ALL GLORY TO THE DIVINE MASTER
AND
THE SUPREME LORD SREE KRISHNA-CHAITANYA
SREE
SAJJANA-TOSHANI
OR
THE HARMONIST
Edited by - Sri Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj
| VOL.XXVI | JULY, 1928, 442 Chaitanya-Era | No. 2. |
The Temple of Jagannath at Puri
[By THAKUR BHAKTIVINODE on September 15, 1871.]
There is not a Hindu who has not heard the name of this temple. The old and the young, the male and the female, the Rajah and the ryot, and the weak and the stout, all visit this temple out of a religious curiosity. Three hundred and one miles South-West of the Vice-Regal palace at Calcutta, stands this famous temple close to the seashore affording an object for a telescopic observation to the new-comer on board the ship bound for Bengal! It stands on a platform measuring 20 cubits in height from the level of water. The platform itself is 375 cubits by 400 cubits made of huge stones cemented with a mortar composed of lime and sand. The temple itself is 92 cubits in height of a structure purely Indian. The pilgrim sees its towering head from the distance of 7 miles where the shrewed Panda takes a rupee from him by shewing him the holy Chakra. This temple was erected by Raja Ananga Bhimdeb about 800 years ago in place of another one, then in a state of delapidation. In old accounts we find this temple styled Niladri or the blue hill. From this it appears that the former temple which was probably raised by the emigrating Rajah Indradyumna was a blue or dark coloured one. Otherwise we cannot account for the name Nilachala unless we take it for granted that the name was after the Nilgiri Hills, a small range which runs through this Province from one end to the other. The Utkalakhanda in the Puranas, the Niladri Mahodadhi, and the Matla Panjee (an account regularly kept by the temple officers) declare that Jagannath is a very ancient institution amongst the Hindus. Whatever may be the value of the authorities quoted, we are inclined to believe that Puri was considered sacred even at the time when the Puranas were written, because we find in Wilson’s copy of the Vishnu Purana that one Kandu Rishi resorted to a place called Purushottama for the purpose of divine contemplation. At all events Rajah Indradyumna, to whom the whole affair is generally ascribed, lived a long time before Rajah Vikramaditya, the contemporary of Augustus Caesar of Rome. We are sure, that Puri is not so old as Benares and Gaya, of which repeated mention is made in all the Puranas and the Mahabharata, yet it is not a place of recent origin created after the commencement of the Christian Era. We cannot believe that the institution originated in pure stupidity of the religious sentiment; for we can not but observe a great deal of wisdom in the man with whom the idea of Jagannath first originated. We do not profess to belong to any of the sects of religion under the sun, because we believe the absolute Faith, founded upon instinctive love of God natural in all human souls. There are two great sects of religion all over the world who fight with each other without any advantage whatever. One of them holds that it is absolutely necessary to believe that God is without any form whatever and believers in the form are but idolatrous. The other class maintains that God has out of kindness shewn His form to the pious in order to be worshipped by them. Both of them are wrong, because both of them fight on a purely material point. The most unsectarian view on the point is, that God is neither a form nor a formless object but is purely spiritual. Matter alone can embrace the idea of form; consequently all positive and negative assertions with regard to it must naturally be material. Those who worship the form and those who describe God as formless, are both idolatrous and superstitious, and consequently can never form an idea of the spiritual Deity. Sectarians of the same class are expected to hate each other, but those, who have nothing in common with them, have no reason for hatred. We therefore can not like the fanatics of the formless class consider all idols as unsacred and hold the worship of a formless Deity (identifying Him with something like space and eternity) to be the natural worship of God. We go so far as to maintain that the worshipper of the spiritual God in an idol is infinitely superior to a mere believer in a formless existence who considers that formlessness is one of the attributes of the Spirit. Spirit is not exactly the opposite of matter, but it is certainly something different from it. It is difficult indeed to decide what is the exact relation of the Spirit to matter, space and time, and it is not given to us to know. It would indeed be the height of error to conceive that all the opposite qualities of matter, space and time are in Spirit. Hence we must look to some other attributes for Spirit. Love and wisdom are certainly spiritual attributes which are not opposite qualities of matter. Man must be wise and love God. This is the religion of the soul. All debates about the essence of God (e.g. God is formless or with a form) are but sectarian. Now we allow men to love God wisely i.e., spiritually while their eyes are on an idol as well as while they are contemplating an Infinite thing like the space. When the soul worships, the mind also finds an employment. The mind can never conceive of anything that is not material. It is therefore exceedingly difficult for man in his present state to separate himself from idolatory. What man is obliged to do, is his lot and hence we must put off the meaning of idolatory to some other process. We therefore conclude that he that worships the idol as God (whether the idol be formlessness or form) is idolatrous, but he that worships the spirit in wise love (however near he may be to an idol of form or of no-form) is a worshipper of the Spirit. But we go further to tolerate all these classes if they be sincere. God accepts the worship of all those who worship their highest ideal, whether it be form, formlessness or spirit, and it is under some regular processes that the idea of God becomes purer and purer in every soul and not by fits and starts. That man has no heart for his brother and consequently for God also, who sneers at the highest ideal of another behind him as idolatrous. A war against the idol worshippers either in words or action is not a crusade but a fit of rash, loveless and ambitious fanaticism of a very unphilanthropic character. We therefore, with all our due attempts at the spiritual reformation of our erring brothers, tolerate all classes of idolatory from the worshippers of formlessness to the worshippers of man, or matter as God. We are opposed to the atheists alone who live and enjoy for themselves. Those who are anxious for the blessings of God are our brothers in faith, whatever error there may be in their ideas and forms of worship. Love of God, however misdirected it may be, does by force of its own natural strength, rise higher and higher in the scale of spiritual progress. Its want is the degradation of the soul alone. Those who do not love God has an opposite course from us and are objects of pity with all classes of theists. God, save them!
We were lead to these remarks by a desire to shew that we are candid examiners of the institution of Jagannath without that hatred to the idolatrous (who are not prepared to understand the philosophy of Purushottam Tatwa) which is perceivable in the short sighted and rash reformers of our country. The system of Jagannath is viewed in two different ways. The superstitious and the ignorant take it a system of idolatory by worshipping the idols in the temple as God Almighty appearing in the shape of a carved wood for the salvation of the Urias. But the Saragrahi Vaishnavas find the idols as emblems of some eternal truth which has been explained in the Vedanta Sutras of Vyasa. Within the temple compound there are several smaller temples in which are to be found the idols of Bimala, Shiva, Ganesha and Surya. The big, towering temple of Jagannath stands in the middle of the compound. Those who have examined the system of Hindu Theology with a philosophic eye, are well aware that there are five different forms of faith comprised therein. The first form of faith is Shaktaism or the worship of nature as God. The second in the worship of Surya or the sun which is identified with heat; the only active element in lifeless matter. The third teaches one to worship the Spirit in its most unsatisfactory form of development in the lower animals. In this form, the elephant-man or Ganesha is the object of worship. Man is the object of worship in the fourth stage of Hinduism. The soul, well developed as it is in the man, is worshipped in Shiva in whom the human soul is said to be observed after salvation. In the fifth stage alone, the Infinite God distinct from the human soul, is perceived and worshipped. Here commences Vaishnavism. In these five stages are shewn the whole history of Hindu Theology, nay, the whole history of Theology in general. All sorts of creeds that have come to existence since the creation of man, are included in these five stages. Name any system of faith that man has discovered and we will find no difficulty in classing it with anyone of the five, viz. Materialism, Elementalism, Fetichism, Man worship and God worship.
