SRI SANATANA GOSVAMI IN PURI continued .....

[Patita Pavana das]

This verse was spoken by Rukmini devi. Actually, Mahaprabhu had spoken this verse before in His lila. Mahaprabhu knows all Srimad-Bhagavatam. Whenever a particular mood arises, He knows which verses to cite to reinforce that mood. Just before He took sannyasa, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu told all His associates, "Today I want to make a drama at Candra Sekhara Bhavan, in the house of Candra Sekhara Acarya. I want My associates to come, but those who have not completely mastered their senses should not be allowed to participate in or witness this drama." So at that point, out of humility Advaita Acarya and Haridasa Thakura became worried, "Ohhh, this could be a problem!" You know, Advaita Acarya is Mahadeva Siva.


Once the Supreme Lord made a drama-He manifested His female form, Mohini Murti. What happened to Mahadeva then? He could not maintain his patience and he ran after Mohini Murti. Just to teach a good lesson to the world, Mohini Murti went to all the asramas where the Saivites were doing their puja. Lord Siva is their hero, and they were all meditating on him, "He’s such a great yogi-yogi maha-yogi, Mahadeva. He has perfect control of his senses. He is my hero." While they were thinking what a great yogi he was, they saw Mahadeva madly running after a woman. He dropped his trident and his drum, his clothes had fallen off and other things we will not mention. So Mahadeva was running after Mohini Murti who was always ahead of him and sometimes hiding here and there. Afterwards, when Mohini Murti again assumed her Narayana form, Mahadeva was very proud that he had been defeated by his Prabhu, just as the disciple is very proud to be defeated by Guru.


Now, Mahaprabhu was saying, "I want to make a drama. I will dance in the moods of My many saktis, like Laksmi devi and Rukmini." Therefore, Advaita Acarya was thinking, "Oh, I think I’d better not go." And Haridasa Thakura also began to panic a little. "I guess I am not going to the drama either." Why? Because he is Brahma. Lord Brahma chased after his own daughter in the form of a deer. So his senses were also out of control. These are great personalities; there is no defect in them. By Krsna’s arrangement, some pastimes had taken place. Now Krsna has come in the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, so out of humility both of them came to Mahaprabhu with folded hands, saying, "Mahaprabhu, we don’t have complete control of all of our senses, so we won’t be coming." Mahaprabhu replied, "Don’t worry. Tonight you will have such strength of your senses, like great maha-yogis, like Mahadeva. You will be all right." He told them to collect all the paraphernalia for the drama, so they arranged for costumes, and assigned the various roles.


In the evening time they assembled there in the house of Candra Sekhara (Mahaprabhu’s uncle). The first person to come on stage was Haridasa Thakura. Playing a gatekeeper of Vaikuntha, he was dressed up in a funny way with a great big mustache. The other players followed him, one after another. Eventually, Mahaprabhu Himself came onto the stage, manifesting all the different moods of His saktis. Sometimes He was Durga, sometimes Laksmi devi, and at one point Rukmini. Displaying one of Rukmini’s moods, Mahaprabhu began to recite the six verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam that Rukmini devi wrote in her letter to Krsna just before she was about to be married to Sisupala. She wrote this letter imploring Krsna to save her. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu recited these verses, all the devotees were crying. Why? Because these verses contain a deep emotion. and beautiful mood that is very helpful for the sadhaka.


Once, Srila Gurudeva raised the question: can you love someone that you have never met? In this world, not really. Actually, there is no love here anyway, so even if you meet someone, you can’t really love him. But on the transcendental platform, love can come for a person one has never met. How? Through the hearing process. Simply by hearing about Krsna, rati can come in the heart.


Rukmini devi was the daughter of the king of Vidarbha. It was the custom that many sages and rsis (including Narada Rsi) would come to the palace of the king, and would tell some hari katha. From her childhood, Rukmini heard many of Krsna’s sweet pastimes from Narada, and a greed came in her heart. She thought, "Krsna is so wonderful. I would like to meet Him." Now, when she was teen-aged, not more than thirteen or fourteen years old, her brother Rukmi had arranged for her to marry Sisupala, one powerful demon. But it was too late-although she had never met Krsna, she had already given her heart to Him. This happened only by the hearing process. So similarly, though we have never met Krsna, if we will hear about Him from a realized person like Narada, from anyone who has met Him, from anyone who knows Him and is related to Him, that katha is so powerful that it can cause rati (deep attachment, spontaneous love) to be awakened in our hearts. Rukmini devi was thinking, "What will I do now?" She was a sweet, very young teen-age girl, was about to be given to Sisupala for his enjoyment. O my God! Unthinkable! Her family had made all the arrangements for her wedding to take place in only a few days, so she was desperately thinking, "What can I do?"


