Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.1

Nitāi: [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

agaty-eka-gatiṁ natvā hīnārthādhika-sādhakam śrī-caitanyaṁ likhyate 'sya prema-bhakti-vadānyatā [Cc Ādi 7.1]

[break] [00:20]

"Let me first offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is the ultimate goal of life for one bereft of all possessions in this material world and is the only meaning for one advancing in spiritual life. Thus let me write about His magnanimous contribution of devotional service in love of God."

Prabhupāda:

agaty-eka-gatiṁ natvā hīnārthādhika-sādhakam śrī-caitanyaṁ likhyate 'sya prema-bhakti-vadānyatā [Cc Ādi 7.1]

So Kṛṣṅa dāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī is writing Caitanya-caritāmṛta. In each chapter he composes a new verse offering his obeisances to the Lord. So in this Seventh Chapter of Ādi-līlā he also offers his respect. He began his writing of Caitanya-caritāmṛta when he was as old as ninety years old in Vṛndāvana by the order of the Vaiṣṅavas and confirmed by Śrī Madana-mohana. So this is the process. One should not be writing in spiritual subject matter without being authorized by some superior authority. It is not ordinary writing. The writing on spiritual subject matter is authoritative. By the order of superior authority, one can write. It is not speculation. Therefore he said that śrī-caitanyaṁ likhyate asya: "By the order of superior authority, I am trying to describe Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu." And what is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu? Prema-bhakti-vadānyatā. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is preaching prema, means love of Godhead. That is the only necessity to understand in human form of life. Premā pumartho mahān.

There are other necessities for those who are not devotees. Those necessities are dharma artha kāma mokṣa [SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90].

[Any person who desires the fruits of the four principles religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, liberation, should engage himself in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for worship of His lotus feet yields the fulfillment of all of these.]

Generally, in the material world everyone is necessity of gratifying his senses. So sometimes, under the cover of religiosity, they want to satisfy senses. The same thing... Just like one goes to church or temple to mitigate some material necessities. Just like the Christians go to the church for meeting the problems of bread; similarly, the Hindus or the Muslim, everyone goes to church, temple or mosque to pray something material: "God, I am very distressed. Kindly get me relief from this distressed condition," or "God, I am in need of money. I am very poor. Kindly give me some money," or any other, "I am now implicated in war." Just like Churchill, he introduced that everyone should go and pray for victory. So England was also praying for victory, and Germany was also praying for victory. So [chuckles] God is perplexed. [laughter] The thief is praying to God that "This night, I may steal without any hindrances." And the householder is praying, "My Lord, thief may not come here and steal my goods." And God has to adjust everything. So just imagine how much busy is God. There are millions and trillions of living entities. Each one of them, if they are at all interested in God—not all—so they are praying. Everyone is praying, "God, give me this benediction. Give me this benediction."

So this is not pure devotional service. For some material profit one should not become a religious person or devotee of God. Of course, it is better than the person who is not at all interested in God. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtinaḥ arjuna [Bg 7.16].

[O best among the Bhāratas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me—the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.]

Unless one is pious, he cannot approach God. So one should be pious and without any motive, not only pious. Pious is the first condition, who can approach God; otherwise he does not. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ [Bg 7.15].

[Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.]

These classes of men, duṣkṛtina, miscreants, always committing sinful activities, duṣkṛtina; and mūḍha, rascals, fools; and narādhamāḥ, lowest of the mankind; māyayāpahṛta-jñānā, whose knowledge has been taken away by māyā—such demonic person do not surrender to God. But pious man who has got background, pious activities, such person, when they are distressed, they approach God. They know that God is friend of all living entities. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām [Bg 5.29].

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

Actually, He is the friend. As friend, He is living with the soul as Supersoul. That is stated in the Vedas, that two birds are sitting on the same tree. The tree, this is the tree. This body is tree, and one bird is the individual soul, and the other bird is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Supersoul. So God is always accompanying the individual soul to turn him back to home, back to Godhead. He is so nice friend. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. So if we want peace, then we should understand that "Here is my friend, the supreme friend." Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. "He is guiding me. So why I am praying to Him for some benefit? He knows my necessities. He will supply if it is required. Why shall I bother Him with prayers granting something, 'Please give me this, give me this'?" There is no necessity. God is omniscient. He knows. And He says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "I know the necessities of My devotees, and I supply them." Yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham [Bg 9.22].

[But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form-to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.]

Two things are there: one thing, to possess something which we do not have; and we want to protect what we have got. So Kṛṣṅa says, "Both the things. I give protection of My devotee, whatever he has got, and I supply him whatever he hasn't got." Yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham [Bg 9.22]. He is supplying everyone, but especially to the devotees. That is his special job.

