The Heart of Krishna

[Audarya lila]

In light of the recent rash of slanderous posts and self-righteous justification of false propaganda meant to defame other vaishnava's I am posting a excerpt from a wonderful book published by Mandala titled, 'The Heart of Krishna', sy Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaja

 

 

Sri Guru Gauranga Jayatah INTRODUCTION

 

The etymological development of the word aparadha is radhat arthat aradhanat-apagatah, which means "to be distanced from worship." Offenses committed at the lotus feet of Vaishnavas, the Devotees, distance one from devotional service to the Supreme Lord. But in a higher sense, it means to be removed from the service of Sri Radha. All divine service to Krishna is being conducted under her direction. To offend her servitors is to make one unfit for her divine service. The whole aim of Krishna consciousness is radha-dasyam, the divine service of Sri Radha, and offenses at the lotus feet of Vaishnavas make one unfit for such service.

 

The Lord is overly protective of his devotees (bhakt-vatsala). He cannot tolerate any offenses against them. They have bhakti (devotion), and they can awaken it within us. Bhakti is the sole means to attract Krishna, who is a slave of devotion. The same is true of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Caitanya-Bhagavata states: "A person can attain the shelter of Mahaprabhu only by the grace of a higher Vaishnava. Religious practices and even chanting the Holy Name without devotion is useless." Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada writes in his commentary: "Without developing a spirit of serice, chanting the Holy Name is vain. Real devotion can only be cultivated when one receives the blessings of an unalloyed devotee." Bhakti means devotion. Vrndavana dasa Thakur says: "If a person commits an offense at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava, even though he may have received Krishna's mercy, he will never attain divine love, prema."

 

Srila Prabhupada writes: "Even if one is a Vaishnava, if he commits offenses to the Holy Name, he becomes unfit to render pure devotion. Although it may appear that he is still being shown favor by the Lord as he continues to make a show of chanting without difficulty, the Lord is actually very displeased with him because of his antagonism toward devotees. Therefore, to guve up nama-aparadha we must first give up sadhu-ninda or fault finding with devotees."

 

Regarding the phrase Krsna krsp hoiles ('even though he may receive Krishna's mercy"), Srila Saraswati Thakur comments: "People may think that because an offender appears to continue to chant without difficulty, the Lord must still favor him, but they are wrong. The Lord is not even slightly moved by their sham devotion."

 

The author of Sri Caitanya-Bhagavata, Vrndavana dasa Thakur, says that these statements are not his alone; they are the verdict of the Vedas. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur did not tolerate any disrespect towards genuine Vaishnavas. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu aso emphatically denounced any insults directed at Vaishnava devotees.

 

To understand the seriousness of vaisnava-aparadha, offending devotees, one must grasp the multi-dimensional nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu is the source of all incarnations in Kali-yuga and the savior of all souls. He is Krishna, the son of Maharaja Nanda, fully enriched with the mood and radiance of Sri Radha.

 

Srila krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami offers prayers to all of these manifestations in the preface of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta:

 

vande gurun isa-bhaktan

isam isavatarakan

tat-prakasams ca tac-chaktih

krsna-caitanya-samjnakam

 

"I offer my obeisances unto all the gurus, the devotees, the Lord's avatars, his expansions, his saktis (energies), and the primeval lord himself, Sri Krishna Chaitanya."

 

In the same way that Mahaprabhu is Krishna, he expands as Nityananda Prabhu (prakasa,) who is Balarama. Balarama's partial expansion is Sadasiva, Maha-Vishnu Avatar, whose counterpart in Chaitanya-lila is Advaita Acarya. Whis it left of Sri Radhika after Krishna has plundered her emotions and lustre is Sri Gadadhara Pundit. Sri Gadadhara and Svarupa Damodara are his sakti (energies). Bhakta means Srivasa Thakur who is Sri Narada Muni in Krishna Lila. Isa, Divinity means Mahaprabhu himself. The complete conception of Divinity must include the predominating moiety and the predominated moiety.

 

The slightest disregard to any one of these is equal to disregarding the Supreme Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself.

 

There are two aspects to the guru principle: the siksa or instructing guru, and the diksa or initiating guru. Both are represented in Srivasa Thakur.

