòula käìhäte päilä?
äcärya kahe,——mädhavé-päça mägiyä änilä
SP: “Where did you get such fine rice?” the Lord asked. Bhagavän Äcärya replied, “I got it by begging from Mädhavédevi.”
MS: “Where did you get such fine rice?” Lord asked! Bhagavän Äcärya replied, “I got it begging from Mädhavé Devi.”
Text 111
prabhu kahe,——‘kon yäi’ mägiyä änila?’
choöa-haridäsera näma äcärya kahila
SP: When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked who had begged the rice and brought it back, Bhagavän Äcärya mentioned the name of Junior Haridäsa.
MS: Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked, “Who begged the rice and brought it back from Mädhavé Mahiti?” Bhagavän Äcärya mentioned that Chota Haridäsa collected the rice.
Text 112
anna praçaàsiyä prabhu bhojana karilä
nija-gåhe äsi’ govindere äjïä dilä
SP: Praising the quality of the rice, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu partook of the prasada. Then, after returning to His residence, He gave the following order to Govinda, His personal assistant.
MS: Praising the quality of the rice Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu partook of the prasadam, bhojana karilä. Then later Lord Caitanya went back home to Gambhira then He gave an äjïä, Govinda äjïä. He gave an order to His personal servant Govinda.
Text 113
‘äji haite ei mora äjïä pälibä
choöa haridäse ihäì äsite nä dibä’
SP: “From this day forward, do not allow Chota Haridäsa to come here.”
MS: Govinda Dasa please go see Chota Haridäsa and tell him, “From today on, I do not want him to come here.”
Text 114
dvära mänä haila, haridäsa duùkhé haila mane
ki lägiyä dvära-mänä keha nähi jäne
SP: When Junior Haridäsa heard that he had been ordered not to approach Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he was very unhappy. No one could understand why he had been ordered not to come.
MS: When junior Haridäsa heard that he had been ordered not to approach Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he was very unhappy. No one could understand why he had been ordered not to come before Lord Caitanya.
Text 115
tina-dina haila haridäsa kare upaväsa
svarüpädi äsi, puchilä mahäprabhura päça
SP: Haridäsa fasted continuously for three days. Then Svarupa Damodara Gosvami and other confidential devotees approached Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to inquire from Him.
MS: Chota Haridäsa fasted, upavasa, tina-dina, for three days continuously. Then Svarupa Damodar and other confidential devotees, they approached Mahaprabhu and they asked a question, puchilä.
Text 116
“kon aparädha, prabhu, kaila haridäsa?
ki lägiyä dvära-mänä, kare upaväsa?”
SP: “What great offense has Junior Haridäsa committed? Why has he been forbidden to come to Your door? He has now been fasting for three days.”
MS: Svarupa Damodar said, “Mahaprabhu, what offence has junior Haridäsa committed? Why have You forbidden him to come to Your door? He has been fasting continuously for 3 days.”
Text 117:
prabhu kahe,——“vairägé kare prakåti sambhäñaëa
dekhite nä päroì ämi tähära vadana
SP: The Lord replied, “I cannot tolerate seeing the face of a person who has accepted the renounced order of life but who still talks intimately with a woman.
MS: “I cannot tolerate seeing the face of the person, dekhite vadana, of a person who has accepted the renounced order of life but who still talks intimately with a woman” This is vairägé kare prakåti sambhäñaëa. So prakåti is, it is interesting, like we have bhäñaëa, in braja bhasa. Sambhäñaëa means many talks. Intimate talking – sambhäñaëa. Prakåti – woman. Woman is also called prakåti. Purusa and prakåti. So the jivas, all the jivas are actually prakåti. They are all female in relation to eki purusa Krsna, Purusottama. Purusa uttama. Krsna is the supreme person male. And all others are female in orientation and relation to the Lord.