Here Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is very, very magnanimous. He is, without asking, He is offering the best benefit, kṛṣṅa-prema, the best objective. Our objective of life should be to understand God. If we, in this life, if we simply understand what is God and what is my relationship with, and begin to act like that, then also our life is successful. Even if we cannot finish the whole job or we fall down from the platform of devotional service, still we are not loser. Tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṅāmbujaṁ harer patet tato yadi bhajann apakvaḥ atha [SB 1.5.17].

[One who has forsaken his material occupations to engage in the devotional service of the Lord may sometimes fall down while in an immature stage, yet there is no danger of his being unsuccessful. On the other hand, a nondevotee, though fully engaged in occupational duties, does not gain anything.]

This devotional service is the process. Requires some time to fulfill the whole job and become perfect. But even becoming..., before becoming perfect one falls down, he is not loser. The service is so transcendental that whatever you have done, that is your asset. And if you stop, so that is not good, but even if you stop, whatever you have done already, that is your permanent asset. This is the benefit of devotional service. Material thing, if you cannot do it perfectly well, whatever you have done, that is all lost. But in spiritual, whatever you have done—one percent, two percent, three percent, as you have done—that is not lost.

Therefore the śāstra says that those who are not devotees, what is their profit? Even they are doing their duties very nicely, what is the profit? Because he remains under the stringent laws of nature. Suppose this life I have done my duty as a politician very nicely, but the next life I become a dog, then what is the benefit? What is the benefit? To become next life as a dog or god, that will not depend on you; that will depend on the nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ [Bg 3.27].

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

It is being automatically done. Two plus two equal to four. Similarly, whatever we are doing, we are preparing for the next life. Karmaṅa. Simply material nature has to give you a post: "Now you have done like this. Take this post." You cannot deny. You cannot say, "No, no, I don't like this post." No, you have to take it. So for the karmīs, even they have done their so-called duties very perfectly well, what is the profit? There is no profit, because we are under the control of material nature. But the devotees, whatever little service they have done, that is permanent asset. That is not controlled by nature. That is controlled by God.

And He says in the Bhagavad-gītā, yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ sañjāyate. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ sañjāyate [Bg 6.41].

[The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy.]

Bhraṣṭaḥ means one who is fallen from this devotional service. So for them also, it is guaranteed a human life. Not only human life, but in very good family. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe. Śucīnām means by perfectly well behaved, cleansed family, brāhmaṅa family. Śucīnām. Śuci means very clean. So you are becoming all brāhmaṅas. You must remain always very clean. Śucīnām. That is called śuci. And muci means unclean, cobbler. Śuci and muci. So don't become muci. [laughter] Yes. Uncleanliness is muci, cobbler. They are dealing always with skin, and bad smell, and no bathing. So in our country muci, the cobbler, is taken as the lowest of the mankind, narādhamāḥ, because their business is when the cow dies, so the mucis are prepared to take away the dead cow or bull. They eat the flesh, and they take out the skin and the bones for their business. Muci prepare shoes. He gets the skin for nothing, without any payment. He doesn't have to invest his capital, and he nicely cleanses it, tans, and then prepares shoes and sell in the market, so get the money. And the muci class, they eat this flesh, meat. But they are given the opportunity when the cow is dead, not by slaughterhouse. That is not in the Vedic scripture. The dead animal, you can eat. Those who are fond of eating fish and meat, they can eat when the animal is dead. Not killing. That is not very good thing. So the muci class, their business is to take the dead... After all, everyone will die. The animal will die also. Even if we keep the cows, don't kill, it will die. So some cow is dying here, some cow is dying there. Just like the vulture, they eat dead body. So dead body must be there. So they have no scarcity of dead bodies. They can find out dead body. They go three miles above to find out where is the dead body. So that is also sense gratification.

So in this way there are classes, śuci and muci. Śuci is the first-class cleansed internally and externally human being, and the muci means the low class, very unclean, eating the dead meat, cows and bulls. So Kṛṣṅa says, "Even one is fallen, he gets his birth in the family of śuci." Śucīnām. Just like in our society there are small children. You see their behavior. They are coming, offering flower, offering obeisances. That means they are not ordinary children. They have got the opportunity to take birth in the family of Vaiṣṅava, father Vaiṣṅava, mother Vaiṣṅava. And he is getting the opportunity of Kṛṣṅa consciousness from the very beginning of life. This is called śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe [Bg 6.41].

[The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy.]

So if one is fallen from devotional service, he is offered again the opportunity to take birth in the human society. And not only ordinary human being, but devotee, very cleansed, or, next to that, very rich family. These are the two opportunities for the fallen devotees, and what to speak of those who are not fallen. Just imagine. Those who are not fallen, they go directly. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

Immediately they are transferred to the spiritual world after giving up this body. And those who are fallen, they are not immediately transferred, but they are given the chance again for developing Kṛṣṅa consciousness and being transferred, transferred to the spiritual world.

