670209 - Lecture CC Adi 07.77-81 - San Francisco

Lectures by Date, 1967

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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670209CC-SAN FRANCISCO - February 09, 1967 - 24:24 Minutes

Prabhupāda:

. . . harer nāma eva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva

nāsty eva gatir anyathā

(CC Adi 17.21)

Caitanya Mahāprabhu is explaining His position, why He's chanting this transcendental vibration, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. The reason is that Vedānta philosophy, because the Māyāvādī sannyāsīns . . . the Vedānta philosophy actually belongs to the Vaiṣṇava-sampradāya, because it was compiled by Vyāsadeva, who is the original spiritual master of this Vaiṣṇava-sampradāya. Of course, the Māyāvādī philosophers, they also accept Vyāsadeva as their original spiritual master, but they have interpreted Vyāsadeva's views—therefore they are not considered to be bona fide disciples.

Just like you'll see in the Bhagavad-gītā that Arjuna, in the beginning he was arguing with Kṛṣṇa, between friend and friend, but when he surrendered himself as student, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam . . . (BG 2.7). He said: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, now I am surrendering unto You. I accept You as my spiritual master." Śiṣyas te aham: "I am Your disciple, not friend." Because friendly talks, arguments, there is no end. But when there is talk between spiritual master and disciple, there is no argument. No argument. As soon as the spiritual master says: "This is to be done," it is to be done. That's all, final.

So you'll find, throughout the whole instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, not that blindly. There is submissive presentation: "Kṛṣṇa, I cannot understand this." That is allowed. But it is not that you have to change the decision of the spiritual master. No. If you cannot understand, it is . . . you should know it that, "Due to my less intelligence, I just now do not understand what the spiritual master said, but that is already concluded. But I may try to understand, so that I may not be misleading." That is the position. So just see. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.' "

Now Caitanya Mahāprabhu's explaining, ei ājñā pāñā nāma la-i anukṣaṇa (CC Adi 7.77): "After reception of this order from My spiritual master, I have engaged Myself constantly in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa." That is disciplic succession. Even if you do not understand the version, the motive, of spiritual master, you have to follow without any argument. In the Bhagavad-gītā also you'll find this verse:

vyavasāyātmikā buddhir

ekeha kuru-nandana

bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca

buddhayo 'vyavasāyinām

(BG 2.41)

The purpose is that those who are intelligent, they take the message from the spiritual master—whatever he says—and one has to execute that particular order without any deviation. That will make him perfect. There may be different orders for different disciples, but a disciple should take the order of the spiritual master as his life, "Here it is, the order. So let me execute it without any deviation." That will make him perfect.

Just see, the Caitanya Mahāprabhu's, this is His instruction. He says, ei ājñā pāñā nāma la-i anukṣaṇa (CC Adi 7.77):. He did not think, "Oh, My spiritual master thought Me a fool, rascal. Oh, why I am rascal? Let Me see Vedānta-sūtra. Why shall I not see?" Oh, that is rascaldom again. That is rascaldom again. You cannot deviate the order of the spiritual master by an inch if you really want success.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, ei ājñā pāñā: "I received this order from My spiritual master, and I follow it strictly," nāma la-i anukṣaṇa: "Because My spiritual master told Me that 'You don't touch Vedānta. You, You fool. You just go on.' " Or, in other words, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was not a fool. He was a vastly learned man. He's representing the fools of the present age. What they will understand, Vedānta-sūtra?

Their life is so molded by the present atmosphere, materialistic atmosphere, that they are unable to touch Vedānta-sūtra. They are unfit to touch even Vedānta-sūtra, what to speak of understanding it. Therefore they'll create more rascaldom to create so many Vedānta societies, and they are the same rascals, still. For hundred years they are studying Vedānta-sūtra, and the same thing, the same bad habit—same illicit connection, same intoxication, same gambling. Everything is going on. And they're Vedānta-sūtra student? This is rascaldom.

There must be change in life. Otherwise, what is the use of Vedānta-sūtra? Veda-anta. Vedānta means . . . veda means knowledge, and anta means end, end of all knowledge. Everyone is searching after knowledge, but there must be some end. What is the ultimate end? The Bhagavad-gītā says, vedānta-vid vedānta-kṛd ca aham (BG 15.15): "I am the compiler of Vedānta. I am the knower of Vedānta." So if you simply understand what Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, you are Vedāntist. And what says Kṛṣṇa? What does He say? He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66): "You give up all rascaldom. Simply surrender unto Me." This is Vedānta. This is Vedānta. Ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim (Nārada Pañcarātra).