So He is saying, Lord Caitanya, doesn’t want to see Chota Haridäsa. He is a vairägé and he went and he begged rice from another vairägé. An old lady and not some teenager from the gurukul. But he went to beg from some old lady and she was not just any old lady hanging out in Puri with some good basmati rice in her stock. She was a prasiddha Vaisanvi. She was a parama mahanti. She was an extremely unique personality and moreover she was an eternal associate of the Lord and certainly Lord Caitanya knows who she is.
So He didn’t have any problem with her but He had a problem with Chota Haridäsa because Chota Haridäsa was, as is said, a vairägé, which doesn’t necessarily mean a sannyasi. It can mean any man who is renounced or detached from life. paramhamsa babaji, brahmacari whatever.
A vairägé usually… is considered paramhamasa as a vairägé. Vairägé niskincan sadhu has no material possessions and he has no connections with this material world and he simply maintains this life by begging a small bit of foodstuffs and drinking some water from a stream or from a river or a lake. He won’t take any from a pial (organized water distribution) nor will he accept any water in charity but he will take a little food to maintain. Because Krsna is giving the water, but all living entities subsist on food grains, so to maintain their existence. Although there are some very detached vairägés that live in the Himalayas, they wont even eat food grains, so there is different categories of vairägés, some very extreme.
Chota Haridäsa was a vairägé. And anyone who is a vairägé, they just really have nothing to do with women. Vairägés and bhajanandis are synonymous. A bhajanandi is someone who is only absorbed in bhajan and generally vairägé is associated with nirjana bhajan. If anyone is mixing with women or preaching to women then he is a gostyanandi, regardless of his cloth. Whether he is dresses as a babaji or a sannyasi or whatever he is, he is not really a vairägé nirjana bhajanandi.
In Braja, there are many bhajanandis, they absolutely refuse to meet or see any woman at all and they live in a very recluse and secluded life and that’s the way they carry on. But anyone who is engaged in preaching, then they are acting on a madhyama level. So madhyama adhikari level, whether they are coming down from the exalted level or whether they are existing only on that level, then that madhyama adhikari, he mixes in society for the purpose of vibrating sounds to glorify the Lord. Gosta means sound, sound vibration. He vibrates sound for the benefit of others. It is called karuna marga. He is engaged in compassion. Compassion at work.
Apparently Chota Haridäsa was this type of vairägé sadhu simply absorbed in kirtana and Lord Caitanya didn’t appreciate it. And Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati comments in his Caitanya Caritamrta commentary that the word saralata which means simplicity is a first qualification of a Vaisnava, whereas duplicity or cunning behavior is a great offense against the principles of devotional service. As one advances in Krsna Consciousness one must gradually become disgusted with material attachment and thus become more and more attached to the service of the Lord. If one is not factually detached from material activities but still proclaims himself advanced in devotional service, he is cheating. No one will be happy to see such behavior.
Text 118
durvära indriya kare viñaya-grahaëa
däravé prakåti hare munerapi mana
SP: “So strongly do the senses adhere to the objects of their enjoyment that indeed a wooden statue of a woman attracts the mind of even a great saintly person.
MS: Mahaprabhu continues to speak, because these are all in quotations, which means if there are quotation marks, then it means they are direct words of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We have taken all these direct statements of Lord Caitanya from five different scriptures and we have collected them in one book which is a very interesting book, it’s called Gauranga Gita. The Bhagavad Gita, lets say, is the direct words, saksat vacca of Lord Krsna given on the battlefield to Arjuna, it’s called the Bhagavat Gita, the song of God, direct words of Bhagavan Sri Krsna. Very very powerful. But in every age there is a particular Lord to worship and that should be the Lord thus worshiped.
