CC Madhya 15.163 (1975)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 163
- jīvera pāpa lañā muñi karoṅ naraka bhoga
- sakala jīvera, prabhu, ghucāha bhava-roga
SYNONYMS
jīvera—of all conditioned souls; pāpa lañā—accepting the sinful reactions; muñi—I; karoṅ—do; naraka—hellish life; bhoga—suffering; sakala jīvera—of all living entities; prabhu—my dear Lord; ghucāha—please finish; bhava-roga—the material disease.
TRANSLATION
"My dear Lord, let me suffer perpetually in a hellish condition, accepting all the sinful reactions of all living entities. Please finish their diseased material life."
PURPORT
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura gives the following commentary on this verse. In the Western countries, Christians believe that Lord Jesus Christ, their spiritual master, appeared in order to eradicate all the sins of his disciples. To this end, Lord Jesus Christ appeared and disappeared. Here, however, we find Śrī Vāsudeva Datta Ṭhākura and Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura to be many millions of times more advanced even when compared to Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ relieved only his followers from all sinful reactions, but Vāsudeva Datta is here prepared to accept the sins of everyone in the universe. A Vaiṣṇava is so liberal that he is prepared to risk everything to rescue conditioned souls from material existence. Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta Ṭhākura is universal love itself, for he was willing to sacrifice everything and fully engage in the service of the Supreme.
- Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta knew very well that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was the original Personality of Godhead. He was transcendence itself, above the material conception of illusion and māyā. Lord Jesus Christ certainly finished the sinful reactions of his followers by his mercy, but that does not mean that he completely delivered them from the pangs of material existence. A person may be relieved from sins once, but it is a practice among Christians to confess sins and yet commit them again. By getting freed from sins and again engaging in them, one cannot attain freedom from the pangs of material existence. A diseased person may go to a physician for relief, but after he leaves the hospital he may again be infected due to his unclean habits. Thus material existence continues. Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta wanted to completely relieve the conditioned souls from material existence so that they would no longer have an opportunity to commit sinful acts. This is the difference between Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta and Lord Jesus Christ. It is a great offense to receive pardon for sins and then commit the same sins again. Such an offense is more dangerous than the sinful activity itself. Vāsudeva Datta was so liberal that he requested Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to transfer all offensive activity upon him so the conditioned souls might be purified. This prayer was certainly without duplicity.
Vāsudeva Datta's example is unique not only within this world but within the universe. It is beyond the conception of fruitive actors or the speculation of mundane philosophers. Due to being illusioned by the external energy and due to a poor fund of knowledge, people tend to envy one another. Because of this they are entangled in fruitive activity, and they try to escape this fruitive activity by mental speculation. Consequently neither karmīs nor jñānīs are purified. In the words of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura, they are kukarmīs and kujñānīs-bad actors and bad speculators. The Māyāvādīs and karmīs should therefore turn their attention to the magnanimous Vāsudeva Datta, who wanted to suffer for others in a hellish condition. Nor should one consider Vāsudeva Datta a mundane philanthropist or welfare worker. He was not interested in merging into the Brahman effulgence, nor was he interested in material honor or reputation. He was far above philanthropists, philosophers and fruitive actors. He was a most exalted personality who wanted to show mercy upon conditioned souls. This is not an exaggeration of his transcendental qualities. It is perfectly true. Actually there cannot be any comparison to Vāsudeva Datta. He was a Vaiṣṇava-para-duḥkha-duḥkhī-very much aggrieved to see others suffer. The entire world is purified simply by the appearance of such a great devotee. By his presence the whole world is glorified, and all conditioned souls-due to his transcendental presence-are also glorified. As Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura confirms, Vāsudeva Datta is the ideal devotee of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
- gaurāṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe, nitya-siddha kari' māne,
- se yāya vrajendra-suta-pāśa
One who executes Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission must be considered to be eternally liberated. He is a transcendental person and does not belong to this material world. Such a devotee engaging in the deliverance of the total population is as magnanimous as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself.
- namo mahā-vadānyāya
- kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te
- kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-
- nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ
Such a personality factually represents Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu because his heart is always filled with compassion for conditioned souls.