Lord Caitanya’s Eight Teachings

Lord Caitanya's Eight Teachings

Teaching 1—Seven Effects Of Chanting

Lord Caitanya tells of the purifying power of spiritual sound.

by Satyarāja Dāsa

This continues a series on Lord Caitanya’s Śikṣāṣṭaka, or “Eight Teachings.” (The first installment was the Introduction, in the last issue.) The series has been adapted from lectures presented at the New York City Public Library to a group of students from Columbia University.

FROM THE VERY FIRST verse, you’ll see that Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately homes in on the importance of chanting the holy names. Before we explore the all-inclusive significance of spiritual sounds, we should understand the full potency of even material sounds, or vibrations that permeate the material sphere.

The importance of sound should not be underestimated. Sounds can totally change a person’s perspective. All kinds of people rallied together and sang “La Marseillaise” during the French Revolution. “The Horst Wessel Song” fueled the dictatorship of Nazi Germany. “Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime” was the fireside song of the Great Depression. And “We Shall Overcome” unified the American civil rights movement. For every era, a song or a group of songs influence the day. For the Sixties we may think of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead.

Sound vibration is integral to our way of perceiving things, and sounds affect us in ways we know and even in ways we don’t. We are all aware of the subliminal effects of sound. We commonly use sound for our own ends. Since we lean toward personal sense gratification, we tend to exploit sound. Powerful people can even start wars with sound, spreading propaganda by capturing radio, television, and newspapers.

Those who know exactly how to harness sound can get what they want out of life. If they’re expert, they can easily motivate people, even control people, with the simplest sounds. Words incite riots. Advertisers rouse consumers to buy all kinds of things they don’t really need. It’s a great science—words are that powerful.

Indirect vocabulary, euphemisms—and then there are the buzz-words and catch-phrases, sounds meant to evoke a particular response. The science of words is really developed throughout the world, in various ways and for various purposes.

If the sounds we’re accustomed to are that powerful, what then can be said of the sounds beyond our limited sphere of knowledge? If the expert manipulators of conventional sound can exploit—or, in some cases, help—the world to such a profound degree, perhaps there are sounds beyond our current limited reckoning that can take us further, sounds that can open up new vistas of possibility.

In fact, modern science tells us of sounds to which we have no access. For example, as human beings we can’t perceive certain portions of the known vibratory spectrum. Although we’re extremely sensitive to sound waves of about 1,000 to 4,000 cycles per second (cps), we’re all but deaf to sound waves above 20,000 cps. Dogs and cats, on the other hand, can hear up to 60,000 cps, while mice, rats, whales, and dolphins can actually emit and receive sounds well over 100,000 cps.

So our senses are imperfect and limited. Indeed, of the sounds we can hear, are we really hearing them properly? How much escapes us? Modern science, then, can lead us to at least one inescapable conclusion about sound: We must admit our limitations in this area.

Spiritual Sounds

This all leads us to the central teaching of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, which centers on sound and its most profound dimensions. Basing His teaching on the ancient Vedic texts of India, He tells us, as do the proponents of modern science, that there are sounds that lie far beyond the purview of ordinary sense perception.

The sounds of which Caitanya Mahāprabhu speaks are spiritual sounds, called śabda-brahma, and they have the special potency to fully awaken us from the slumber of materialistic life. The Vedic literature holds that the common, unenlightened person is in a sleeplike state. The analogy is quite fitting: Until one wakes up to reality—abiding reality—one may appropriately be deemed asleep.

To further extend the analogy: The most common way to awaken someone is to make some sound. The other senses are inefficient in this regard. If a friend is sleeping and you want to wake him up, what’s the first thing to do? You may dress yourself quite lavishly and with abundant decoration, but the sleeping person won’t notice. You may even dress in “loud” colors, but they won’t be loud enough to awaken your sleeping friend. No. It’s clear: The most natural thing is to call out his name until he wakes up.

So this is Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s method, and it is based on the ancient Vedic texts. The Vedic literature recommends various methods of God realization for different ages. In the Satya-yuga, millions of years ago, the method was meditation. The techniques of yoga and meditation employed by many people today were actually meant for Satya-yuga, when practitioners are said to have lived for many thousands of years. According to the original texts on yoga, it actually takes at least a thousand years to perfect this process. So it is not recommended for Kali-yuga, the current age, when we live one hundred years at most.

Then, in Tretā-yuga, when natural commodities—gold, silver, all kinds of natural products of the earth—existed in abundance, before the environment was raped, thousands of years before the Industrial Revolution, the method of God realization was sacrifice. Great offerings were made to God. Then in Dvāpara-yuga, temple worship became the recommended means of God realization.

But in this age, Kali-yuga, chanting is recommended. Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā

“In the Age of Kali, there is no other way, no other way, no other way for spiritual progress than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of the Lord.” This is further confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the Twelfth Canto, where it is mentioned that whatever was achieved by meditation in Satya-yuga, sacrifice in Tretā-yuga, and temple worship in Dvāpara-yuga can be achieved in this age simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. God’s name is called tārak brahma nāma, or “the name that helps one cross beyond the ocean of illusion.” The eight verses of Lord Caitanya’s teachings reveal the various spiritual levels one attains by chanting the holy name.