So in dvapar yuga, Krsna was the Lord of dvapar yuga and He has to be worshipped. But the specific Lord of Kali Yuga in terms of purusotama is Bhagavan Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Svayam Bhagavan Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So He is the Lord to be worshipped in kali yuga. So it was our inspiration from the lord…That the Bhagavad Gita of course is eternally famous as the Gita upanisad, the essence of all the upanisads. But the essence of all the Vedas is sambandha, abhideya and prayojana, and this is broadcast by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His words and His teachings must be more complete then Lord Krsna’s teachings.
So in Caitanya Mangala, Caitanya Bhagavata, Caitanya Caritamrta, Caitanya Candrodaya Nataka and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Mahakavya, they are all the direct words of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So those are all collected in one book Gauranga Gita.
So I was so moved when I studied these books that Prabhupada has given us, whenever I would see these quotation marks, and it says the Lord replied, then my ears would stand very straight like cow’s ears and my mind would open very much, even more so then it was. Because it really always amazed me that somehow…Maybe you are more perceptive then I am but it always amazed me that somehow or the other I am able to read direct words of God! O! God Krsna. If you step back a little bit and think of what’s going on, its amazing, its stupendous. Because you ask any religionist anywhere around the world, “Can you tell me something that God said?”
“Hey are you crazy? Who is talking to God! Are you talking to God? Ask the priest. Ask the Rabaih! Who is talking to God! Ask the mullah! Anyway who talks to God? You read Koran. You read the Bible. What is this you talk to God, you know what God says!”
“No. No. We have many sentences directly spoken by God in our books. Direct words of God!”
I mean this is really unique in all religious scriptures. And so many specific instructions. Sometimes there is a few direct statements or at least apparitions or voices in the sky, God is telling Moses about Ten Commandments or something, but it is very small passages and its only something about morality and rules and regulations. Nothing about rasa and how He feels. You know. His own feelings! You are talking to God. “I don’t like what Chota Haridäsa did, I don’t want to see him”. This is amazing to me. What God says, “Thou spoke Zorathastra or something”.
So then the Lord goes on saying, “So strongly do the senses adhere to the objects of enjoyment that indeed a wooden statue of a woman attracts the mind of even a greatly saintly person, durvära indriya kare viñaya-grahaëa.
It says that the indriya, the senses are not under control. däravé prakåti, that means, däravé means daru, daru Brahman, means a wooden form. A wooden mannequin of a woman, that would be maya for a man or a wooden mannequin of a man would be maya for a woman. munerapi mana, even a muni, great sage’s mind, his mind becomes disturbed and unsettled.
Srila prabhupada’s purport – The senses and the sense objects are so intimately connected. It’s like, I always say it’s like a magnet and iron filings. Alright? The magnet is the senses. Big magnet. You know magnet? Then these little pieces of iron, we say filings, when they shave some till they get these little pieces of iron, particles of iron. Iron are the sense objects. So many little particles, and as soon as they get near the magnet! Toomph! They stick! And if you try to pull them off, if it is a very good magnet, you can’t take it off.
Like I often tell the story about the junkyard, in America so many amazing sites you see in these countries. They have these big cranes. Junkyard is where they take all the old cars, junk means old, demolished, worthless automobiles and they take them to some big farm somewhere and collect them over there and smash them up with different machines and melt them down for some scrap metal and all these things. But in the processing of the cars they have to move them here and there and sometimes there are different stages of dwindling of the car till it gets melted down. But they have this big crane and on the end of the crane there is this huge magnet, its about ten feet in diameter, big magnet, its called electromagnet and it is connected to electricity, 640 volts or whatever, heavy electricity. Its called electromagnet. The power of magnetism is increased by the addition of electricity or something.
So then this crane goes like this, and say this is maybe a car (shows something with hand gestures), it can pick up like ten cars at once. The crane goes like this with the magnet and it lowers the crane and then it lowers the crane, TOOMPH!, And then it holds it and it goes like this (motions hands) and then it picks up ten cars and goes over here. Then if it wants to drive somewhere, it drives like this and takes some over here, 500 feet and then it cuts out the magnet, BOOM! And they all fall down.
