Song: śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu doyā Explanation | Rus-Split | 5.5.92 | Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī Mahārājā

This is going to be a very short class, only about 20 minutes more, so that even those devotees who are not on full-time samkirtan can have prasada and engage in samkirtan. So this is a very famous prayer sung by Narottama Das Thakur. Narottama Das Thakur was a very great devotee of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He has composed many Vaiṣṇava songs, and Prabhupāda has said that these songs are as potent as Vyāsadeva's writings. In other words, the spiritual potency of these songs is at par with the spiritual potency of Vyāsadeva's writings. Actually, many of you may not know, but Nirmaladāsa ṭhākura was the son of a king, and he was the only son. And the father, when he saw that the son was so interested in spiritual activities, he was very worried. But Narottama Das Thakura was so determined that later on his father blessed him, and Narottama Das Thakura performed severe austerities and wrote many songs in glorification of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In all of Narottama Das Thakura's songs, there is one common theme, that is Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the most merciful incarnation, and how Narottama Das Thakura himself is very fallen. So this is the greatness of a devotee. Even though he's spiritually advanced, he considers himself the most fallen. In material life, we see that people have no spiritual qualification and they'll make a show as if they're very advanced spiritually. But an advanced devotee will never think that he even has an ounce of love of God. Prabhupada had done so much, but still, when he was leaving the planet, he told us I've done nothing at all. So in the opening lines of this very famous prayer, Sri Krishna Caitanya Prabhu Daya Kora More, Tomabhina Kede Alu Jagata Samsare, Narottama das Thakura is saying, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, You please be merciful upon me. In the Srimad Bhagavatam class today, I explained to you what it means to get the mercy of the Lord. Because many times devotees want to know, what does it mean by getting mercy? How will I see that I'm getting the Lord's mercy? In the material world, if you win a lottery ticket, you know that you won the lottery ticket because you have more dinghy in your pocket. So devotees want to know, how do I know that— how will I get the mercy of the Lord? So you get the mercy of the Lord by developing the determination to resist Maya. The Lord is residing in everyone's heart as the Paramatma. And when Krishna sees that you're endeavoring to please the guru, sadhu, shastra, then Krishna, who is dwelling in the heart, destroys the ignorance with the torchlight of knowledge. The biggest obstacle to going back to Godhead is material desires. We have a variety of material desires. Some are gross, some are subtle. Gross means I want to engage in illicit activities in an open— in a gross manner. And subtle means you're meditating on honor and so many other things in the mind. And why are we not able to uproot these material desires? Because our determination is very weak. Our determination is weak. We get scared of fighting Maya. You may say, no, I'm not scared of fighting Maya, but you are scared of fighting Maya. That is why you're not ready to throw Maya out. Maya influences you by controlling your mind. Because of Maya's influence The instructions of guru, sadhu, shastra do not appear important. So when we act in activities in accordance with the direction of the Lord and the guru and shastra, then Krishna dwelling in the heart gives you the determination to become stronger in spiritual life. And then as you develop the determination, then you begin to strike Maya hard. So when Krishna sees that you're trying to follow his, his path then he will give you the determination. Just like in the Bhagavatam class, we have seen how Parikshit Maharaj, when he was preparing to die, he invited all the great sages. But Krishna knew that Parikshit's desire was very sincere. And what did Krishna do? He sent him Shukadeva Gosvami. So the devotee is always praying to Guru, Sadhu, Shastra, please give me the mercy so that I can advance spiritually. The Narasimhasthaka is praying, 'Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, please be merciful unto me.' Except for you, nobody is so, so magnanimous. So Lord Chaitanya has revealed his mercy. He reveals his mercy in two ways. One I have explained to you, he gives you determination to fight Maya. Another is that the Lord has presented a very easy and sublime method for self-realization, and that sublime method is the chanting of the holy names of Krishna. Never before in the history such an easy method has been presented so freely. You don't need any educational qualification to adopt this process. You don't have to be born in a rich family or a beautiful family. You can be born in any part of the world, but you just have to take to the chanting. Of course, when Lord Caitanya was here, even the animals used to chant. You know that? Lord Caitanya, when he was passing through the forest of Dwarakanda, he splashed water on the tigers and the elephants, and they all started chanting and dancing. I have a friend in Canada who has a parrot, so whenever I go to his house, he makes his parrot chant Hare Krishna. So Lord Caitanya has presented such an easy process which anybody can adopt. Just like we have children in our gurukul, if we tell them to memorize Sanskrit shlokas, Or you tell them to memorize quotations from the Gita or the Bible, it would be so difficult. But