Feeling that now her life would be over, and being so eager to meet with Krsna, Rukmini composed a letter. She gave it to a brahmana who took it to Krsna. In that letter, she wrote, "You are the most qualified person, the most beautiful and most attractive. You have all the highest characteristics in Your behavior. Your heart is full of affection, so I have given my heart completely to You. Why? Just hearing all about Your nama, guna, rupa and lila was enough to make me give my heart to You exclusively. It is not right that the lion’s share should be given to a jackal." How is it possible that the jackel will take the lion’s share? No, the lion can take the jackal’s share. If a jackal sees something to eat, he says, "I will take that." But when the lion comes, he has to run away. So here she is comparing Sisupala to a jackal, and she calls Krsna ‘Narasimha’. Here Narasimha does not mean whose head is like a lion’s and whosed body is like a man’s-half-man half-lion, no. Here, Narasimha means "the lion is the king, the most powerful and beautiful among all the many animals in the forest; in the same way there are so many men, but I am not interested in any of them. Among men there is one lion-it is You. So I am giving my heart to You-You are Narasimha. I know that You are afraid that you will have to kill so many of my family members while abducting me. So I suggest that on the day before my wedding, when I go to the temple of Durga, there will be an opportune moment for You to come and steal me away."


And if Krsna would not come, what was Rukmini’s mood? She wrote this verse: yasyanghri-pankaja-rajah-snapanah mahanto (SB 10.52.43). "Hey Ambujaksa! O Krsna! Your eyes are soft like lotus flowers. This means that You look upon others with compassion. O Krsna, the great personalities such as Siva desire to bathe themselves in the dust of Your lotus feet, because, by that dust, all kinds of ignorance are completely washed away. Thus, I am begging You to please bestow Your mercy upon me. If You will not bestow Your mercy upon me, then: jahyam asun vrata-krsan sata-janmabhih syat. I will observe a vrata as long as You do not give me Your mercy. Until that day, I am going to do austerities-jahyam asun-the austerities by which the duration of my life will be shortened." If one will do very hard austerity, they will not live for very long. "I will do such austerities that the duration of my life will be shortened." This is a pretty strong threat for Krsna. She is a very sweet and soft teen-age girl, and she is saying that she will do such hard austerities that "gradually gradually all my strength will go away, and I will die. Sata-janmabhih syat-for hundreds of births. And even when I give up this body, in the next life again I will do austerities. And then I will die and again in my next life I will do austerities, and I will go on doing this until You give Your mercy to me."


Here, Rukmini devi has expressed such deep attachment for Krsna; she is the epitome of determination-yes, Srila Gurudeva says sometimes, "If you want to do bhajana, you will have to have a motto-do or die! No interest in life (the world) and no interest in life (being alive). Those who do bhajana have no interest in this life, and also they have no interest in their life-both things, do or die. A very beautiful pastime is given here in Srimad-Bhagavatam-how this very sweet and soft girl, with her heart fixed on Krsna, has no desire to live. Not only no desire to live, but she can throw away her life again and again and again, until Krsna gives His mercy to her. So when Krsna received this letter, He also determined, "I must save her." And quickly the next day, He came and stole away Rukmini.


When Mahaprabhu was reciting these verses in Candra Sekhara Bhavan, all the devotees were crying. Once Srila Gurudeva was telling us this pastime of Rukmini. He said that there is another very important teaching for us. What is that? If you want to attain success in bhajana, certain conditions must be met. If you are greedy, even this greed will not be enough. You will also have to have samskara, impressions. This will take some time to develop. And cesta-you will have to make some very hard endeavors. Gurudeva said this has been illustrated in this particular pastime of Rukmini. How? First of all, when she was very young, sadhus such as Narada Rsi would come to the palace, and even when she was five, she would hear hari katha, and some greed was coming. But at that time, when she was five, she did not have the samskara to desire to be the lover of Krsna in the married mood. A little girl does not think, "I should be married."