Its really fun to watch actually. If you are a little kid, it’s a lot of fun (laughs). So that’s a lot of power. So when those ten cars are stuck in that magnet, and if you were to get underneath there, “I want to my car back” and you grab your car and start pulling, “Give me that car” You couldn’t. It’s impossible. A thousand men. Ten thousand maharathis, they could not pull the car off the magnet, so much power.
So I always think that the senses are like that electromagnet. When I think of the senses, I think of the junk yard and the senses are like that electromagnet in the junkyard that has so much magnetic power, so much incredible force of attraction, that incredible force of attraction, that magnetic energy, that magnetic power can lift up and solidly stick on it ten dead automobiles or whatever they are. Junk cars! And they don’t drop off either.
So when the objects of the senses! The eyes – the forms, the colors, these are the objects for the eyes. The sound – the sound is object for the ears. The smell – is object for the nose. Sweet & sour taste is the object for the tongue. And soft things, “O! Feel this cloth.”
“O this is so soft…”
“O feel this wool this is so nice. O feel this is brocade.” All ladies, they spend all day in a dress shop feeling cloth.
“O this feel so nice. Feel this. This is so nice” And then they hold up, “O look at the color!”
“ O! ya!”
“Then it has this texture on, it has this pattern, it has these little mirrors” Then I go on the mirror and, “O I look so great! How much?”
“2000 rupees.”
“Ok I will take it.”
So because they want to satisfy all their senses, the cloth should feel good and it should look good to my eyes, nice colors and designs and shape. And then it should satisfy my mind. When I put it on, I should think I am so cool when I wear it. Look how cool I am.” So all these things we want to have satisfaction from the objects of the senses.
So he is saying that when the senses of this body come in contact with the sense objects, they are just stuck like that electromagnet in the junk yard and the junk car. UMMH! (sound indicating applying force to separate the two objects)
Its like Bhima trying to lift Hanuman’s tail. From the Ramayana, Hanuman was sleeping on the path way with his tail on the ground and Bhima came along, “Hey monkey. Big big monkey! Big big belly! Hey monkey listen, move your tail. Get your tail, you are blocking the path” And it’s an offense to step over someone’s body, even a monkey. So Bhima knowing that adhikara…He could have just stepped over the monkey, but it is an offense to step over the body of any living entity, even a monkey.
So the tail was there! Its just like rope. You step over the rope. Whats a big deal? But the only way is, all sticker bushes and poison ivy on both sides of the pathway, so he had to go straight. And the monkey was sleeping on the side with the tail across. He said,” Hey monkey. Excuse me Mr. monkey, please move your tail.” He said, “Hey listen I am too tired I can’t lift it. I am really too tired. I ate too much ladoos.” So then Hanuman said, “I am too tired, you move my tail. He said alright. Then he…”What is this stupid monkey…” Bhima is thinking. Bhima is ksatriya. And tail, as anyone knows, is kind of like back side department. You know, everyone knows the tail, that’s the back door department. And tails usually have remnants on them you know!
So Bhima was hesitating. Because first of all he is a monkey, not even a human being. But he is speaking sanskrit first of all, so that was kind of impressive. So when Bhima came across this monkey and he spoke in Sanskrit, he told him in Sanskrit, “You lift my tail. I am too tired.” So he thought that this is a very interesting monkey, I have met a lot of monkeys in Govardhan parikrama marga, but none of them ever spoke to me in Sanskrit! They speak something but not Sanskrit. So then he thought ok, well and good, but I have to lift his tail and it’s a little tacky. It was a little muchi. I don’t really want to touch his tail. But anyways I cant walk further unless I move his tail. Ok I will move his tail and I will wash my hands later.