if you tell them to chant Hare Krishna, it'd be so easy. So this is Lord Caitanya's special mercy. He said, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, stay there, just chant Hare Krishna. That's why all the great sages have accepted Caitanya Mahāprabhu as the most magnanimous incarnation ever to appear. Patit pavan hitu tava avatāra mō sama patita prabhu nā paiveyāda. And Nārtāmānanda ṭhākura prays, my dear Lord, you have appeared. Why? To save the most fallen people. How are we the most fallen? Of course, due to our false ego. Nobody likes to admit he's fallen. Even if you talk to a gross materialist who's eating meat every day, he'll say, no, I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm okay. I'm following the laws of God. In India, I meet so many people, they're doing so much nonsense, but when you preach to them, they say, no, no, no, Swamiji, you don't know, I'm doing everything right. So everyone is very fallen in this age. They've been engaged in illicit activities from the age of 5 onwards. They start eating meat as soon as their teeth come out. Even before their teeth comes out, they start begin— beginning to drink chicken soup and all the soups, even when they're few months old. And as the teeth come out, they begin to bite on flesh. And as they get a little older, they begin to drink and smoke. And as they get a little bit older they begin to have illicit sex. So a variety of sinful activities are being indulgent from birth. But Chaitanya Mahāprabhu's process is so sublime that doesn't matter how sinful you may have been, anybody can take to this process. Like Prabhupāda initiated even a person who was an ex-butcher. This man was a butcher, but by associating with devotees, he began to chant and he gave up all his sinful activities. So just like rainwater is originally pure, but it gets contaminated when it hits the earth, living entity who is originally pure becomes contaminated when it comes at material existence. And as a result, the sinful desires multiply from one body to another. So Jagai and Madhai, they were also rectified through the process of chanting. So Narottama Das Thakura is saying, my dear Lord, you have appeared just to save the most fallen. But amongst the fallen people, nobody is more fallen than me. So in the material world, everybody is competing to claim number one, but in spiritual life, you compete to consider who is most fallen. But there should not be an artificial confession. Just because you consider yourself to be most fallen does not mean you have license for nonsense activities. The beauty is that you do everything that's right still you consider you're most fallen. So then he says, aha, Prabhu Nityananda premananda sukhī. Lord Nityananda, you're always blissful. Why are you blissful? Because you're always absorbed in ecstasy of love of God. So similarly, you and I, if we are absorbed also in love of God, in transcendental activities, we will also be peaceful. Arjuna became peaceful the moment he surrendered to his Guru Krishna. Before that, Arjuna was confused. Similarly, when a devotee surrenders and accepts the instructions as the real path, then he becomes peaceful. You leave a small child alone, he'll begin to cry. But the moment the mother or father is next to the child, he becomes peaceful because the child knows, my mother and father will protect me, they will answer all my questions. He knows that he's incapable of protecting himself, the child. So similarly, we have to recognize that we are incapable of determining what is right, what is wrong. But by turning to Guru and shastra, we can know what is right, what is wrong. So anybody who's absorbed in chanting, hearing, serving, they're always blissful. Like even in this Krishna Consciousness movement, I have seen over the last 25 years, those devotees who chant their rounds in the morning, who get up for mangala arati, who are engaged all day in book distribution, preaching, They're always peaceful and smiling. They're always happy. And even if there's some disturbance, they have the spiritual strength to tolerate the disturbance. And they're always looking at the good qualities of every Vaishnava because they are engaged in executing the process. But those who are not strictly chanting, those who are not strictly engaged, those who don't have a strict sadhana, they're always miserable. And they will try to make others miserable also. In English there's a phrase, I'm sure you have a Russian equivalent, misery loves company. So because those devotees are miserable because they are not chanting, they are not following Guru, they want to make others miserable also. So they will, they will be unhappy, they will speculate what they should do with their life, and they will make you also speculate what you should do with your life. And one way to speculate and to make others speculate is for find everybody And by this process of fault-finding, the misery just gets compounded. It just increases. Therefore, fault-finding is a very dangerous path to follow. Chaitanya Mahāprabhu said this is the mad elephant offense. Just like a beautiful garden can be destroyed by a mad elephant, the beautiful garden of devotional service can be destroyed by Vaiṣṇava prāsad RAVAL. So Nārtāṇḍa ṣṭhākura says, Lord Nityānanda You're so blissful, but I am so unhappy. So please make me happy. Give me your mercy. Give me your mercy. Nityananda is the incarnation of Lord Balaram. Balaram means spiritual strength, and Nityananda is the original spiritual master. So we pray to Lord Nityananda to get the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We are servants of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant. Dasa dasa dasa