This is summing up of all systems of faith philosophically and not instructing people to believe in any one of them except the last. The visitor of the temple of Jagannath will find a similar display of these systems in their proper places. Consequently we find the temple of Jagannath in the middle of the compound, and our remarks will now relate to Jagannath exclusively.
We have several times entered the shrine of Jagannath, and, approaching the sandal bolts, have observed in the middle room an elevated seat on which stand four different forms viz. Jagannath, Balaram, Subhadra and Sudarsana. According to the Vedanta, God is one without a second but He has infinite energies and attributes which are not fully known to man. But then man perceives only three energies in God, because he has no other corresponding sides to understand the other powers. From one of the energies proceeds matter in all its different forms and properties and this energy is styled Maya Shakti of God. From the second energy, proceeds all spiritual creation, in all its relations and phases. This power is entitled the Jiva Shakti of God. The third energy perceivable by man is the energy of Will, which is called Chit Shakti. God moving in creation is what is meant by this infinite energy. Jagannath is the emblem of God having no other form than the eyes and the hands. They mean to shew that God sees and knows and creates. Balarama is sourse of Jiva Shakti of God; Shubhadra, the Maya Shakti, and Sudarsana is the energy of Will. We cannot form any idea of God separated that the from all ideas of these energies and hence it is worship of Jagannath depends upon the collection of these four forms on the same platform. Here we see God analyzed in the shape of forms for the sake of those who want to conceive of Him. It is the same thing to see Jagannath as to study the Vedanta in all its branches. The temple and its institution appear to me to be a book for those who can read it, to the foolish the institution is certainly useless except as a means of reminding the Deity who created the world.
There is one more thing in the temple which explains the philosophical superiority of Jagannath over all other Hindu institutions. We mean the Mahaprasad system. Rice dedicated to Jagannath is sold in Bazar to all pilgrims. Brahmins and Khettries, Vaishnavas and the Shaktas, the Sanyasis and the Grihastas all accept it without any hesitation whatever. Brahminical aristocracy has no rule in the temple. This shows that when people get wise, they need not obey the foolish dictates of the Brahmins which are mainly intended for those who are unable to chalk out ways for themselves. When man admits the superiority of love to God to all other systems of rule and ethics, he is not bound to work according to the Shastras intended for lower order of men. The common bonds of the inferior Dharma Shastras of Manu and Jagnyabalkya have no influence on the free Vaishnavas who are God’s own soldiers in the crusade against evil. The system of Mahaprasada is not only emblematic of the superior life of the Vaishnavas, but it is a part of worships which ordinary theists cannot fully understand. The ordinary men are too much inclined to preserve the superiority of the Reason over the intuitive feelings of man to the God of Love. We must now proceed to show with healthy arguments that our intuitive feelings want us to offer everything we eat to the God of our heart.
We must first examine the arguments of the antagonist. The Rationalist holds that God is infinite and without wants, and consequently it is foolish to offer eatables to such a Being. It is sacrilege to offer created things to the creator and thereby to degrade the Divinity of God into humanity. These are reasonable arguments indeed, and one who has heard them will be certainly inclined to declare to others “down with the Mahaprasada.” These conclusions, however reasonable, are dry and destructive. They tend to separate us from all connections with God in the form of worship. When you say, that the Infinite wants nothing, you forbid all contemplation and prayer. The Infinite does not want your grateful expressions or, in other words, flattery. Utter a word to the Unconditioned and you are sure to degrade Him into a conditioned Being. Hymns, prayers and sermons are all over! Shut the temple door and the church gates, because our Rationalist has advised you to do so! Believe a creating principle and you have done your duty! Oh! What a shame! What a dreadful fall! Theists, beware of these degrading principles!
Now the Rationalist appears in another shape and admits prayers, sermons, psalms and church goings, saying that these things are wanted for the improvement of the soul, but God does not want them at all. We are glad that the Rationalist has come towards us and will make further approaches in course of time. Yes, the progressive Rationalist has admitted a very broad principle in Theology i.e., whatever we do towards God is for our own benefit and not for the benefit of God, Who is not in want of any such thing. But the Rationalist is a Rationalist still and will continue to be so, as long as he will seek self-interest. We know for certain that Religion promises to give eternal felicity to man and it is impossible to conceive of any Religion which has not at its bottom self-interest. This view, however, smells of Utilitarianism and can never claim to be Theistic. We must love God for God’s sake however unreasonable our action may be. Our love must be without any object whatever that concerns ourselves. This love must be a natural emotion to the Deity as our Lover without inference or experience. Salvation, dear as it is, should not be the object of this love; what then about other shapes of felicity? “Love to God” is its own reward. Salvation as a concomitant consequence, must be a hand-maid of Love, but we must not look on it as its main object. If the Rationalist be prepared to believe this, he becomes a Theist of the Vaishnava class; but the mere assuming of the name is of no consequence. Though we are fully aware that the unconditioned has no conditions whatever, yet our holy and sweet principle of love takes a quite different view of the matter. Reason says one thing but love prescribes its contrary. Reason tells me that God has no sorrow, but the Love sees God in tears for those of His sons that are misled to evil. Reason tells me that the strict laws of God reward and punish me in a cold manner but Love reveals that God slackens His laws to the Repentant and loving Soul! Reason tells me that with all his improvements, man will never touch the absolute God; but Love preaches that on the conversion of the soul into a state of spiritual womanhood, God, unconditioned as He is, accepts an eternal marriage with the conditioned soul of man! Reason tells me that God is in Infinite space and time, but Love describes that the all beautiful God is sitting before us like a respected relative and enjoying all the pleasures of society. As a father in his amusements with his young children, God is spreading all sorts of delicious food all over the earth and expecting that His sons would gather them for their own benefit; but the loving children out of their holy and unmixed love, gather all the scattered blessings and, without the exercise of reason in consequence of a strong feeling of love, offer all the blessings to the father whom they love more than their lives. The Father again, in reply to their kind feelings, gives back the blessings to the children and tells them these kindlier words. “O! My children! These are blessings intended for thee! Out of your natural love you bring them to me for my enjoyment; but I have naturally no wants to supply. But then I have accepted that part of your offering which corresponds with me viz. your unmixed love and disinterested affections for which alone I am exceedingly anxious. Take back these sweet things and enjoy them!” This process of disinterested love, which dry reason can never brook, sanctifies the food we take, and leaves us to harmless enjoyment for all the days of our natural life! This is a system of sincere worship which Theists of a higher class alone can act upon. We can not express the joy we often felt when we took the holy Mahaprasada in the temple! The holiness we attach to it is its sweetness and often pray that all men may enjoy it.