First I’ll give these verses to you in the original Sanskrit, one by one, and then I’ll give Śrīla Prabhupāda's English translation. I’ll try to explain them in the traditional Gauḍīya Vaiṣṅava way so that you can get a feel for the poetry and at the same time see the depth of knowledge that is there in these verses.

This is the first one:

ceto-darpaṅa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvagni-nirvāpaṅaṁ śreyah-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṅaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṅāmṛtāsvādanaṁ sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate śri-kṛṣṅa-saṅkīrtanam

“All glories to the Śrī Kṛṣṅa saṅkīrtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This saṅkīrtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.”

Ceto-darpaṅa means “the mirror of the mind.” If you let a mirror sit for many years, a great amount of dust accumulates. Our unfortunate position is that for countless births we have enhanced our conditioned state, developing likes and dislikes for countless millennia. According to the Vedic tradition there are 8,400,000 species of life, and we desperately travel through each of them trying to reclaim our original, natural state of spiritual happiness.

We go through the different bodies, each equipped with a particular sensual strength, but none of these bodies is particularly satisfying. And nature is set up in such a way that this subtle point eventually becomes obvious to us, especially when we are evolved human beings, human beings with a spiritual perspective. Then, and only then, do we genuinely see the futility of trying to artificially squeeze pleasure out of material life.

Why artificially? Because material life is not natural for us—we are originally spiritual beings. There is an inherent difference between me and this table. That difference is the soul, the spiritual element, consciousness. So if I, a spiritual being, try to enjoy matter, I’m like a fish out of water, and eventually that becomes very clear. It is at this point, then, that I begin to pursue spiritual pleasure, which is of a higher quality, and, more important, it lasts. It has substance.

But to reach this point of awareness one requires mārjanam, or “cleansing.” So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says ceto-darpaṅa-mārjanam: We must clean the mind of materialistic conditioning. Then what happens? When you cleanse a mirror it can reflect whatever is actually there. So then you can see yourself—who you really are. And you can see God and your relationship with God. One who learns how to clean the mirror of the soul can see these things clearly.

The cleansing is done through the holy name of Kṛṣṅa. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, vijayate śrī-kṛṣṅa-saṅkīrtanam: “All glories to the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṅa.” Why? Because this chanting is the only real cleansing process. One learns how to properly chant under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master. There are so many ways to perfect one’s chanting. The genuine spiritual teacher will help the disciple avoid offenses to the holy name. It is a great science. If one chants the holy name properly, there are seven effects. Those are given in this verse by Lord Caitanya.

The first of the seven effects has already been mentioned: Chanting cleanses the mirror of the mind. Next, it stops the miseries of material existence. Caitanya Mahāprabhu compares the material world to mahādāvāgni, a great forest fire. This fire is completely extinguished—nirvāpaṅam—by the chanting. That is the second effect of chanting.

Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu gets particularly poetic. He mentions the kairava, which is a special white lotus—sometimes described as a “transcendental lily”—that blooms only at night. You see, the lotus is the emblem of auspiciousness, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu is herein indicating that just as the moonshine brings forth the tender kairava, so also does the holy name spread the moonshine of good fortune and auspiciousness. That’s the third effect one can expect by the proper chanting of Sri Kṛṣṅa's name.

The fourth effect is vidyā, or knowledge. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam, which refers to Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning. Lord Caitanya says that all knowledge comes to one who sincerely chants the holy name of the Lord. Chanting is the life and soul of all education. What is knowledge really worth if it does not lead to love of God? So, according to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, a truly sincere chanter has all knowledge, because he has realized the ultimate purport of learning: submission to the will of God.

Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. The next few words tell us that sincere chanting can give the highest bliss. Whatever state of happiness you’ve attained, proper chanting can take you further. The word vardhanam means “increasing.” It increases whatever bliss you may have. That is the fifth effect. This is very important because everyone wants to be happy. That’s natural. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s claim is that one can achieve a superior happiness—superior in quality and quantity—if one learns how to become absorbed in the holy name. It is everlasting and joyfully performed.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is beckoning us, challenging us. We should call His bluff and try it. We can only come out on top. We don’t have to give up our material life. All we have to do is add the chanting to our lives. Then we can see if it actually offers the highest happiness.

The sixth outcome of chanting is that it gives a soothing effect, a cooling feeling. In other words, it gives relief from material life. And this leads to the seventh effect: prati-padam pūrṅāmṛtāsvādanam. It gives the full nectar at every step. Then: sarvātma-snapanam param. At that time one’s whole existence becomes thoroughly bathed in transcendence.

So that’s the sevenfold effect of chanting. No gaps. One feels a constant surge of spiritual pleasure. But one must become adept.

This is all in the first verse of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s Śikṣāṣṭaka prayers.

Satyarāja Dāsa is a disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda and a regular contributor to BTG. He has written several books on Kṛṣṅa consciousness, the latest of which is Gita on the Green: The Mystical Tradition Behind Bagger Vance. He and his wife live near New York City.