So he goes to pick up his tail…aaah aaah! He couldn’t move his tail. Impossible to move his tail! Then he said some prayers, “O hey Bhagavan please give me strength.” And then he went to pick up, but he couldn’t even pick up the tail of Hanuman. Its how powerful Hanuman is. You know the story is there. So then Bhima fell at his feet and he surrendered, “O great soul. O great devotee. You must be some great powerful sage. Because sages have the power to change their form at will. You must be some great mystic yogi from tapaloka. And you have come down here to take part in Rama lila. Please forgive me for my offence. I am disturbing your sleep. Please forgive me for causing you any inconvenience. And please reveal your identity to me.”
Then Hanuman said, “I am Hanuman. I am Anjana suta. I am the son of Anjana and Vayu.” I suppose. I believe so. And Bhima said, “Hey Alright. Me too. Alright brother. I am the son of Vayu too.” Isnt it? So then they embraced and they developed warm friendship. And of course his brother let him go by.
So the way Hanuman’s tail is stuck on the ground, that’s the way sense objects stick to our senses. So it takes mercy of Hanuman to remove our senses from the sense objects. So that mercy comes from Hrsikesh, from Krsna. So he is telling. This of course is a teaching to all the devotees. In Prabhupada’s purport he says that the senses and sense objects are so intimately connected that the mind of even a great saintly person is attracted to a wooden doll, if that doll is attractively shaped like a young woman. Like a dress shop they have mannequins or whatever. The sense objects – form, sound, smell, taste and touch are always attractive for the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. Since the senses and sense objects are naturally intimately related, sometimes even a person claiming control over his senses remains always subject to the control of sense objects. The senses are impossible to control unless they are purified and engaged in the service of the Lord. Thus even though a saintly person vows to control his senses, the senses are still sometimes perturbed by sense objects.
Again Lord Caitanya speaks, and here, as per His standard of preaching, setting the example of nara lila, Caitanya Mahaprabhu throughout the entirety of His pastimes, He is going in and out of two identities or let’s say three identities. Sometimes He is identifying as Bhagavan Sri Krsna, especially in Mayapur, for majority of His lila. He is identifying as Vrsbhanunandini Radha, mahabhava Svarupini Radha. And He is in Radha bhava experiencing Radharani’s viraha, separation from Krsna. Always in the mood of mahabhava, great pangs of separation in searching for Krsna. So that’s the second identity. That’s the primary identity of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, as Krsna in the mood, the bhava and kanti, the mood and mahabhava of Radharani and the color and form of Radharani. I mean the color, complexion of Her form. But He himself is in a male form, externally. And the third identity is bhakta, bhakta avatar. He is appearing as a bhakta, the ideal devotee. He is teaching and acting as an ideal devotee. So these three identities are there within Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So when He is acting as an ideal devotee or ideal bhakta pracarak or preaching devotee, then He speaks in His own language about some philosophical point or some viewpoint or idea of His mind in the language of Bengali and then to support his statements of His own language He backs up all His statements with sastra pramana, evidence from sastra by quoting primarily Bhagavata Purana or Bhagavata Gita or any number of Vedic scriptures, sruti or smriti, to give authority and power to His delivery of philosophical points and points of rasa.
So as per His standard throughout all of His preaching and all the direct statements of Lord Caitanya, this is how He would preach. In other words He states His feelings or viewpoints which is also sastra and also perfect. In and of itself. But just to set the example so no one else goes around and simply speaks any Hindi statements saying this is Absolute fact, or in English, in French or Russian.
We should follow His example and always quote verses. We see the Gaura bhakta who is the illustrious son of Gaur Mohan De, Abhay De, who became Abhay Caranaravinda. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. As the ideal of Gauranga bhakta he was extremely exemplary in this regard following directly in the footsteps of Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the preaching exemplar and his preaching acarya. Like father like son as they say. So what the father does, the son carries on. So as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would preach in His language of Bengali and back everything with sastra pramana, Prabhupada would preach in his native language of Bengali in Bengal and back everything with sastra or speak English and back everything with sastra.