 

In the beginning of the second chapter of the Antya-lila of the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja offers the following invocation:

 

vande ham sri-guroh

sri yuta-pada-kamalam

sri-gurun vaisnavams ca

sri-rupam sagrajatam

saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa-jivam

sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam

sri-krsna-caitanya-devam

sri-radha-krsna-padan

saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca

 

"I offer my obeisances unto the lotus feet of my Guru and to all the preceptors on the path of devotion. I offer my obeisnaces unto all the Vaishnavas and to Sri Rupa Goswami and his associates Raghunatha dasa, and Sri Jiva. I offer my obeisances to Advaita Acarya, Nityananda Avadhuta, Gadadhara Pundit, and to Sri Chaitanyha Mahaprabhu with all his devotees, headed by Srivasa Thakur. I then offer my obeisnaces to the lotus feet of Sri Radha and Sri Krishan, and all the gopis headed by Lalita and Visakha."

 

In the above invocatory prayers (mangalacarana), the Vaishnavas are venerated. Kaviraja Gowami writes further:

 

"Before beginning the narration of the pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, simply by meditating on Sri Guru, the Vaishnavas, and Divinity, I invoke their benediction. such meditation destroys all detriments on the spiritual path, and helps one to fulfill all their desires."

 

We must note very carefully that the Vaishnavas have been included within the full conception of Divinity. These writings describe the Vaishnava's extraordinary qualities, and the spiritual benefit resulting from serving them. There are also several warnings regarding the disastrous effects of vaisnava-aparadha.

 

The Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 19.156 states:

"If a devotee commits vaisnava-aparadha, his offense is like a mad elephant uprooting and trampling his creeper of devotion; afterwards the creeper's leaves dry up and become lifeless."

 

Please take some time and reflect on these beautiful words of love and warning. Great care and attention will be necessary on all of our parts if we are to make any real tangible spiritual progress in this life. We want to call ourselves devotees but we must first be humble and recognize all other devotees, otherwise what is the meaning of our devotion?

 

Your servant,

Audarya lila dasa

[stonehearted]

 

Originally posted by Audarya lila:

In light of the recent rash of slanderous posts and self-righteous justification of false propaganda meant to defame other vaishnava's I am posting a excerpt from a wonderful book published by Mandala titled, 'The Heart of Krishna', sy Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaja

 

The Lord is overly protective of his devotees (bhakt-vatsala). He cannot tolerate any offenses against them. They have bhakti (devotion), and they can awaken it within us. Bhakti is the sole means to attract Krishna, who is a slave of devotion. The same is true of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Caitanya-Bhagavata states: "A person can attain the shelter of Mahaprabhu only by the grace of a higher Vaishnava. Religious practices and even chanting the Holy Name without devotion is useless." Vrndavana dasa Thakur says: "If a person commits an offense at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava, even though he may have received Krishna's mercy, he will never attain divine love, prema."

 

 

Regarding the phrase Krsna krsp hoiles ('even though he may receive Krishna's mercy"), Srila Saraswati Thakur comments: "People may think that because an offender appears to continue to chant without difficulty, the Lord must still favor him, but they are wrong. The Lord is not even slightly moved by their sham devotion."

 

 

To understand the seriousness of vaisnava-aparadha, offending devotees, one must grasp the multi-dimensional nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu is the source of all incarnations in Kali-yuga and the savior of all souls. He is Krishna, the son of Maharaja Nanda, fully enriched with the mood and radiance of Sri Radha.

 

Thak you, Audarya-lila, for the fresh breeze. Regarding Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and sadhu-ninda, Srila Puri Maharaj includes in his book an incident when Mahaprabhu said that of all the devotees in Nadiya, only his mother, Saci-mata, could not have Krishna prema. This was due to a (probably half-joking) remark she made about Advaita, caused by fear that if her only remaining son associated too much with the vaishnavas, He may also leave home (a perfectly natural maternal fear). Only when she took the dust from Advaita Prabhu's lotus feet did she become eligible for Krishna prema.

 

You may correct me or fill in any blanks, please. My books are all in the mail, as I've just moved back to Hilo from San Diego.

[Audarya lila]

Dear Stonehearted (surely you must have a nicer name than this),

 

As you know the whole book is nectar and a must read for all of us. In fact, we should read it again and again and try to understand the seriousness of Vaishnava-aparadha.

 

The story of Sacidevi is illustrative. It is related in the Caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya as the Mahaprakasa-lila (The Great Revelation).

 

I don't have the time to type out the whole section of the book covering this pastime but I will relay in short form some of the key points.