To the Saragrahi Vaishnava, the temple has such thrilling charms which the ordinary Rationalist can never understand! We do not mean to say that Reason is a foolish principle. On the contrary we do not find better admirers of Reason than our humble selves. We hold that man’s superiority amongst all created beings consists in man’s possessing the noble gift of Reason. What we maintain is this, that independent of this noble principle there is another higher gift in man which goes by the name of Love. Reason helps Love to maintain its proper bounds in the Spiritual world. Love often tends to degrade itself by exercising its functions on objects other than God and converts itself into lust for woman, wine, meat and gold. Here Reason advises her to rise higher till she reaches her proper sphere above. Thus we find that the object of Reason is to help Love and not to create it. Reason may be properly styled as the servant of Love and must always be subject to her in all her hopes, aspirations and holy work. The Rationalist on the contrary considers Reason as all in all! This is a degradation of humanity! The progressive Rationalist, on the other hand, believes in the principle of love, but attempts to make her the maid-servant of Reason! This is another error! He makes spiritual love sometimes a prisoner in the Jails of Reason! Love wants to soar on her spiritual wings to a realm where the Jailor (Reason) cannot go and the latter is sure to tie up her wings for fear lest she goes to an unworthy place! Love utters sounds of a spiritual character peculiar to herself, but Reason, having no previous experience of it, mistakes it for a disease and administers medicines for her cure!! Thus it is that the natural strength of the Queen of our Soul is crippled by artificial administrations of the dry principle of Reason and she rests in us as if a bird taken in a cage! Oh! What a havoc doth Reason commit by abuse of his power! Oh! Shame to the Rationalist! God, help the man!! Theists take care of those amongst you who mix with you only by assuming the name of Theist but are in fact Rationalists of a very dry character. They are divisible into two classes viz. the designing and the dupe. The designing Theist is he who is in fact a Rationalist but by assuming the name of a Theist wants to degrade the sincere by his bad influence. He that calls himself a Theist is order to get rid of the name of a Rationalist but still holds Love in subjection to Reason is a dupe because he is unable to find out his own position. The sincere Theist should however take care of both of them and preserve the sovereignty of Love over Reason and his comrades. We will now show that others, who have allowed their Love to degrade without caring for the proper instructions of Reason on the other hand, have gone down to gross idolatory and superstition.
The temple of Jagannath is under the superintendence of the local Rajah of Puri whom the foolish men worship as an incarnation of the Deity. Under his superintendence there are 36 classes of servants attached to temple who are styled the Chhatrisha Niyoga. There are about 60 families of Pandas who make the Pujas. There are seven hundred families of Chheridars or orderlies of the temple. There are six hundred families of Suars (Soopakars) or cooks in the temple. It is needless here to enumerate all these classes of servants. Several Pandas, Pariharis, Pashupals and Suars send their servants to different parts of India to collect pilgrims to the temple. These agents or Gomasthas (as they are called) visit the gentlemen of the places they go to and give some sweetmeat Mahaprasad proposing that they are ready to take pilgrims to Puri under their care. By this means, the agents collect a large number of souls (amongst whom the greatest number are women of an advanced age) and march on with the sound of Haribol. We must admit that the Pandas and their Gomasthas (generally of the Kayestha class) take a great deal of trouble for the sake of their pilgrims and sometimes advance money for their expenses on the road. The Bengal Jattris generally visit Puri at the Snana Jattra and the Ratha Jattra festivals but the up-country men come to Puri at all times in the year. When the pilgrims arrive at Puri the Panda, whose agent brought them, visits them with some Mahaprasad near the Narendra Tank at the approach of the town. The pilgrims see Jagannath on the very day that they arrive and perform the ceremony of Pancha Tirtha on the following day or day after that. By Pancha Tirtha is meant the business of bathing in the Tanks of Markandeya and Indradyoomna and in the sea and, after performing Sradha in those three places, seeing the emblems of Jagannath and Balarama in the temple. The Panda all along keeps silent, but on the last day he is sure to take every thing that the pilgrim has and sometimes to take a bond for an amount according to the circumstances of the pilgrim. That day the Panda with all his usual gravity takes the pilgrim to an elevated roof in the northern part of the temple called Koila Baikoontha and there utters his Mahabakya and Shufala in order to persuade the pilgrim to pay whatever he or she has with him or her. Thus the pilgrim returns to his native place without anything but a patara of sweetmeat Mahaprasada and a few slips of Jagannath’s likeness in rude paintings!
In fact the temple servants, one, and all, are not a bit better than Brahminical priests who deal with the next world as a means of gain. They are rude in the extreme and quite ignorant of Hindu Theology. They never attempt to teach or learn, but often rove in quest of money. Most of them are fond of drinking a liquor prepared from Bhang and hence they have (nearly all of them) a swelling of their legs sometimes coming up to the stage of the disease called elephantisis. With all their gains, the temple-servants can never store wealth, because they are very careless. Besides the temple they generally keep a place called an Akhra where they meet together for the purpose of drinking Bhang and seeing the dance of young boys clad in the dress of females! We will try to give you an account of all the Akhras in Puri in my next paper, and as this paper has become much longer than we at first intended, we take leave of you for the present.
The Self-less Workers of the Sri Gaudiya Math of Calcutta.
(By Sj. BISWESWAR DAS, B.A., HEAD MASTER SANTIPUR)
Well it has been said that “we live in deeds, not years, in thoughts, not breaths.” But as length of years is no proper test of the length of life, so the mere numerical strength of deeds or the varied possession of thoughts does not constitute true life. Deeds and thoughts, to be worth the names, should be such as would benefit the world at large and leave their marks “on the sands of time.” It therefore follows that our so-called, vaunted good deeds, however high-sounding and far-reaching they may be, are little better than “laboured nothings,” unless they break the bounds of the narrow circle of personality and selfishness and extend to all communities, irrespective of caste, creed and colour. Unfortunately, however, in this age of hard and practical living, only a few of us can afford to be serviceable to mankind in general, on any large and extensive scale. Most of us complain of the insufficiency of either means or time or energy or of the three together. Of these three essentials, even when we have enough and to spare, we often want the “one thing needful”—the will. Does then every man in this selfish world care only for number one, his own sweet self? Is it then, a wholly selfish world we live in? Does the iron age reign supreme in our midst, so that for men, to have any spark of piety left in them is an impossibility? No, we believe otherwise.
To the seeing eye and hearing ear, there still appear to be men who make it their business to work silently and unobtrusively for the good of their fellow-creatures, “from morn to noon” and “from noon to dewy eve.” Their golden deeds are the outcome of no selfish or sordid motives. They care neither for “the bubble reputation,” nor the gratitude of the world they so earnestly serve. Yet none watches the doings of these humble and unostentatious workers but the all seeing Lord Sree-Krishna who carefully records even our “little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love” and rewards each of us according to his desert. People take no notice of these men, nor have they any possible means of knowing and remembering their worth.
It has been very truly observed that virtue, like vice acts through contagion, by witnessing and even hearing of virtuous deeds, we cannot fail to be virtuously disposed. Every true benefactor of mankind should, therefore, hold it to be his bounden duty to record and, if possible, to proclaim to the world all the good things that are performed before his eyes or within his hearing, always bearing in mind that “good, the more communicated, the more abundant grows.” It is thus that we can serve our Lord Sree Krishna and when the time approaches for going to our long home, we may leave this earth with the sweet consolation that we have not lived in vain.