In fact there was one whole book Srila Prabhupada slokas, I suppose, and it has about 1800 slokas there that Prabhupada was regularly quoting throughout his preaching and writing to establish the authority and solid ground work and philosophical foundation of all the statements that he made. Therefore his preaching had tremendous power and of course his own purity and realization behind it all.
So we as followers of Srila Prabhupada or any bonafide acarya, we should preach in a similar way. At most everyone does of course to their best ability. Some devotees aren’t experts in memorizing all these Sanskrit slokas. And Prabhupada even said that at least put it in your own words. In your own language, somehow convey the same content.
But Lord Caitanya here, now He quotes here from the 9th canto of Bhagavatam chapter 19 verse 17 which itself is a quotation from Manu Samhita (2.2.15). Lord Caitanya is saying that the senses are very powerful and that someone may be a saintly person or may be some type of vairägé. But our bodily senses are so powerful and so hard to control, that even if a man sees a wooden form of a shapely woman that he may or will, or always will or whatever, become disturbed. His senses may become agitated or disturbed. And so someone might say, “O that’s your opinion. That’s what you say. You are one Bengali saint or some Bengali brahmana, Nimai Misra. You are saying that…This would be some professor or some critic. “What is your proof or what is your backing? What is the support of your statement? Has anyone else ever said such a thing or this is only your own bias? This is your bias. You are crazy! That’s not possible” Old mannequin and the dress story. You will see that and go, “WOW”! (Laughs) Look at that mannequin! What is it? Is there is any proof for this type of response or reaction? Then He says, “Yes. What you expect as proof? If you don’t accept My words as proof then do you accept sastra pramana? Do you accept the evidence or proof from sastra? Then the person, if he is a Vedic person or at least a reasonable person, he will accept the logic of these statements of the great rsis or the great ancient sastras of India, the Sanskrit sacred text books.
So then Lord Caitanya says, “What if I tell you something from Manu Samhita? Do you accept Manu Samhita as authoritative? Persons generally would say, “Yes.” Do you accept the Bhagavat Purana as authoritative? And the person would say, “Yes. Very authoritative.” Well the Bhagavat Purana says –
Text 119
mäträ svasrä duhiträ vä
nä viviktäsano bhavet
balavän indriya-grämo
vidväàsam api karñati
SP: “‘One should not sit closely with one’s mother, sister or daughter, for the senses are so strong that they may attract even a person advanced in knowledge.’
MS: vidväàsam api karñati this is being told by Vedavyasa, that the senses, idvam. vid means ved. va means possessor of ved. Even a very learned person, a person may be very learned… mäträ svasrä duhiträ vä
nä viviktäsano bhavet… that if someone sits on a same asana, nä viviktäsano, asna means seat. Love seat. Bus seat. Car seat. Train seat. Restaurant seat. Any seat. If he seats on the same seat with his mäträ svasrä duhiträ vä – with his mother, with his sister, with his daughter; that the balavän indriya-grämo indriya-grämo. Gräma means village. Nandagräma. Gräma means collection of, group of. And indriya means senses – the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the hands, sense of touch, are so balavän, Baladeva, Balarama, so powerful, so much force of attraction is there, so much pushing, so much vegam, so much pushing of the senses to enjoy, to contemplate, think about, become attracted to, to think about, to contemplate, to get attached to. Pursue, envelope, enjoy and then get entangled with the object of the senses that even a very powerfully intelligent discriminating man who has great power of knowledge and power of discrimination, he gets karñati. karñati means attracted, Sankarsana. Krsna. Akarsan. He becomes attracted. He becomes compelled. He becomes pushed, driven. And it also means agitated. Karñati means agitated.
So Lord Caitanya says, “So what do you think now?” “O wow, may be what you are saying is true.”