When Rukmini became a teen-ager and was eligible to be married, she was meditating, "I want to meet Krsna. He should be my husband. I should not be married to anyone else, only to Krsna." Now she was mature and the samskara to have a relation like this had developed. And then comes cesta-hard endeavors. What did she do? She wrote a love-letter. If any girl in Vedic society is about to be married, if she writes a love-letter to someone else, and somehow or other that letter is discovered, then what? She will be finished! Life will be over! This was a big risk. If that brahmana will break her confidence (she has trusted that brahmana), or if something will happen to him and someone will find the letter, then her whole life will be ruined. So, risking everything completely, without hesitation, she has written this letter and given it to the brahmana. This was her cesta. In the same way, if we want to do bhajana, by hearing we have to have some greed. But only greed will not be enough. Gradually by association, some life experiences will come in such a way that the samskara will become thick. Our impressions will be favorable to do bhajana. And then we will have to make a very intense, hard endeavor. When these three things-lobha (greed), samskara (impressions) and cesta (endeavor)-are there, Krsna will come and save us.


This pastime of Rukmini is the first example that Mahaprabhu gave, and it is very appropriate. A sadhaka can sit and chant and remember this verse. A mood should come as if his life is in his throat. He should have a determination like Raghunatha dasa Gosvami: yadiccher avasam vraja-bhuvi sa-ragam prati-janur. "O my dear mind, listen to me. If you really want to attain the service of Radha and Krsna directly in Vraja Dhama, then be ready to bow down and pray and remember the lotus feet of Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, Svarupa Damodara. How? In this life and the next life and the next life and the next life-don’t give up." So the sadhaka should have a mood like this. Though Mahaprabhu explained this mood, which is very sweet and powerful and helpful, still He was not satisfied. Why? Because Rukmini spoke this. If the devotee remembers this verse, it does not mean that he should become like Rukmini. Our acaryas have taken verses of Lord Brahma, of Akrura, of the cowherd boys, even of mundane poets, and have explained and meditated upon them according to their own mood, following the gopis’ mood, and especially the manjaris’ mood. Though Mahaprabhu will see everything in His own mood, still He was not satisfied.


Then another verse came in His heart, and He told Sanatana Gosvami, "Please listen."


sincanga nas tvad-adharamrta-purakena

hasavaloka-kala-gita-ja-hrc-chayagnim

no ced vayam viraha-jagny-upayukta-deha

dhyanena yama padayoh padavim sakhe te

(SB 10.29.35, CC. Antya 4.64)


Whose verse is this? This is from Pranaya-Gita. The gopis, since their childhood, had also heard about Krsna throughout their whole lives, but they were also seeing Him. Thus, their attachment rose more and more. As they grew, their samskara also developed. And then they made an endeavor-no letters. Directly pushing their husbands out of the way, they ran into the forest in the middle of the night. This was their cesta, and they came face to face with Krsna. Then Krsna became very tricky. Why? Before, He had stolen their cloth when they were taking bath on the bank of the Yamuna, and He made them come out from the water. They were covering themselves with their hair, but He told them, "Any ladies who are doing vrata should not leave their hair loose; they should tie it up." He made them tie up their hair, and pray with folded hands, with hands on their heads, offering pranama to Yamuna. In this way, being very funny, He played with them like dolls, and drank the beauty of their forms. But now He is meeting with them again face to face. This time He wanted to see what beauty is in their hearts. Before, He made them reveal the beauty of their forms; now He wants to make them open their hearts. So when they came, he told them, "Go home. You came here to see the beauty of the forest. Very good. Now go back."


At that time, the gopis are speaking to Krsna. This is called Pranaya-Gita. This verse is very important in the context of Sanatana Gosvamipada. The gopis are saying: hasavaloka-kala-gita-ja-hrc-chayagnim. "O Krsna, by Your smiling glances, by Your very soft and sweet and melodious words, You have lit a fire-hrc-chayagnim-the fire of kama, the fire of desire within our hearts. You have lit this fire, and there is only one way to extinguish that fire. What is that? Sincanga nas tvad-adharamrta-purakena: You should pour a stream of nectar on that fire. Then it can go out. What is that nectar? Adharamrta-You should give the nectar of Your lips. No ced vayam viraha-jagny-upayukta-deha: our whole body is burning in this fire, and only Your adharamrta can extinguish this." Here gopis are not in separation mood; they are standing in front of Krsna. They know how to completely take His heart. They understand that Krsna is very shy and He is feeling a little hesitant. By their words, they want to remove all His obstacles, so now they are telling him, "If You will not extinguish the blazing fire by Your adharamrtam, then our whole bodies will be burnt in that fire. Thus we will give up our bodies. Dhyanena yama padayoh padavim sakhe te: and by meditation, we will attain Your lotus feet-by meditation, just like yogis." When yogis want to attain the lotus feet of the Lord, the yogic fire, which comes out from within, them burns their body completely. And by meditation they go directly to the lotus feet of Narayana.