The above remarks mainly refer to the selfless workers of the Sree Gaudiya Math of Calcutta. We have been watching their laudable doings for sometime and feel it to be our imperative duty to proclaim their good deeds to the world at large. Having torn themselves away from the bosoms of their families, bidding adieu to all worldly prospects and prosperities, leaving aside all cares for pelf, position and power, these self-less workers have enthusiastically dedicated themselves to the feet of the Lord Sree Krishna. Knowing full well that the serving of God is the serving of humanity they have whole-heartedly devoted themselves to the highest good of their fellow men and under the wise and tactful guidance of their great spiritual Guide are preaching the doctrines of true and pure divine love in every creek and corner of Bengal or for the matter of that, in every important centre of the whole Indian Peninsula.
It is not for us to attempt to gauge the success of their manifold doings or to form even a correct estimate of the value of their numerous noble performances. It is, however, a pity that none of our Calcutta papers has so far been fully alive to the importance of publishing their virtuous deeds and lives with a yiew to the ultimate good of mankind. On the other hand, we notice, with deep regret, that some of the dailies and weeklies write or publish scurrilous articles trying to misconstrue or wilfully belittle the unselfish doings of the venerable spiritual head of the aforesaid Math. Human spite can indeed go no farther.
If those who are the professed leaders of thought and the trusted teachers of the public, I mean the Editors of Newspapers and Periodicals, are oblivious of their ordinary duties or are wilfully ignorant of the most glaring truths,—truths as clear as noon-day, then Newspapers and Periodicals cannot indeed serve any useful purpose in this world. To vent one’s spleen in season and out of season, to feed fat the grudge that one bears, without any cause whatever, towards another, and to shamelessly fight and quarrel like the sorry pariah dogs are by no means the true functions of Newspapers and Magazines, the Editors and conductors where of are the professed and recognised teachers of the public. Without enlarging more upon this point, I beg leave to conclude this article by reminding those connected with Newspapers and Periodicals of the wise counsel which Cardinal Wosley is represented by the greatest English poet to have administered to Cromwell:
“Love thyself last: Cherish those hearts that hate thee,
Corruption wins not more than honesty,
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues. Be just and fear not.
Let all the ends thou aims’t at, be thy country’s,
Thy God’s and truth’s.”
A Lecture in Brindaban
Time—22nd Kartic, Friday, Afternoon.
I have no capacity to tend to the feet of the denizens of this holy place. Yet by the grace of Sree Gour Sundar and urged by your good wishes, I stand here to speak only if I may thereby serve the servants of Sree Gauranga. Indeed if we can truly serve the feet of the devotees of Sri Gauranga, by whose graceful glance alone all desires, hopes and aims in life are easily fulfilled, then that will be a crowning achievement.
We are proud of our ego. We are either given to judge sinful and pious acts or think how we can lord it over others by acquiring power. These all base self-glorifications. But one devoted to Gauranga says that all desires actuating every object from the pillar to the highest being (Brahma), all labour for worldly possessions, all longing for enjoyment and every kind of renunciation after satiety, are all pseudo-existent and evanescent i.e., subject to change and time. When we lose anything so acquired life seems to be vacant and useless. But it is quite futile to try to straighten the tail of a dog.—such being the end of all enjoyments in the fourteen spheres. All pleasures acquired as the fruits of worldly work are transitory.
Carried away by sense-perceptions of eye, ear, touch, taste and sound we turn into ego-worshippers. In this state the pure activity of the soul lies dormant. Then we also desire the pleasure in heaven. And when such ideas are strong in us we err by identifying ourselves with this mind which thus seems to be the enjoyer of the things of this world. This propensity for selfish enjoyment deadens the pure function of the Soul.
But the Soul knows that Sree Krishna is the One Absolute Truth.
Sree Narayana is the embodiment of His Majesty. Narayana though is the ultimate source of the Absolute Truth, Krishna’s transcendent designation, form, qualities, and sportive activities excel Narayana’s Majesty by His display of sweetening Beauty. In Krishna the fullest majesty is mellowed by the most delicious sweetness which predominates. When we do not know all these and forget our true selves we cannot understand the activities of a Vaisnava and the transcendental truth underlying such activities, and so give ourselves up to wordly enmity and friendship, taking things transitory and illusory as eternal and real.
Secondly, Krishna is completely all-cognisant. Material objects are not self-conscious. God is ever existent. It is, indeed, through mistake that we consider ourselves as Brahman. It is only then that such useless arguments for the efacement of all super-sensuous diversity or variety in Absolute Truth take hold of us. The function of the spirit is clogged and our minds run after worldly enjoyment. The materialised mind thinks that sensual enjoyment is obtained at Krishna’s feet. But at the feet of Krishna everything is spiritual and so not an object for the gratification of our senses. When truth is obscured in us carried away by egoistic tendencies we take things material as of the spirit.
Krishna is bliss. In Him dwells perfect Joy—He is the embodiment of it. Sensual knowledge or joy is not perfect;—there-in all our longings are not realised. Under the spell of sense perceptions we imagine that there might be unalloyed happiness in ego-worship or in the kaibalya state of Patanjali.
All seeking after joy is the function of the soul. When the desire for joy wakes up in our minds we commit a blunder in running after worldly objects and enjoyment. It is only when we receive a spiritual sight of Krishna that we understand that His service must of necessity, be the sole aim in life. As long as we thus hanker after our own pleasures we try to enjoy the world through the senses and are given to hollow argumentation. But this world is not made for our enjoyment. When spiritual bliss will appear in us like the incessant flow of oil then shall we be truly tied to the feet of Krishna.
Such numerical variety as that of one two and three exists only in worldly diversity. This diversity acquires a certain inexpressible sameness in the world of spirit. Then we can appreciate that Krishna alone is the eternal Truth Absolute. When the very existence of Truth and sensiency in our own selves become solely relative to Him only then we are established in our real normal state.
At present many false meanings have been imported into the word devotion. Regard for one’s parents, loyalty to man, obedience to the teacher, etc. pass as Bhakti. But the root means ‘to serve.’ If we do not clearly judge as to what must be the medium of that service then it is sure to be misapplied. As Chaitanya Chandramrita sings.
(verse in Sanskrit)
This is the quarrelling age. The senses, which are our enemies, are now very powerful; and crores of thorns choke the path of pure Bhakti. I am quite at a loss to know what I shall do or where I shall go unless Chaitanya Chandra shows mercy unto me.
We live in the Kaliyuga—this is an age of strife. So it happens that the self-luminous path of pure devotion is completely covered up with millions of thorns in the shape of foolish argumentations and wordy wranglings. In these circumstances it is absolutely impossible to have the knowledge of pure devotion without the mercy of Chaitanya Chandra. Sree Chaitanya Chandra is Krishna Himself. He is the God-head. We cannot know God by the exertions of our senses. As the Katha Upanishad says: —
(verse in Sanskrit)
The knowledge about the all-embracing Oversoul cannot be attained either through reasoning, argumentations or hearing the Vedas; only to him does He manifest His person whom He accepts.
God-head is eternal. We cannot attain to Him unless we realise He is bliss Himself. One confined within his psychic range in a hundred ways, cannot know what God is and so accepts things other than God as objects of his worship. Unable to understand the true subject and object of enjoyment, as well as the nature of enjoyment itself he imagines the world as created to afford him every kind of pleasure. This materialised mind strives only after selfish enjoyment. By this fleshy form we cannot serve Krishna. It is possible only in spirit. The atomic theory of the world knows nothing of that service.
