Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Siddhaswarupananda - Practical Wisdom

Shri Chaitanya Deva once being asked who He was, replied, "I am neither a Brahmin, nor a King, nor a Vaishya, nor a Shudra, nor a Sannyasin, nor a Vanacharin, nor a Grihastha, nor a Brahmacharin, but I am the servant of all the servants of Vishnu!' At another time, Shri Sanatana Prabhu asked Him, "Who am I and why tritap* - the three kinds of afflictions trouble me?" Shri Chaitanya Deva answered, "Sanatana, you are a jiva, your real self is the eternal servant of Vishnu; but you have an apparent self - your mind and body with which the real 'I' in stupor identifies himself. Tritap afflicts this apparent 'I'.

The real 'I' or jiva has put on these two mortal garments, the subtle and ever-changing mind (consisting of ever-increasing unsatisfied desires) and the physical body (consisting of five elements - earth, water, fire, air and ether).

The real 'I' forgets his own true self and is, in consequence, wrapped up in these two wears, inner and outer, and designates himself a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Christian, a Brahmin, a male, a female, rich, poor and so on. These designations of creed, caste, rank etc., not only change in different births but in one and the same birth; - a Hindu becomes a Mohammedan or a Christian; a Mohammedan becomes a Hindu, a Brahmin becomes a 'Brahmo' or a Christian! A street-boy becomes a Nawab, a Nawab becomes a beggar. As changeability is the prime factor of the mind, it flies like a roaming bee on the wings of desires and changes at will its name, colour, creed, habitation etc. One frequently goes from 'Log Cabin to White House', from the seal to the crown. The sweet sixteen changes into bitter sixty -'The old order changeth yielding place to new.' Jiva in this manufactory of change, in this whirlpool of birth and death, is called enslaved (Baddha or apparent), ever engaged in forging the fetters of bondage.

*Tritapa - The three afflictions are three kinds of miseries known as the "Adhyatmika" i.e., those that are due to one's self; the "Adhidaivika" those that arise out of deities or are of supernatural origin, and the "Adhibhautika" those that arise out of natural causes and beings. For example, fever and other such diseases, anger, desire and other such passions form the misery known as the "Adhyatmika". Thunder, lightning etc., produce the "Adhidaivika" misery. The "Adhibhautika" misery results from other animals such as tigers, snakes etc.