Because one who takes birth in the family of Vaiṣṅava and pure brāhmaṅa, he gets the chance again. Just like these children are getting chance again—deity worship, offering to the Vaiṣṅava obeisances, offering some flower, dancing, chanting. He is again getting the opportunity. Although he was fallen in his last birth, that fallen is not so serious. He has got again human body, and he has got chance to be associate with this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. And rich man... Rich man means... Everyone is embarrassed with the maintenance of body. So if one is not embarrassed... To take birth in rich family means he has nothing to think of maintenance. Just like one of our devotee, Mr. Alfred Ford, he is the great-grandson of Mr. Henry Ford. He has given us one big house in Honolulu. The boy came to see me, very nice boy. So this is śrīmatāṁ gehe, born in rich family, and he has got the opportunity to give something for the service of the Lord. So either you are born in rich family or in poor Vaiṣṅava family, you are not loser. So we should take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness and try to introduce it very nicely, and even though we fall, there is no loss. The human life is guaranteed and in very good family. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.

So here it is said, hīnārthādhika-sādhakaṁ śrī-caitanyam, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is very kind to the fallen souls. His special mission is to reclaim the fallen souls. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission. Reclaim the fallen souls means in this Age of Kali, almost 99.9%, they are all fallen. Their qualification is mandāḥ. Mandāḥ means they do not know that the human life is meant for qualifying oneself in Kṛṣṅa consciousness, spiritual consciousness. They do not know. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo [SB 1.1.10].

[O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.]

Even one is interested about spiritual consciousness, they accept some bogus theory. So many yogīs, svāmīs, all bluffer, they will take care. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo. Because Kali-yuga, they are already sophisticated, bewildered, and these people come to cheat, they fall the prey of these cheaters. Sumanda-matayo. Anyone who is preaching something else other than God consciousness, he is a cheater. He is a cheater. Sumanda-matayo. Because real progress of life is to become God conscious. That is the real progress. And without God consciousness, the so-called yogīs, so-called meditation... What is this meditation? What is the profit? Simply some bogus propaganda. It has no value.

Real progress of life is to know what is God and what is my relationship with Him and how to act in that relationship. That is real life. But they do not know it. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṅum [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

They do not know it. They think, "By this yoga practice, I shall be perfect, my material condition will be improved," and so on, so on. They have got their own theories and... But that is not progress of life. There are many rich men, many karmīs. Without practicing yoga they are having material comforts. So spiritual life does not mean that one is improved in material, conditioned life. Spiritual life means spiritual advancement. But people take it that "Take to religion means to give impetus to our material life." Dharma artha kāma mokṣa [SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90].

[Any person who desires the fruits of the four principles religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, liberation, should engage himself in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for worship of His lotus feet yields the fulfillment of all of these.]

And when they are disgusted, they want mokṣa. Mokṣa means to become one with the Lord.

So these things are going on. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to save all these fallen souls. Hīnārtha. Hīnārthādhika-sādhakam. The more one is fallen, he is the better candidate for accepting the cult of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings, patita-pāvana-hetu, tava avatāra: "My Lord, You have incarnated to reclaim the fallen." Patita-pāvana-hetu tava avatāra, mo sama patita prabhu, nā pāibe āra: "If that is Your mission, then I am the most fallen. So my claim is first to receive Your favor. Because Your mission is to show favor to the fallen, so I am the most fallen. So kindly accept me." In this way he has sung. And that is stated here, hīnārthādhika-sādhakaṁ śrī-caitanyam.

So [reading:] "A person in the conditional stage of material existence is in an atmosphere of helplessness. But the conditioned soul, under the illusion of māyā, or the external energy, thinks that he is completely protected by his country, society, friendship and love, not knowing that at the time of death none of these can save him." This is called māyā. But he does not believe. Under the illusion of māyā, he does not also believe that what is the meaning of saving. Saving. Saving means saving oneself from this repetition, cycle of birth and death. That is real saving. But they do not know. [reading:] "The laws of material nature are so strong that none of our material possessions can save us from the cruel hands of death." Everyone knows it. And that is our real problem. Who is not afraid of death? Everyone is afraid of death. Why? Because any living entity, he is not meant for dying. He is eternal; therefore birth, death, old age and disease, these things are botheration for him. Because he is eternal, he does not take birth, na jāyate; and one who does not take birth, he has no death also, na mriyate kadācit. This is our actual position. Therefore we are afraid of death. That is our natural inclination.

So to save us from death... That is the first business of humankind. We are teaching this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement for this purpose only. That should be the purpose of everyone. That is the śāstric injunction. Those who are guardians... The government, the father, the teacher, they are guardians of the children. They should know it, how to give protection to the world's... Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta mṛtyum [SB 5.5.18].