In the variety of His manifestations Absolute Truth Himself is to be determined from Narayana. In Krishna exists Narayana Who is His Majestic form. Baladeva is the manifestation of His Self. He is the all-pervading Over-soul. With the revelation of the function of supreme knowledge in our soul, we come to know that Krishna is the Absolute Truth. He is also perfect bliss, reverence does not stand in His way. Intimate service cannot be rendered if one is actuated by reverence. Yet Krishna is the eternal object of the devotees’ whole-hearted service. But He is to be served with the ever-existent senses of the soul. We cannot serve Him through imagination or sentiment. Super-sensuous knowledge of our relation with Him is essential. There is no-body whom I can call my own except one who is solely devoted to Krishna. Krishna alone is the one object of my service. This faith is the one glory of the Vaisnava. This is the supreme necessity of life. Material fame full of the idea of selfish enjoyment is never desirable.
Time is running short. The time for the evening wave-offering ceremony is drawing nigh. I must no longer encroach upon your time of service. If it be Krishna’s wish I shall again try to serve you. A thousand obeisances at the feet of the devotees of Krishna.
The Special Characteristics of the Acharyya
[BY PROF. NISHI KANTA SANYAL, M.A.,]
(Continued from P.17, June, 1928.)
It was only with the object of effecting the descent everywhere of this un-alloyed kirtan of Krishna or the Image of the Divine Logos Sri Radha-Govinda that Sri Gaursundar, the crest-jewel of all the Acharyyas, the transcendental Truth Itself, manifested the lila of the simultaneous practice and preaching of the Word of God. If we try to understand with a patient mind the practice and preaching of Sri Gaursundar and His followers, buttressed on the kirtan of Krishna, for giving away freely to all the World the spiritually sportive Divine Pair, the Image of the Divine Logos, we notice that all of them in their performances as Archaryyas exhibited the ideal of two distinct methods of preaching that were considered to be suitable for all people, both the illiterate and the highly educated, irrespective of varna, asrama, age, sex or race.
The first of these methods is that which was adopted by the group of preachers to which belong the six Goswamins viz. Sri Rupa etc, who, while practising discriminative asceticism, employed themselves in the composition of a number of devotional works and by such means served to bring about the descent of the Image of the Divine Logos. These books establish the superiority, over all other forms of worship, of the loving service of the spiritually sportive Divine Pair, Sri Radha-Govinda, Who are the Objects of the eternal worship of all. They refute the fallacious theories of atheists that are opposed to such devotion. They have made feasible the establishment of Vaishnava, daiva or theistic social order by the codification of the spiritual Smritis. These Acharyyas identified and restored the neglected holy sites and the worship in them of Vishnu which had fallen into abeyance and rescued from oblivion the ancient scriptural works. They also set up Maths and Temples as places of constant service of the Brahman in the form of the Word.
Sri Rupa Goswamin was authorized by Sri Chaitanya Deva to treat the subject of devotion, lit with the brilliance of the most exquisite deliciousness, in his works viz. the Bhaktirasamritasindhu and the Ujjvala, having Himself taught him the splendour of His own devotion and thereby formally recognising him as the premier Acharyya of the principle of devotion who is to be obeyed by the whole community of His servants. Previously to this Sri Chaitanya Deva had illustrated by listening from Sri Ramananda Rai to very similar teaching the process of spiritual practice thereby vindicating the glory of the good preceptor who is constantly and actively engaged in carrying out the wishes of Sri Radha-Govinda, and also the extreme difficulty of finding such preceptor. Sri Raghunath Goswamin, the follower of Sri Rupa, was similarly declared the Acharyya of the object of devotion to God; Sri Jiva Goswamin was made the Acharyya of our relationship with God and also of regulated devotion; Sri Raghunath Bhatta Goswamin was made the Acharyya as regards the study of the Bhagabat and Sri Gopal Bhatta the Acharyya of Vishnavite Smriti.
The second method of propaganda took the form of door to door preaching in pursuance of the practice of wandering Teachers. To the group that followed this method belonged Sri Nityananda, Thakur Haridas, Sri Bakreswar Pandit and other preachers. They set the example of the ideal of non-evil-producing kindness in the form of cultivation constant devotion to the Brahman as the Word, which brings about the destruction of the opinions of the atheist which are, as it were, the seed of nescience that causes aversion to God, awakens every man to his own proper nature pursuing the function of a Brahman, i.e. of one who really knows the Brahman, who is deserving of universal reverence as the master to be obeyed by the whole world, and, exhibiting the endeavour of effecting happiness by the constant exercise of their voice at a high pitch in order to spread the thirst for the service of the Holy Name,—the expression of Sri Radha-Govinda which is identical with the thing expressed,—above, below and in all the ten directions of the universe. In the role of a Tridanda Goswamin, Srila Probodhananda Saraswati, the undeclared friend of Sri Rupa, has demonstrated the ideal of this form of preaching in his work the ‘Sri Chaitanyachandramrita’ and ‘Sri Radharasasudhanidhi’. Subsequently Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswamin Prabhu in his Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita has elaborated this form of service viz. this worship of the ‘Word Divine’ conformably to the teaching of Sri Rupa. After him the three Prabhus Sri Srinibash, Sri Narottam and Sri Shyamananda spread among the people in general this form of the worship of the holy Image of God, the Object of expression, as taught by Sri Rupa, even more strikingly by the method of dance, song and music than by composition of literary works. The two Prabhus Srila Viswanath Chakrvarti Thakur and Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusan, by reverting to the method of expounding the principles of devotion in their books, upheld the form of service of Hari by dance, song and music as practised by their preceptors. As a matter of fact it was when by reason of the abuse of dance, song and music, this method of the Divine service degenerated into the dissipation of art and stupidity that these two Acharyyas revealed the teaching of Sri Rupa by opening the sealed eyes of the people by the publication of a great variety of original dissertations as also the older Scriptures embodying the true principles in support of the school of pure devotion.
The next two centuries constitute the Dark Age of Gauda. A black curtain was drawn across the front of the stage on which had been played the Divine drama of the Rise of the Moon of Sri Chaitanya. The most astounding vagaries of the Arch-Enchantress—Maya were now depicted on this dark screen and served to delude and amuse the sensuous minds of the spectators. Foul subjects set forth by ill-assorted airs and long drawn tunes were exhibited as the samkirtan of Krishna. The gross and ugly lure of worldly subjects and selfish enjoyment was offered and accepted as the object of life, in place of the sublime teachings of Sri Rupa.