So Vedānta-sūtra means . . . to understand Vedānta-sūtra means that one has to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full knowledge, and knowing it fully, knowing his own position fully and God's position fully, one has to surrender. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). That surrendered soul is a great soul who has surrendered, "Oh, God is great." That is Vedānta. Not that giving his own interpretation, as if Vyāsadeva was a fool and he left Vedānta for being commented by another rascal. No. Then what is the authority of Vedānta?

If you can . . . you are a common man. Your intelligence is so imperfect. You are cheaters, and your senses are imperfect. How you can comment on Vedānta, which was compiled by Vyāsadeva, the most perfect personality, liberated personality? How you can comment on Bhagavad-gītā? It is spoken by Kṛṣṇa. So you have no right. If you at all want to study Vedānta-sūtra, you have to accept it as it is, without any change. That is understanding.

Vedānta-sūtra . . . just like several times I have given this example in this class, that it is . . . Lord Caitanya said to Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya that, "In the Vedas, it is stated that if you touch the stool of any animal, you'll be, I mean to say, infected. So you have to take your bath." Just like we go to evacuate in the bathroom and, after evacuating, you have to take bath. This is the system to become cleansed. This is Vedic system. But again the Vedas says that if you touch the cow dung, the stool of cow or another animal, oh, it is pure. Rather, if you are impure, by touching cow dung, you'll be purified.

Now here is contradiction, that you . . . the Vedas says that if you touch the stool of any animal, then you become infected—you have to take bath, cleanse yourself. And again you say that cow dung, which is also stool of another animal, if you touch it, then you'll be purified. Now, if you put your argument, "Oh, this is contradictory. So Veda is full of contradiction," no, it is not contradiction—it is fact. One doctor, Mr . . . Dr. Goshal, he is a medical college chemist. He analyzed this cow dung and found all antiseptic properties in cow dung.

So this is Vedic injunction. Whatever is there, it is already tested, it is already experimented. You have simply to accept. Don't try to argue. This is acceptance of Vedānta-sūtra. Not that, "Oh, I have got to serve some purpose, political purpose, so I'll have to prove from Bhagavad-gītā there is nonviolence." In our country, Gandhi, he was supposed to be a great student of Bhagavad-gītā.

He wanted to prove that there is nonviolence in Bhagavad-gītā. Ah, Kṛṣṇa said: "All right, you will have to die by violence." So he was killed. How you can prove Bhagavad-gītā nonviolent? There is tacit order, "You must fight. The other party is impious, so you must fight." These are the injunction. You cannot change. That is not Vedānta-sūtra.

Therefore Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that, "I accept the order of My spiritual master in toto, without any interpretation, without any argument, without any understanding. Whatever he has said, it is all right." This is acceptance of spiritual master. "Oh, I accept spiritual master, but I don't accept your order"—this is not acceptance of spiritual master. If you at all accept somebody as spiritual master, you must test him. You must test him for at least one year if you have got doubts. And when you are convinced that, "Here is a person whom I can follow blindly," then you accept.

You haven't got to follow blindly. Spiritual master will not place before you anything unreasonable. But the process is that you cannot change the order of spiritual master. You cannot argue. He . . . unless you are convinced that, "I shall accept the order of this person without any argument," don't accept anybody as spiritual master. It is a false acceptance. Just see. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that.

And other point is that if you take Caitanya Mahāprabhu's life, oh, He was a vast learned scholar, but He said that His spiritual master found Him the nonsense. Now how it is that? He was a great scholar, and how His spiritual master found Him a nonsense? So therefore, however you may be a great scholar, if your spiritual master finds you a fool, you must accept that you are a fool.

You don't say: "Oh, I am such a great scholar, and unjustly my spiritual master says that I am fool." Then you lose the connection at once. You'll understand, yes, just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu's disciple. He is . . . Caitanya Mahāprabhu is speaking about His own discipleship. Now His disciple, Sanātana Gosvāmī, when he approached Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he also placed him in that way, that "I am a fool."

That Sanātana Gosvāmī, he was great scholar in Sanskrit. He was great scholar in Parsi and Urdu. He was minister, very learned man, and very man of position. But when he approached Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he said that, "Ordinary people, they say that I am very learned man. And I am such a fool that I also accept their version, I think that I am learned man." "What is the objection? You are already learned. You are very good scholar."