So the gopis are telling Krsna, "We have heard from Paurnamasi, Gargacarya and others:


tasman nandatmajo ’yam te

narayana-samo gunaih

(SB 10.8.19)


"You have all qualities, just like Narayana. If You will not extinguish the blazing fire in our body by the shower of Your adharamrtam, then by our meditation, our bodies will be burnt to ash in that fire. Thus we will come to You, whether You like it or not, by our meditation." This is very strong statement. If someone will tell you to do something and you reply, "Over my dead body!" what does it mean? It means that you are not going to change your mind. In the same way, Krsna told them, "O My dear gopis, please go home." The gopis reply, "We will die first."


Here Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is explaining to Sanatana Gosvami, "Your heart is breaking, and you want to die. All right. Don’t give up your body, but anyway, this mood is there. So many great devotees have expressed this mood. So following their moods, this will give power in your bhajana." Mahaprabhu continued:


kubuddhi chadiya kara sravana-kirtana

acirat pabe tabe krsnera carana

(CC Antya 4.65)


"Give up this bad idea of suicide. If you will do sravanam kirtanam in these moods that I have just explained to you, you will definitely attain Krsna’s lotus feet-acirat-just now!"

Sanatana Gosvamipada was thinking, "You are telling me that by doing bhajana in this mood, I can attain Krsna just now? How is this possible? I am so low and fallen. I am low caste and have taken bad association."

Mahaprabhu answered him:

yei bhaje sei bada, abhakta--hina, chara

krsna-bhajane nahi jati-kuladi-vicara

(CC Antya 4.67)


"One who does bhajana is great, but one who is not doing bhajana is completely worthless. He may be born in a high family or anything, but he is worthless. In the matter of Krsna-bhajana, there is no consideration of birth or family at all." (This is a very important verse. Our sannyasis in the Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti often quote this verse, and Prabhupada spoke it to our Gurudeva just before his divine disappearance.)


tara madhye sarva-srestha nama-sankirtana

niraparadhe nama laile paya prema-dhana

(CC Antya 4.71)


"Out of all types of angas of bhajana, the best is nama-sankirtana. If you will do nama-sankirtana without making any aparadha, you will attain prema and attain Krsna." When Sanatana Gosvamipada heard this-eta suni’ sanatanera haila camatkara-he was struck with wonder. He understood that "Mahaprabhu is sarva-jna, He knows My heart completely, and He did not very much appreciate my idea to commit suicide." Then Mahaprabhu explained to him, "Hey Sanatana, your body is My property. I have many objectives, prayojanas, that I want to achieve through you. You will be My pradhana sadhana, My prominent instrument, in the fulfillment of My desires. Vrndavana is very dear to Me, but I cannot stay there because of the order of My mother." Saci Mata wanted Him to be in Puri. "Because of My mother’s order, I cannot stay in Vrndavana, so who will teach the world how to do Brijabasa?" Who will teach the world-ko saba tyaji bhaji vrndavana? In this kirtana (Yan Kali Rupa), it is said, "Who especially left everything to reside in Vrndavana and who taught the world how to do Brijabasa? Srila Rupa Gosvami. This is also applicable to Sanatana Gosvamipada.


This morning we sang: he radhe! vraja-devike! ca lalite! he nanda-suno! kutah. Srinivasa Acarya described how the Gosvamis were doing parikrama of Govardhana, Barsana, Nanda-gaon, always absorbed in chanting and remembering and feeling separation. Mahaprabhu was thinking, "I cannot stay there. Who will show the world how to leave everything and reside in Vrndavana? Who will uncover all the holy places, discover the lost Deities, and write the bhakti granthas? I want to do these things through you." Then Mahaprabhu was laughing with Haridasa Thakura, "Hey Haridasa! This Sanatana does not even know the basic principles of religion." We are not talking about bhakti. In varnasrama-dharma you are not allowed to destroy someone else’s property. This is common sense. Haridasa Thakura told Sanatana Gosvamipada, "You are so lucky. Mahaprabhu wants to do so many things through you." Sanatana Gosvamipada answered, "I am just like a puppet. As Mahaprabhu makes me dance, then I am dancing."