In place of true religion that assures every well-being was offered a system that was most cunningly devised by its manufactures to secure for themselves an easy abundance of the good things of this world. The practice of trade in the convenient garb of a sadhu was passed off as the service of God that neither extorts nor desires any earthly remuneration as its return. The hearing and the chanting of the Name of Hari was simulated for the purpose of deceiving people and for widening the scope of the operation of sinful propensities. The result was soon evident. The hollow form of the claims of birth soon failed to have any terrors for the educated classes. The works of the six Goswamis and the truths established and promulgated by Sriman Mahaprabhu were stowed away with scant regard as the contents of sealed boxes and moth-eaten piles, or were contemptuously handled as merchandise of commerce by trades-men. Anything of the nature of the rationale of devotion had no existence anywhere. The free speculations of the human mind or even licence was regarded as religion. As the result of the mechanical imitation of the highest ideal, the source of the religion, there soon sprang up the noxious sects of aul, baul, kartabhaja, nera-neri, etc., etc., bent upon passing off as the real religion its perverted and highly-condemned shadow and thereby proclaiming as the religion of the Vaishnavas something which stank in the nostrils of and was spat upon by even the ordinary godless moral people. Men were all the more emboldened to commit sinful acts by the assurance that the holy Name had power to absolve from sin. They cherished the false ego and its earthly possessions, indulged in the denunciation of the true devotees, regarded the minor gods as independent deities and imagined that the worship of the holy Name of God was equal, or even inferior, to the system of morals in the forms of worldly activities and secular knowledge. It was an age of the caricature of the Brahman ideal and gave rise to the class of so-called Brahmans who assiduously imitated the external conduct of the highest sadhus who cherish no malice against any body. New Avatars were manufactured in this world in imitation of Sriman Mahaprabhu, the Real Truth,—whose doings were like the antics of the sparrow that aspired to dance in emulation of the graceful performance of the khanjan. There was a most strenuous attempt to mix up the spiritual and the material by magicians who advocated the reconciliation of all differences; and lured by the bait of this promise of harmony, that had as much reality as is possessed by the aerial flowers, all the people borne along on the current of masked atheism sank deeper and deeper into the bottomless abyss of the deadly ocean of intangible abstraction. Numberless men and women hailed as religion and liberalism such temporary excitement for the commission of useless suicide. Another class of people caught in the murderous jaws of the demoness of foreign culture, manners and customs and bad system of education, set themselves to improvise a variety of novel creeds. Under the dominating influence of this imported impulse a few raised the cry of a new latitudinarianism; some proclaimed the character of Krishna as the type of obscenity; some judged Mahaprabhu as having been guilty of transgressing against the law of duty and even considered that He was of an unsound mind; while others out of pity condescended to recognise Mahaprabhu as having possessed a personality that would certainly mark Him out as a man among ten of the people of this world. Some refused to bestow their serious consideration on the Vaishnava religion regarding it as the glorification of sentimentality, stupidity and immorality. There were found persons who declared the Vaishnava religion to be the worship of man, idolatry or even as the worship of the Devil. Some proved Vaisnavism to be the perversion either of Buddhism or of the Samkhya philosophy. Some affected to view it as a petty creed, limited to an exclusive body of people, made by small persons,—under the impression that the ordinary activities of the mind and the body constitute the eternal and universal religion. Some actually tried to strangle to death the religion of the Vaishnavas imagining that the Vaishnava religion which professes the reality of the supreme spiritual harmony was opposed to the principle of comprehension and to varnasrama dharma. It was while this darkness brooded over the realm of Gauda that Thakur Sri Bhiktivinode set to work to terminate this long night of terrible gloom and inaugurate a white auspicious dawn in the circle of Navadwip.
(To be continued.)
The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna-Chaitanya
(Continued from P.14, June, 1928.)
After wandering about the country in this exclusive mood for three days Sri Krishna-Chaitanya now a sannyasi came in sight of the Ganges opposite Santipur having been conducted thither by the clever management of Prabhu Nityananda. On beholding the Ganges Sri Chaitanya took the river to be the Yamuna and accordingly recited a hymn of praise to Yamuna and supposed that He was in the neighbourhood of Sri Brindaban. Sri Advaita Prabhu now crossed over from Santipur in a boat in order to convey Sri Chaitanya to his house. The sight of Advaita recalled Sri Chaitanya to external consciousness and He was induced to accompany Sri Advaita Prabhu to his Santipur residence. Sri Advaita Prabhu made Seeta Devi prepare a great variety of eatables and offered them first to Sri Gaursundar and Sri Nityananda. Sri Chaitanya asked Sri Haridas and Sri Mukunda to sit at meal with Himself but they preferred to take their meal after Sri Chaitanya had finished eating. Sri Advaita Prabhu along with Sri Haridas and Sri Mukunda then partook of the portion of the meal that remained in the dish after it had been eaten by Sri Gaursundar.
The entire population of Santipur began to pour in a continuous stream to obtain a sight of the holy feet of Sri Chaitanya. There was samkirtan with dancing in the evening when Sri Chaitanya manifested simultaneously the eight sattwic perturbations as Mukunda began the kirtan. His mother, Sri Sachi Devi, arrived in a dola the next morning with a very large number of devotees from Navadwip. Sachi Devi had thus an opportunity of seeing her Son once again. Sri Chaitanya stopped for ten days at the house of Advaita. While there He consoled Sachi Devi, performed kirtan in the company of the devotees of Navadwip and accepted daily the food that was cooked by Sachi Devi with her own hands. In order to teach them the conduct that is proper for a sannyasi Sri Chaitanya told the people of Navadwip that it was not the duty of one after acceptance of sannyas to stay in his native place amidst his friends and relatives. Mother Sachi on hearing of this judged it to be proper that Sri Gaursundar must do what He considered to be His duty and accordingly asked Him to reside at Nilachal (Puri). Sri Chaitanya then took leave of the devotees of Navadwip and of His mother and asked them to devote all the time of their lives to the holy Name of Krishna and Krishna-talk.
Sri Chaitanya started on His journey to Sri Purusottam (Puri), by the road that led past Chhatrabhog in the company of Nityananda, Mukunda, Jagadananda and Damodar. After visiting Briddhamantreswar Sree Krishna-Chaitanya crossed the frontiers into the kingdom of Utkal. The party moved on along the road to Puri, Sri Chaitanya chanting joyously the kirtan of Krishna with His associates, obtaining their food by begging in the wayside villages. Journeying in this manner Sri Chaitanya reached the village of Remuna where He beheld Sri Gopinath and narrated to His devotees the story of Madhabendra Puri and Ksheer-chora (stealer of a sweet-preparation of milk) Gopinath as told to Himself by Sri Iswara Puri. The Lord exhibited the state of delirium under the anxieties of separation from the Beloved on reciting the sloka of Madhabendra Puri. He stopped for that night at Remuna and resumed the journey to Puri the next morning.
Sri Chaitanya arrived at the town of Cuttack by way of Jajpur. At Cuttack He saw Sri Sakshi Gopal and listened to the story of Gopal from the mouth of Sri Nityananda. From Cuttack He proceeded to Bhubaneswar and there saw the God Siva, the protecting Deity of the holy realm of Sri Jagannath Deva. After this the Lord paid a flying visit to Kamalpur on the Bhargi to have a sight of Kapoteswara Siva. It was while He went up into the shrine leaving His ascetic’s staff in the keeping of Nityananda that the latter deliberately broke it into three pieces and threw them into the Bhargi. By this act Sri Nityananda made it known that it was not necessary for God Himself to carry the staff or other symbols of regulation of oneself in as much God is His own Master. Sri Chaitanya was angry at this to warn against misunderstanding of the action of Nityananda. Because although it is not necessary for God or even a paramahamsa Vaishnava to submit to any penal regulation there was not the least chance of well-being for the novice on the path of spiritual effort who was still subject to worldly impulses if such a person chose to act in such free manner in lieu of submitting the mind, body and speech to the strictest penal regulations.