"Yes. Now I understand that I am fool, because I do not know what I am. I may be materially advanced in learning, but if somebody asks me, 'Can you say what you are, wherefrom you have come, where you are going after death, why you are suffering all these material miseries? Can you have any remedy?' oh, there is no answer. So what sort of learned man I am? I cannot answer all these things. Therefore I have come to You."

Similarly, Arjuna, when he was arguing with Kṛṣṇa, "Oh, if I kill my grandfather, then such-and-such thing will occur me. Oh, if I kill my brothers, the my brothers' wives, they will be widow and they'll be corrupted, and there will be unwanted children." So many things. He was arguing rightly. That was not . . . that is from materialistic point of view. From materialistic point of view, you may be very great learned man.

But every one of you must know that spiritually you are damn rascal, nothing! Spiritually, all these persons who are very proud of their learning, they're all damn rascals. Asat. Simply rascals. Simply rascal. So you must know that, "I am simply rascal" if you want to make progress in spiritual life. And what do you know about spiritual life? You do not know anything.

So that is the representation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He says that, "My Guru Mahārāja found Me . . ." It is better if you remain a fool always before your spiritual master. Then you'll make advance. And if you think yourself, even for a moment that, "I know something more than my spiritual master," you are fallen. This is called vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru nandana (BG 2.41). That one vow that, "I have to follow the order of my spiritual . . ." that will make you advanced.

The more you strictly follow the order of spiritual master, the more you become advanced. You do not become fool; actually you become advanced. Otherwise, what is the use of . . .? It is not a formality. It is actually fact—if you at all want to make advancement in spiritual life, you must follow the orders of the bona fide spiritual master, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu, such a great scholar, and He's accepted as the incarnation of God, and He's showing us the example that, "I followed the order of My spiritual master because he found Me a nonsense."

Nāma laite laite mora bhrānta haila mana (CC Adi 7.77). Now He's giving His practical experience. What is that practical experience? He says that, "Although I followed—because I had no other alternative to follow the instruction, so I followed—now I have experienced by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, I thought that I am becoming mad after it. I am feeling ecstasy, mad after it." Bhrānta.

Bhrānta haila mana means "As if I become mad when I chant." Actually, if you chant sincerely, you'll feel some madness, that not this madness, not LSD madness, but it is spiritual madness. Spiritual madness. Bhrānta haila mana. Dhairya dharite nāri. "I cannot . . . I become impatient." Dhairya dharite nāri, hailāma unmatta (CC Adi 7.78): "Just like I became a madman. And what are the symptoms? Hāsi, sometimes I laugh, sometimes I cry, sometimes I dance without any," I mean to say, "fear. And sometimes I sing, and sometimes I become just like madman." Tabe dhairya dhari' mane karilun vicara. Then, when He saw that, "By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa these symptoms have developed in Me, so I thought, 'Oh, have I become mad? Why these things are coming on Me? ' "

tabe dhairya dhari' mane kariluṅ vicāra

kṛṣṇa-nāme jñānācchana ha-ila āmāra

(CC Adi 7.79)

"Perhaps by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa, I have now become a madman, and all My senses and knowledge are now covered. Because I am treating . . . I do not care for the society. I dance. I laugh. They are laughing at Me, 'Oh, this man has become mad. He's chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and crying.' "So who is mad, who is crazy, that is to be studied. But he's thinking, the other man is thinking, "Oh, this man has become mad, chanting and dancing." So Kṛṣṇa . . . Caitanya Mahāprabhu, says that "I was in doubt that whether I became a madman." Pāgala ha-ilāṅ āmi, dhairya nāhi mane (CC Adi 7.80): "Perhaps I become a madman, and I have no patience when I chant and dance and cry." Eta cinti' nivediluṅ gurura caraṇe. He goes again to the spiritual master: "My dear sir, I think I have become a madman." "Why?" "Oh, because you asked Me to chant. Now I am chanting, and the effect is that I am feeling some ecstasy by which I am sometimes crying and sometimes dancing and sometimes singing. So I do not know. What are these disease?"

So kibā mantra dilā, gosāñi, kibā tāra bala (CC Adi 7.81): "I do not know what sort of mantra you have given to Me. I do not know what, what is the strength, what is the influence of this mantra." Japite japite mantra karila pāgala: "Now I have become mad. What is this?"

So we shall explain again tomorrow, how He became a mad . . . thank you very much.

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)