Then Lord Caitanya goes on, the translation given here by Srila Prabhupada. One should not seat closely, viviktäsano, seating together. To seat on the same seat with one’s mother, sister or daughter, for the senses are so strong that they may attract even a person advanced in knowledge. So then Lord Caitanya goes on to conclude His statements. Ameya 38.51
Text 120
kñudra-jéva saba markaöa-vairägya kariyä
indriya caräïä bule ‘prakåti’ sambhäñiyä”
SP: “There are many persons with little in their possession who accept the renounced order of life like monkeys. They go here and there engaging in sense gratification and speaking intimately with women.”
MS: There are many persons with little in their possessions. In other words, vairägés. Who accept the renounced order of life like monkeys. It’s called markata vairägya, monkey renunciation. They go here and there engaging in sense gratification and speaking intimately with women. So its called markata vairägya. Like we also have a term samsan, means cremation ground. It’s a phenomena in India where you go to see your deceased father being burned up and he is bubbling and boiling and crackling and then the final, grand finale is when the samsanwala takes a twelve foot long bamboo pole and then cracks the skull of your father and all the brain comes sputtering out and it give a little exit door for the soul to fly off to pitrloka. So when you witness all that and if you don’t throw up or faint then you say, “Wow I should get serious about going to Hare Krsna temple. I should stop taking whisky and cocaine and may be stop going to the disco. The last words of my father were ‘please son try to read the Bhagavat Gita’ So may be it is a good time. I feel. I have lost my interest in cocaine and whisky and fast women and sports cars. So I think I will start reading the Bhagavat Gita.”
So he starts to read Bhagavat Gita, he comes to the temple, he meets the devotees. “I want to be a devotee, I want to chant Hare Krsna and this that.” And it lasts for about 5 days and its called samsan vairägya, and then he goes back to his old ways because he is habituated to that way of life, its very hard. Habits become second nature.
So unless we develop our third nature, we can’t give up our second nature. So third nature means naya svabhava, new svabhava. New svabhava means new mentality. So we can develop our third nature by changing our mind. Our mind becomes changed by mantra. When our mind becomes changed, our mentality changes, when our mentality changes our svabhava changes, then develop our third nature, it’s called the Krsna conception. Its called Krsna svabhava, the svabhava of a Vaisnava devotee. And vairägya is natural, vairägya vidya nija bhakti yoga.
So here Lord Caitanya is mentioning other type of popular vairägya, its called markata, markata vairägya. Markata vairägya is the renunciation of a monkey. Monkey is very very renounced. He lives in a jungle. He lives in a forest, he doesn’t live in the big city, he is very renounced, he doesn’t wear any shoes, he doesn’t wear any coat, shirt, levis jeans, denims, anything. He is a nagna baba. He is totally nagna and he is not wearing anything and he is very renounced, he doesn’t eat chappan bhoga, well except for Vrndavana. There are different kinds of monkeys. But the general monkey, he doesn’t eat pukka bhoga, except again in Vrndavana. In Vrndavana the monkeys eat kachoris. Monkeys eat puris. Monkeys eat saun papri, then afterwards they feel little indigestion, so then usually they go to one of these shops where they sell these grains and usually they have these little strips, little aluminum packets of paan, supari, bettle nut. You know people pay 1 rupee and they rip it off these packets (chewing sound). You have seen.
And so the monkeys they jump and grab four or five and then they run up on top of Gopal mandir and then they rip them open (chewing sound) and then ananda! I have seen this with my own eyes because I lived there on the rooftop of Gopal mandir (Radha Kunda). The guy would come up with a stick from down at the shop. I said, “What’s going on.” “Monkey ripped off ten packets of supari.” “I don’t know. I didn’t see him.” Then the monkey goes off to another roof and then when he comes back he has four, he only ate six. Monkey ate six packs of supari of bettle nut. So Vrndavana monkeys are something extraordinary.