When Sri Chaitanya reached the Atharanala (the eighteen sluice-gates) a small bridge on the Puri road at the entrance of the holy city of Sri Jagannath Deva, He gave vent to His anger at the loss of His staff and in this mood of external indignation proceeded unattended by any one to the Temple of Jagannath asking all His companions to stay behind. Sri Chaitanya made a violent movement to embrace Jagannath the instant He caught sight of Him. This was followed by the manifestation of all the signs of mahabhava (superior love) all over His body. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya who happened to be present in the Temple at the time chanced to notice His condition and intervened to prevent any rough treatment by the parichhas. Sarvabhauma was very much struck by the sight of the unique perturbations that was wrought in Sri Chaitanya by holy love and finding that the return of normal consciousness was being delayed had Him conveyed with care to his own residence on the shoulders of men.
(To be continued.)
Sree Sree Chaitanya Bhagavat
(Continued from P.23, June, 1928.)
CHAPTER VIII
Summary:—In this Chapter are narrated the ceremony of the investment of Nimai with the sacrificial thread. His studies under Gangadas Pandit, the dream of Jagannath Misra in which he beheld the renunciation and other activities of Visvambhar in the future, the departure of Misra from this world and other matters.
On an auspicious day and in an auspicious moment Sri Gaursundar duly went through the purificatory ceremony of investment with the holy thread. On this occasion He performed the lila of Sri Vamana by begging for alms from the people. He then began His studies under Gangadas Pandit just as Sri Krishna received His schooling under Sandipani Muni. Gangadas Pandit was highly delighted on making the discovery that the New-comer was the cleverest of all his pupils. The Boy took a special delight in putting puzzling questions of logic to the other students and when they failed to answer them He would offer the answers Himself to their satisfaction. After all had accepted His answers He would refute what He Himself had established and repeat the whole process many times over to their utter amazement.
Nimai now led the life of an ideal Brahmacharin, bathed duly in the holy stream of the Bhagirathi, worshipped Vishnu, offered water to the holy tulasi and ate the prasad of Vishnu (food which had been previously offered to Vishnu) and set Himself assiduously to study and writing original annotations of the Sastras. The heart of Misra was gladdened by the ideal behaviour of his darling Son.
This great happiness of Misra, however, did not last long. He had a most wonderful dream in which he saw Nimai clad in the glorious garment of a sannyasi and surrounded by Advaitacharyya and other devotees, constantly uttering the Name of Krishna and laughing, dancing, crying all the time. Then Nimai appeared seated on the throne of Vishnu in the act of receiving the homage of all the gods. This was followed by the vision of Nimai followed by crores of devotees going through every town dancing and chanting the kirtan of Hari. Nimai was also seen proceeding along the road to Puri.
This dream convinced Misra that the sannyas of Nimai was inevitable and filled him with the greatest anxiety. Sachi Devi took a different view and told Misra that Nimai would never leave home as He was so completely engrossed in His studies. Shortly after this Misra left this world. Sri Gaursundar wept long at the departure of His father from this world just as Sri Ramchandra lamented the departure of Dasarath. The Boy, however, consoled Sachi Devi with many sweet words telling her that He would give her what was attainable with difficulty by even Brahma and Siva.
But the Boy proved utterly ungovernable at times and did much wilful damage in the house in fits of waywardness. Sachi Devi bore all His boyish freaks with the disposition of Yasoda of the cowherd settlement towards Krishna. In reply to the expostulations of Sachi on one of these occasions against such wilful damage of property which had actually reduced themselves to complete destitution Sri Gaursundar remarked ‘that Krishna who happens to be the Supporter of the world is the only Maintainer of everybody. It is unnecessary for His servants to have any anxiety for their own sustenance’. With this He went off to His studies. But when He returned home that day He gave His mother two tolas of gold saying that ‘Krishna had given the stuff wherewith she might defray all expenses of the household’. Whenever there was real want Sri Gaursundar would in this way procure small quantities of gold to help the mother over the difficulty. He was always exceedingly busy with His studies and had not yet declared Himself, such was the ill luck of the world.
The Chapter closes with a description of the grief of the Vaishnavas for want of devotion to Krishna in the world.
- All glory to Sri Gaursundar, Ocean of mercy!
Glory to the Moon of the home of Sacchi and Jagannath! - All glory to the life of Nityananda Swarup!
All glory to the propounder of the religion of Sankirtan! - All glory to Gauranga with the company of His devotees!
By listening to the story of Chaitanya devotion is gained. - In this manner the Lord abode in the house of Jagannath
In disguise so that none recognised. - All varieties of children’s games to be found in the world
The Lord played; who has the power to tell it all? - By the channel of the Veda they will manifest themselves in all the Puranas;
All fortunate persons will hear a little in due course. - Thus Gaur-Chandra abandoned Himself to the joys of childhood;
And now the time of wearing the sacrificial thread arrived. - For the purpose of investing his Son with the holy thread
The best of Misras invited to his house all his friends. - They all gathered together with the greatest pleasure
And each of them did such work as suited him. - The women offering ‘joy’ sang the praises of Krishna
Dances played on the Mrdanga, Sanai and flute. - The Brahmans read the Veda, ministrels sang eulogies,
Joy took a visible form in the house of Sachi. - Sri Gaursundar was to put on the sacrificial thread
So all the auspicious conjunctions hastened to Sachi’s house. - In an auspicious month, day and moment
Gauranga Sri Hari assumed the holy thread of sacrifice. - As the beautiful thread adorned His charming figure
Its subtle splendour encompassed the whole body. - Lord Gaur Chandra now assumed the form of Vamana
The sight augmented the supreme joy of every body. - All beheld the wonderful blaze of the fiery Brahman quality
No longer did any one think Him to be human. - With staff in hand and a wallet across His shoulders
The supreme Lord at the house of all His servants begged for alms. - All gladly gave Him to the utmost of their power
The women laughed as they put alms into the wallet of the Lord. - The consorts of Brahma and Rudra in the guise of Brahman wives
And all the loyal spouses of the munis - With joy beholding the Lord’s Vamanalila
Laughed as all of them repeatedly poured their alms into the wallet of the Lord. - The Lord was also delighted in displaying the lila of the Vamana;
All these pastimes were played for the deliverance of the jiva. - All glory to Gaur Chandra in the form of Sri Vamana
May Thou vouchsafe to the heart the gift of Thy twin feet! - Who listens to this assumption of the sacrificial thread by the Supreme Lord
Obtains the refuge of the feet of Chaitanya-Chandra. - In this manner the Lord of Vaikuntha in the home of Sachi
Played luscious pastimes most carefully hid in the Vedas. - Having thoroughly mastered the sense of all the scriptures at home
The Lord now wished to study in the company of His devotees. - In Nabadwip dwell Gangadas Pandit
The crest-jewel of all the professors, Sandipani’s own self. - He was gifted with special knowledge of the science of Grammar,
Under him the Lord was most anxious to study. - The worthy Misra took the hint from his Boy
And make his way to the house of the Brahman Gangadas taking his Son with him. - On seeing the Misra Gangadas stood up with respect
And after embracing him seated him by his side. - The Misra said, ‘I give my Boy to you;
Be pleased to teach and impart Him the Truth - Gangadas made the reply ‘It is a great good fortune for me;
I shall teach Him to the utmost of my power’. - Catching the sight of his Disciple Gangadas with the greatest joy
Kept Him by his side as if He were his own son. - Whatsoever Pandit Gangadas explained
The Lord understood by hearing but once. - He refuted all the explanations of His teacher
And then re-established them. - Among those thousands of students who read under their professors,
There was no one who dared to blame the interpretations of Nimai. - The teacher was highly pleased finding such wonderful intelligence,
And honoured Him by awarding Him precedence over all the disciples. - The Lord constantly put to test all those boys
Who studied under Gangadas Pandit— - Sri Murarigupta and another who bore the name of Kamalakanta,
Krishnananda and others who were the heads of the body. - The Lord probed them all by His hoaxes
They all laughed at His tests, no one minded taking Him to be a child. - In this manner after the day’s reading and writing was done
The Lord went off to bathe in the Ganges taking His companions with Him.