This is the mood of sat sisya, the real disciple. Actually, Guru can achieve so many wonderful things through that disciple, but even the disciple does not know how it will happen. When Prabhupada was on the boat coming to America, he prayed, "O Krsna, I don’t know why You are bringing me to this horrible place. You must have some plan. So make me dance, make me dance. I have no knowledge. I have no devotion." In this way, Sanatana Gosvamipada told Mahaprabhu, "A wooden doll can chant and dance according to the direction of a magician, but he does not know how he is doing it. My Lord, You make one dance, and he dances accordingly, but how he is dancing, and who is causing him to dance, he does not know." Sat sisya should have a sraddha and nistha in his Gurudeva such that when Guru gives an order, his only thought is to follow the order. Success may come or not. Very great achievements may even come from the efforts of that disciple, but the disciple thinks, "I don’t know what I am doing. I am only following the order of my Guru, and by magic everything is going on."


In this conversation between Mahaprabhu and Sanatana Gosvami, their dynamic relationship and sisya abhimana (the identity or self-conception of a disciple) are being expressed very clearly here. Therefore this book is called Sri Caitanya Caritamrtam. If one will accept the disposition of a disciple and also the instructions regarding the proper mood for doing bhajana, then he will easily become perfect and have Sri Caitanya, that is, he will be conscious of Srimati Radharani.


I want to clarify one point here. Mahaprabhu taught Sanatana Gosvami this verse from Pranaya-Gita. The gopis are saying to Krsna, "If we cannot have the fire of our prema satisfied by Your adharamrtam, we will give up these bodies, and by meditation we will attain You." The gopis have this attachment directly to Krsna, but we should not have a direct attachment like this. Rather, being inspired by the gopis’ moods, we should think, "If the fire in the heart of Radhika which has been ignited by Krsna’s smiles, glances and sweet words is not extinguished by Krsna’s adharamrta, then I can give up my life." Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has expressed this mood:


sri krsna-virahe, radhikara dasa, ami to' sahite nari

yugala-milana, sukhera karana, jivana chadite pari


radhika-carana, tyajiya amara, ksaneke pralaya hoya

radhikara tare, sata-bara mari, se duhkha amara soya




e heno radhara, carana-yugale, paricarya pabo kabe

haha braja-jana, more doya kori, kabe vraja-vane lobe


vilasa manjari, ananga manjari, sri rupa manjari ara

amake tuliya, loho nija pade, deho more siddhi sara


If a rupanuga sadhaka is doing bhajana, he will be absorbed like this, and not give up his body. Mahaprabhu instructed Sanatana Gosvami to stay in this body and do sravana kirtana, hearing and chanting, and internally He inspired in his heart this mood-sri krsna-virahe, radhikara dasa, ami to' sahite nari. "I cannot tolerate Radhika’s condition when She feels separation from Krsna. For the sake of the happiness of the meeting of Radha and Krsna, I am ready to give up my life at once. Radhika-carana, tyajiya amara, ksaneke pralaya hoya-if I have to leave the service of the lotus feet of Radhika for only one second, then that moment seems like the moment of universal devastation, as if now the whole world is being annihilated. Radhikara tare, sata-bara mari, se duhkha amara soya-for the sake of Radharani, I can gladly give up my life hundreds and hundreds of times." Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is inspiring this mood in the heart of Sanatana Gosvamipada. If we will drink this nectar of Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, this amrta will cause us to cross the ocean of birth and death and become ‘Sri caitanya’, and we will become conscious of Sri-Srimati Radhika-as Rupa and Sanatana in their forms of Rupa Manjari and Labanga Manjari have shown by their own example. As they are serving Her, this mood will definitely come. Sri Caitanya Caritamrta is our valuable treasure. Knowing all these things, Kaviraja Gosvamipada is saying, "If anyone will hear this Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, I will wash their feet and drink the water." Why? Because attainment of the position of a maidservant of Srimatiji is the effect of hearing Sri Caitanya Caritamrta.


Gaura premanande!