 

Lord Chaitanya had seated himself on the deity throne and explained how one day he was floating on the ocean of milk and was awakened by Advaita Acharya's thunderous calls. He explained that he had descended at his request to inundate the world in a flood of Krsna-prema.

 

The Lord began to dispense boons for attaining pure devotion. Seeing the Lord flood everyone with Krsna-prema, Srivasa Thakur requested that he shower prema-bhakti on his mother Sacidevi. Mahaprabhu replied, "O Srivasa, donot make such a request. I will not offer her the ecstasy of divine love. She has commited Vaishnava-aparadha and is being denied entry into the realm of divine love."

 

Of course, everyone who heard this was shocked and dismayed. How could this be? It turns out that the history of the event is such that Mother Saci was very sorry to have had her son Visvambara take sannyasa and leave her. She felt that it was due to the influence of Advaita Acharya. When she saw that Nimai was asscociating closely with Advaita Acharya she became worried and thought negatively about him. She never uttered a word about it, she only thought negatively toward him. This was enough to cause Mahaprabhu to without prema-bhakti from her.

 

In this regard Srila Bhaktisiddhanta has commented that if the Lord will withhold prema-bhakti from Saci for such an offense, what will be the fate of an ordinary soul?

 

Lord Chaitanya's pastimes are filled with lessons for us and mark the path to take to attain pure devotion. Lord Chaitanya told Srivasa that he could not remove the aparadha but that he could tell how to do it. He told him that Mother Saci would have to take the foot dust of the offended Vaishnava on her head, in this case Advaita Acharya. The case of Durvasa Muni was cited in this regard.

 

Thank you for bringing up this wonderful pastime Prahbu. Mahalo and Hari bol to you.

 

Your servant,

Audarya lila dasa

[stonehearted]

 

Originally posted by Audarya lila:

Dear Stonehearted (surely you must have a nicer name than this),

 

Actually, the name is a sort of double entendre. When my consciousness is clear (as Srila Sridhar Maharaj would say,"normal") my heart belongs to my worshipable Lords, Murali-manohara (shalagram shila), and two tiny Govardhan shilas (the larger is about 1/2" by 3/8"). However, its other meaning is more approriate for my consciousness most of the time.

 

As you know the whole book is nectar and a must read for all of us. In fact, we should read it again and again and try to understand the seriousness of Vaishnava-aparadha.

 

It's very grave indeed, and, unless we're very intropsective and have good guidance, a very easy trap to fall into.

 

In this regard Srila Bhaktisiddhanta has commented that if the Lord will withhold prema-bhakti from Saci for such an offense, what will be the fate of an ordinary soul?

 

Some among us apparently believe we are immune, that we are above the platform even of Mahaprabhu's eternal associates. This is a ver dangerous platform.

 

Thanks for giving us more context and details for this pastime.

 

[BDas]

Dear Stone,

 

So happy to see you you have joined the corps of on line preachers. Brothers in arms I think I said to you. So keep up the good work and fight the good fight.

 

Hare Krishna, Brahma

 

[dasanudas]

"Dear Stonehearted (surely you must have a nicer name than this),"

 

Actually he has a really nice name, he just preferres to ornament it with humility. Notice how he enters 'The heart of Krsna' on cue. Actually I see him as 'Braveheart' for entering this assylum.

If you could only hang in

The ole loony bin

may turn in

to the Luna Dyn

 

Audarya Prabhu,

Thank you kindly for posting this most essential reminder of humility and honor, it would serve these forums well as the guidelines of proper behavior if only the "fellars on the ship' could adhere to it. Unfortunately at times it's more like one a' those low-jacked aircraft with the lack of regard some have for those on board.

Anyway keep it comin' as best you can.

Ys

das

 

[krsna]

The Lord is overly protective of his devotees (bhakt-vatsala). He cannot tolerate any offenses against them. They have bhakti (devotion), and they can awaken it within us. Bhakti is the sole means to attract Krishna, who is a slave of devotion. The same is true of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Caitanya-Bhagavata states: "A person can attain the shelter of Mahaprabhu only by the grace of a higher Vaishnava. Religious practices and even chanting the Holy Name without devotion is useless." Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada writes in his commentary: "Without developing a spirit of serice, chanting the Holy Name is vain. Real devotion can only be cultivated when one receives the blessings of an unalloyed devotee." Bhakti means devotion. Vrndavana dasa Thakur says: "If a person commits an offense at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava, even though he may have received Krishna's mercy, he will never attain divine love, prema."