But general markata vairägya, they only eat some asvat leaves, pimpal leaves, and haritaki berries and all kinds of not very tasteful things and live a very austere life. So they have very austere food and they don’t wear any clothes, and they just sleep in the trees, they don’t have any formal…they don’t live in a tent, they don’t even live in a cave. Like the rsi lives in a cave and take shelter of a cave. Monkey is so renounced; he lives out in a cold air and just sleeping on the roof or in a tree branch. And in the summer he has no air-conditioning or anything. And he is so renounced. But there is only one problem. He has twenty five wives and fifty eight children. So he is going from one wife to another, so he is very renounced except in one department. So this is called markata vairägya. Outside it looks very renounced.
So in Prabhupada’s purport he says one should strictly follow the regulative principles and in this way one should make progress in spiritual life. If an unfit person sentimentally accepts vairägya or takes sannyasa but the same time remains attached to women, he is in a very dangerous position, his renunciation is called markata vairägya or renunciation like a monkey. And Prabhupada goes on to explain what I already explained. So this is the purport. So the story goes on, another quite a few more verses, it’s a very long pastime and there are so many lessons.
It so wonderful, we will hear about how much compassion Vaisnavas have for each other in the story of Chota Haridäsa. How much love did the devotees have for each other. We can learn about that also. We learnt about the strictness in behavior, reminded about the standard. Of course in the preaching mission, it is very difficult and nowadays, I mean, by Lord Caitanya’s standard there is no guru or sannyasi or brahmacari in entire Gaudiya mission that would be able to be with Lord Caitanya if this was the standard. Because everywhere in Gaudiya Math and everywhere we find the babajis, everywhere there is women everywhere approaching and dealing with sannyasis and babajis and brahmacaris and preaching and everywhere it is like this. So Lord Caitanya was very strict. Because the whole idea is also a little perplexing to me, I don’t claim to understand very much about the mind of Lord Caitanya. The general tenet what He is trying to establish is that one should be very strict in their outlook and very strict in their mentality and be very careful.
As long as someone…Because you see on the onset it looks like Chota Haridäsa is innocent and because of this chastisement he went onto to give up his life actually. So it’s a very esoteric pastime of Lord Caitanya. Basically it seems to me and that is what I have heard others describe, that Lord Caitanya was anticipating that after His disappearance from this world, there would be many sahajiya groups developing, Sahajiya groups in the name of Lord Caitanya, in the name of Gaudiya Vaisnavism, they would be moving in the groups of women and imitating rasa dance and enjoying their disciples in the name of guru prasad and doing all kinds of abominable illicit activities in the name of detachment or in the name of Gaudiya Vaisnavism.
So to set the standard that Gaudiya Vaisnavas are very strict in their behavior, to this extent Lord Caitanya gave this glaring example of Chota Haridäsa. That’s one thing that’s been described about this pastime, because Lord Caitanya himself was a strict sannyasi and He did never have any dealings like this. So we have to think…I am not too very clear. Because if you were to strictly apply the rule of Lord Caitanya then no one would ever preach, basically.
For example Prabhupada, he was engaging so many women and collecting donations from them, giving 48.08 (should it be taking instead of giving) them guru daksina and using them in the service of Krsna. So what was Chota Haridäsa doing? Taking a donation from a woman and engaging her in service of Krsna. Isnt it? Taking rice? So what’s the difference? Its very hard to see the difference. Now Lord Caitanya appears to be establishing a different point. Just to establish how strict one’s behavior must be…Because it is very enigmatic and puzzling when you think about the pastime. The reaction. What is the fault in Chota Haridäsa?
So He is just trying to emphasize, it’s a warning that, be careful that this is very dangerous. Like Prabhupada used to say, “Women are very good and men are very good, but men and women together are no good.” That doesn’t mean that we stop all preaching and we stop interacting, otherwise how does Lord Caitanya movement spread from village to village, town to town. There is many other interesting points we can understand from the story of Chota Haridäsa and then we can hear that story. It’s a kind of a reminder to keep oneself in a very sober position.