- In the town of Nabadwip there was no end of students;
All of them at noon went to the Ganges for their bath after study; - And the thousands of pupils of every separate professor
Engaged in mutual quarrels all the time. - In years but a child and of a restless disposition
The Lord quarrelled with the students. - Some said, ‘your teacher, what does he understand?’
Some boasted, ‘I will teach you whose student I am!’ - In this way by degrees it became a quarrel
Next ensued throwing of water at one another and thereafter sand. - Then there was fighting in right earnest every one beating whom he could,
And mud was employed as a legitimate missile of war, - Some took prisoner their assailants in the name of the king,
And some having thrashed their enemy slipped off across the Ganges. - The students displayed such an immense activity
That all the water of the Ganges was turned into a thick mixture of sand and mud. - The women were unable to fill their pitchers with water,
The Brahmans and worthy persons found it impossible to bathe. - The Lord Biswambhar was exceedingly turbulent
And in this manner made His way to every separate bathing ghat, - There was no end of students at every bathing place,
And the Lord quarrelled with them at every ghat. - The Lord swimming with the current made His way to all the ghats
And at each bathing place played for an hour or so. - Those who were reputed to belong to the class of superior students
Intervened and asked what did they quarrel about? - Were they examining one another to find out the intelligence of each?
Were they trying to find out who knew His britti, panji, and tika correctly? - The Lord said, ‘this is indeed, a grand proposal!
Let any body ask Me any questions that he likes.’ - Some one said, ‘why do you make such an excessive boast?’
And the Lord retorted, ‘Better ask any question that occurs to you.’ - That student put the question, ‘construe the Sutra of the verbal root’.
The Lord made reply, ‘listen to Me closely as I explain’. - The Lord God is possessed of all power,
He offered the true explanation of the Sutra. - Having listened to His explanation all praised.
Then the Lord said, ‘Now listen to the refutation of the explanation’. - He then found fault with every item in the explanations.
And asked any among them who possessed the ability to support them. - All of them thought within themselves that it was most wonderful.
The Lord said, ‘Hear now I defend My explanation..’ - Once again in such a manner did Gaur Chandra construe
That it was excellent in every way and there was no defect anywhere. - All those who ranked as the best among the students,
Every one of them, embraced Him to express satisfaction. - The students said, ‘Thou mays’t go home today;
But must be also able to answer what we ask to-morrow’. - In this manner every day in the water of the Jahnavi
The Lord of Vaikuntha did play pastimes that were mellowed by the exquisite taste of learning. - For the purpose of this sport Brihaspati possessed of all knowledge
Was born in Nabadwip with his disciples. - The Lord played in the water of the Jahnavi every day,
And for fun often crossed over to the opposite bank of the Ganges. - The Ganges had of yore conceived many a wish
Witnessing in the Jamuna the sports of Krishnachandra. - ‘Oh when shall myself be blessed with the good fortune of the Yamuna!’
Constantly did Ganga speak these words. - Although the Ganges is ever worshipped by Brahma, Siva and those under them
Yet did she covet the state of the Yamuna. - Sri Gaursundar is the purpose tree that fulfils every desire;
He fulfilled the desires of the Ganges all the time. - Having played in many a diverse way in the water of the Jahnavi,
Gaurchandra returned home with high pleasure. - After worshipping Sri Vishnu as laid down in the Scriptures
And having duly offered water to the holy tulasi, He sat down to His meal. - No sooner did He finish His meal than the Lord
Taking His books retired to a secluded corner. - He prepared His own tippanis of the sutras;
The jewel of all the gods forgot everything by the taste of books. - The high-souled Misra beholding all this swam in happiness
And night and day was oblivious for joy of everything else. - Gazing ever and anon on the face of his Son
Every day Jagannath experienced delights that no words can describe. - In such wise did the Misra drink the beauty of his Child
That he realised union with the Divinity while he was still in this body. - For Misra’s external joys such as those of union with the Deity were as nothing.
The Misra held as trivial the bliss of corporeal union with God and the like. - Manifold obeisance at the feet of Jagannath Misra
Whose Son is the Lord of the infinity of the worlds. - In this manner the best of the Misras at sight of his Son
Floated continuously on the sea of happiness. - The Lord surpassed the god of love in beauty;
The grace of every several limb of His was beyond compare. - Misra noted all this and the thought occurred to him
‘Some witch or demon might possess his Son.’ - For fear the Misra made a surrender of his Son to Krishna,
Lord Gaurchandra laughed as He overheard. - The Misra said, ‘Krishna, Thou are the protector of all,
May Thou have Thy auspicious eye on My child. - ‘Inside the home of the person who remembers Thy lotus feet
No mishap ever makes it appearance. - ‘In all those evil places that are void of Thy remembrance
There abide witches, ghosts and the bad spirits. - ‘Where, in the sacrificial performances, the demonscaring account of the Lord of devotees
Is not listened to, there the evil spirits do abound.’ - ‘Thy servant, Lord, I am; to whatsoever belongs to me
My Thou extend Thy own protection as all those are Thine. - ‘Wherefore whatever form of mishap or misery there may be
May none of those ever come near my Son.’ - In this manner, constantly, with his whole heart and with uplifted hands,
Prayed Misra Jagannath for the Divine favour. - It so chanced that on a certain day the worthy Misra had a dream
Which detailed all this happiness and made him most wretched. - On beholding the dream he made a prostrated obeisance reciting a prayer,
‘Grant, O Govinda, that Nimai may remain in my house. - ‘This is the only boon that I beg of Thee Krishna,
That my Nimai may be a house-holder and stay in the family’. - Sachi was very much surprised and asked,
“Why do you thus all on a sudden pray for such boons?”
(To be continued.)
Taking Refuge
(Continued from P.24, June, 1928.)
- I have now understood that Thy feet, O Lord
Are ever full of the nectar that dispells all fear and sorrow. - I have surrendered everything at Thy lotus feet:
I have laid myself down, O Lord, under the shelter of Thy feet. - Thy lotus feet, O Lord, be my protection.
No other protector have I in this worldly sojourn. - I know now that I am Thy eternal servant;
The charge of my maintenance now belongs to Thee. - In the life that was unsubmissive to Thee I suffered much sorrow.
All my miseries are ended by gaining those holy feet of Thine. - For gaining those feet Rama practised austerities.
By obtaining Thy feet Siva attained his own well-being. - Thy feet fulfilled all the desire of Brahma.
Narad Muni clasped Thy feet to his heart. - Thy feet that chase away all fear I hold on my head,
And dance with the greatest joy and sing the praises of Thy feet. - From the perils of the worldly journey
Thy feet will surely deliver Bhaktivinode.
(To be continued.)