[One who cannot deliver his dependents from the path of repeated birth and death should never become a spiritual master, a relative, a father, a husband, a mother or a worshipable demigod.]

So where is this philosophy, all over the world? There is no such philosophy. This is the only, Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, which is putting forward this philosophy, not whimsically but from authorized śāstra, Vedic literature, authorities. So that is our request. We are opening different centers all over the world for the benefit of the human society, that they do not know the aim of life, they do not know that there is next life after death. These things they do not know. So we are trying to educate them that "There is next life undoubtedly, and you can prepare your next life in this life. You can go to the higher planetary system for better comfort, material comfort. You can remain here in a secure position." Secure means this material life. Just like it is said,

yānti deva-vratā devān pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām [Bg 9.25]

[Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.]

So you can prepare yourself for better life in the heavenly planets or in a better society in this world or to go to the planets where ghost and other wretches are controlling. Or you can go to the planet where Kṛṣṅa is there. Everything is open to you. Yānti bhūtejyā bhūtāni mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām. Simply you have to prepare yourself. Just like in youth life they are educated—somebody is going to be engineer, somebody is going to be medical man, somebody is going to be lawyer and many other professional man—and they are preparing by education; similarly, you can prepare for your next life. This is not difficult to understand. But they do not believe in the next life, although it is very common sense. But actually there is next life, because Kṛṣṅa says, and we can understand the philosophy by a little intelligence that there is next life.

So our proposition is that "If you have got to prepare yourself for the next life, then why don't you take the trouble of preparing for going back to home, back to Godhead?" This is our proposition. You can prepare yourself to go to hell or heaven. That doesn't matter, because that is also temporary. Kṣīṅe puṅye punar martya-lokaṁ viṣanti [Bg 9.21].

[When they have thus enjoyed heavenly sense pleasure, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus, through the Vedic principles, they achieve only flickering happiness.]

After you have finished... Just like you may go to jail or to somewhere else. When your visa or time is finished, then you are free from such life. Similarly, even if we go to the heavenly planet, when the resultant action of our pious activities are finished, then again we are turned down here. So in this way sometimes higher planetary, sometimes lower planetary, we are traveling. Therefore our best business is: "Why not go back to home, back to Godhead?" Kṛṣṅa says, mad-yājino 'pi yānti mam [Bg 9.25]:

[Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.]

"Anyone who is Kṛṣṅa conscious, he comes to Me." So why not go to Kṛṣṅa? Then the question will be: "What is the benefit of going to Kṛṣṅaloka? What is the difference between going to heavenly planet or any other planet and going to Kṛṣṅa?" The difference is, any planet you go, you are under the four material regulation, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg 13.9]: birth, death, old age and disease.

[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]

But if you go to Kṛṣṅa... Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama [Bg 15.6].

[That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.]

If you go to Kṛṣṅa, then you don't get any more chance to come down and take a material body. You can live there eternally blissful life of knowledge. That is the difference.

So any intelligent man should take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, cultivate the Kṛṣṅa conscious business and go back to home, back to Godhead, for eternal life. This mission we are preaching all over the world, because Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted it. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to deliver the fallen souls from the clutches of māyā and take them back to home, back to Godhead. As Kṛṣṅa came, He also... His mission was this. Bahavo jñāna-tapasā pūtā mad-bhāvam ādigacchati [Bg 4.10].

[Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purifled by knowledge of Me—and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.]

Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma [Bg 15.6]. He is also giving information, "You come to Me. Live there eternally, with bliss and knowledge. Why you are rotting in this material world?" So Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has come with the same mission. His mission is not different from Kṛṣṅa, because He is Kṛṣṅa Himself. So His mission is to offer prema, bhakti. Prema-bhakti-vadānyatā. That is His magnanimity. Śrī Kṛṣṅa did not offer prema. That is also prema, the preliminary condition. He said, "Surrender." Surrender means beginning of prema. Unless I have got love for you, why shall I surrender to you? So that is the beginning of love, surrender. So He demanded so much.

But Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so kind and magnanimous that in course of His chanting and dancing, He embraced everyone and gave him kṛṣṅa-prema. That is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's magnanimity. Therefore Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has offered his prayer to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṅa-prema-pradāya te [Cc Madhya 19.53]:

[O most munificent incarnation! You are Kṛṣṅa Himself appearing as Śrī Kṛṣṅa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṅī, and You are widely distributing pure love of Kṛṣṅa. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.]

"People cannot understand Kṛṣṅa, and You are giving love of Kṛṣṅa." If you don't know anybody, how you can develop love for him? So just imagine how much magnanimous is Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is giving such a nice process, that chant Hare Kṛṣṅa, be purified—immediately you become free from this material bondage and begin your loving service to Kṛṣṅa. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's gift. So therefore the author is writing that agaty-eka-gatiṁ natvā... [break] [end]