English
30th April 2019
GAURSUNDAR BECAME SHAMSUNDAR!
By doing japa you all will be alright. This conference is open for all the souls, doesn't matter who they are, where are they from, whose disciples they are. Whether they are disciples or not disciples, they are all welcome. We love to have their association on this conference. We have many devotees from Mauritius attending the conference. It's a small country, but there are tons of devotees over there. So, you can get many devotees from there on conference. Likewise, you can get many devotees in your neighbourhood, in your city, in your country who are not chanting. You can get them to chant.
While we are chanting, we receive blessings, as many of you keep seeking blessings on the conference. I was thinking that, if we are chanting, we are blessed. In fact, you are blessed & that is why you are chanting, or you should consider yourself blessed as you are chanting. Also, it is not only my blessings, but blessings of Srila Prabhupada, blessings of previous acharyas.
Namacharya Haridas Thakur is also blessing you, when you are attempting or endeavouring to chant. Then seeing that endeavour, we are all pleased & we feel like blessing. We are blessed. And of course, these are blessings of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He blessed in fact whole planet. He blessed all of us in advance & now we are receiving those blessings. We are receiving that holy name, which He brought from His own abode.
Goloker premadhan
Harinaam sankirtan
(Dainya Bodhika Song 2 Prathana)
So, these are blessings of Gauranga. Gauranga is blessing all of us. We join Gauranga as we chant 'Hare Krishna'. We become part of that team of Gauranga called Gaur Bhakta-Vrinda - Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda Sri Advaita Srivasadi Gaura Bhakta-Vrinda or part of Panchatattva. So, we begin joining that Gaura Bhakta-Vrinda team. And they bless us.
Golokam ca parityajya lokanam trana-karanat
kalau gauranga-rupena lila-lavanya-vigrahah
(Markandeya Purana)
"In the Kali-Yuga, I will leave Goloka and, to save the people of the world, I will become the handsome and playful Lord Gauranga.
"Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu left His abode Goloka behind & He came to us to this world, to give us relief. Relief to the suffering of tortured living entities & how did He do that? He brought Mahamantra with Him. This is a gift of Gauranga. This is 'anukampa' of Lord.
teṣām evānukampārtham
aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ
nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-stho
jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā
(BG 10.11)
So, when Lord takes notice of how this material world is treating us & beating us & torturing us, by seeing that Lord's heart melts & He becomes compassionate. His compassion flows & then in orders to do something. That’s when He appears.
Lord appeared five hundred years ago. He came with the solution; He came with the holy name of the Lord of His own holy name.
vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga-
śikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-śarīra-dhārī
kṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye
(CC Madhya 6.254).
I think this was Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. He said Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared shikshartham - in order to teach the whole world. Lord personally became acharya.
Shikshartham eko purushaha puranaha Purushottam appeared to teach 'vairagya Vidya nija bhakti yogat' to teach vairagya vidya that is renunciation & bhakti yoga that is devotional service unto Himself. Lord appeared Sri Krishna Chaitanya 'sharir-dhari' . Sri Krishna Chaitanya, He assumed this form. Kripambhudhi - He is full of or He is ocean of mercy.
Tam aham prapadye
Unto such Lord Gauranga I offer my obeisances.
Aapane aachari jagat sikhay Chaitanya Charitamrita also says, by His own example, He was teaching the whole world. Lord personally chanted, He personally danced, personally also sat & did japa. He was sitting with a bead bag & He was chanting. This was astonishing thing, Lord was doing Japa.
When He visited Vrindavan, one time He sat on the banks of Yamuna. They say, He was sitting under a tamarind tree, known as 'Imalitala' & He was chanting 'Hare Krishna', & He was chanting attentively. His chanting was always attentive. As Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu chanted & chanted with attention & devotion, with prayerful mood, He became Krishna conscious. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu became Krishna conscious. Then what happened to Him, when He became Krishna conscious , His bodily complexion changed. He was no more Gaursundar but He became Shyamsundar. His complexion which normally used to be like that of Radharani, that became like that of Sri Krishna. So not only that he was sitting properly or sitting right , but all internal, His thinking, feeling, willing , intelligence was keeping an eye on the chanting. He was fully alert, remembering the Lord, meditating on the Lord, Lord’s form or qualities or past-times. So, we have also have to sharpen our intelligence, then such intelligence can control or prevent the mind from wandering. That is why I keep saying , in order to chant we have to watch the wanderings of mind.
Where is my mind now? Is he hearing the name? Or is it getting distracted? Who will keep an eye or watch. That is the function of intelligence. In order to do good job, intelligence has to be sharp intelligence & not a blunt intelligence. So, in order to sharpen the tools, as intelligence is also one of the tools we use during the chanting, we have to watch with intelligence.
Anyway, what I was about to say is , Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was an exemplary chanter. His chanting was perfect, exemplary, internally , devotionally, attentively & like that. So that was the glaring example.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, shikshartham - He not only taught us to 'do japa', but also taught us 'how to do japa'. How to sit, how to meditate & like that He taught so many things to us. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu while chanting He became Krishna that is what we understand, from that particular lila. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu chanting, is His 'lila'.
Lord was always in that mood. He was in topmost evolved consciousness. He never went low, He 'stayed high forever'. We say in ISKCON also, 'He stayed high forever'. But that particular day, during that lila , Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited something very special thing. It was observed, that His complexion changed & it became bluish complexion. So that's why I said, He became Krishna Conscious. How do we know? Look at His complexion.
Otherwise,
antah krmam bahir gauram
darsitangadi vaibhavam
kalau sankirtanadyaih sma
krma-caitanyam asritah (Introduction to 'Bhagavad Sandharbh' by Jiva Goswami.)
Normally in past-times of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, ‘antaha Krishnaha’ that is Krishna inside & bahir Gaura. This is Chaitanya Bhagavad’s explanation, which says 'Sri Krishna Chaitanya Radha-Krishna nahi anya'.
Radha & Krishna became one. Where is Krishna? Krishna is inside & bahir Gaura that is outside you see Radharani. Radharani's complexion, Her emotions & Her devotion. They have kind of changed Their positions. Krishna has come out & Radharani had gone deep within. In other words, He is in mood of Radharani, He assumed the emotions of Radharani. If He is the devotee, then Radharani is that devotee. She is serving Krishna, praying to Krishna. So that Radharani has became Krishna conscious, we can say like that. That Radharani is now surrounded by Sri Krishna, because of which 'Tapta kanchan Gaurangi' Radha went inside & 'Ghana eva Sham' came outside. It became inside out. What was inside came outside, Krishna which was inside manifested outside.
So keep chanting. Today is also Ekadashi. So chant more attentively. I want to make this Japa-talk little shorter to finish it around 7.00am. It is not always practical to have extended Japa-talk.
Hare Krishna!