dasa dasa. So then he says, dayakaro sitā-pati advaita-gosai tavakripa-bāle-pai caityanya-nitāya. Then he prays to the husband of Sita, namely Advaita Acharya. Advaita Acharya, as you know, was the devotee who prayed that, "Kṛṣṇa, please appear. Unless You appear, these people of Kali-yuga will not be saved." So Advaita Acharya prayed and Kṛṣṇa appeared in the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So he prays, "Lord Advaita, You be merciful unto me, because unless You are merciful, Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda will not be merciful unto me." And then he proceeds to pray to the six Gosvāmīs and Kṛṣṇa-dāsa Kavirāja. Aha svarūpa-sanaṭhana rūpa-rāgūnāda bhātā-yuga-sīdhya-vahā-prabhu-lokānāda. Lokānāda was also a very great devotee, the spiritual master of Nārādhama-dāsa ṭhākura. Actually, it's a very nice story that Narottama Das Thakur wanted to be initiated by Lokanath Das, but Lokanath Das did not want to take any disciples. So, but Narottama Das Thakur was very keen that he be initiated by Lokanath. So Narottama Das Thakur, after Lokanath, you know, those days people would pass stool in the open fields. So after he would pass stool, Narottama Das Thakur would go later and clean the stool. So Lokanādhāsa used to wonder that who comes and cleans the stool every day. So one day after passing stool, he went and hid behind the bushes to see who comes and does it. And he found out that Nārādhamaṣṭhākura was doing it. Then he agreed to initiate him. So he prays, Nārādhamaṣṭhākura, Lokanādhāsa, Lokanādhāsa, please be merciful upon me. And also he prays to the 6 great Swamis of Vṛndāvana, Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, Jīvagosvāmī, Rāgūnādhāsa Gosvāmī, Rāgūnādhāsa Gosvāmī, Gopāl-bhātā Gosvāmī. Praise to all six of them. Please, all of you, be merciful unto me. In the past, I have spoken several times about the glories of the Gosvāmīs to all of you. So the Gosvāmīs were expert in what? In displaying renunciation. A poor man doesn't have to renounce because he doesn't have the facilities for sense enjoyment. But the Gosvāmīs had everything. They had all the money, possessions, prestige, fame, knowledge. They were expert in all the languages of the world, but they gave up everything. Just like when you pass stool, you flush it away. They renounced all facilities of sense enjoyment in favor of serving the Lord. So the mood of the Gosvāmīs was simple living and glorification of the Lord by building opulent temples. Many of you were in Vṛndāvana a month ago for the festival, and you saw many temples in Vṛndāvana. And even those of you who haven't been to Vrindavan know that in Vrindavan there are 5,000 temples. Will you— but all these temples were built on the inspiration of the Gosvāmīs starting 500 years ago, because the temples that existed before had been destroyed by the Mahāprabhu rulers. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu sent the Gosvāmīs to Vrindavan and instructed them to identify places where Krishna performed his pastimes, and they inspired the rulers and the rich people to build these temples that you see in Vṛndāvana. And then he prays to Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja also was a great devotee and he prays to him. So, and the Gosvāmīs was so humble, just like Gopālbhatta Gosvāmī. Before Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja wrote the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, he begged the Gosvāmīs for their mercy. Gopālbhatta Gosvāmī said, "I'll give you my mercy, but only on one condition." And what was that condition? That his name should not be mentioned at all in the Caitanya-caritamrta. So this was the level of their humility. They did not even have a kothira or dhamma to live in. They would live underneath a different tree every day. Of course, we realize that the climate in Moscow is not the same as Vrindavan, and the social environment is not the same. So we are not recommending you start living under different trees in the neighborhood. If you start sleeping underneath a different tree every night, then the neighbors will really complain. Now they complain, but then they will really complain. So, but we can cultivate their mood. So Nārthama Dāsa prays to the Gosvāmīs. Then he says, dayakarau śrīyaḥ prabhu śrīnivāsa. Then he prays to Śrīnivāsa Ācārya. And rāma-candra-saṅga-māṅge nārthama dāsa. Then he prays to Rāma-candra. His prayer is, please may I always get the association of Ramachandra. Why? Because Ramachandra was a great devotee. So he says, please may I always have devotee association, because devotee association will make you spiritually strong. Just see, an advanced devotee like Narottama Das Thakura is praying, please may I always have devotee association. If that was Narottama Das's need, how much greater is our need? So it does not matter whether you're in India, Russia, America, wherever, you need devotee association. If you are in the association of good devotees, you will also become good. If you are in the association of weak devotees, you will also become weak. And if you are in the association of mixed devotees, then you will also become a mixed devotee. Mixed devotee means one who wants both Maya and Krishna. There are many people, they want Krishna, but they also want Maya. Weak devotee means one who understands that he must take to Krishna consciousness, but his determination is, well, weak. He's trying to become Krishna conscious, but sometimes he has accidents. And good devotee means who is determined to stay on the spiritual path, who wants no connection with Maya. So you can have your pick, you can have your choice. Just like in India, you will see, you can take one verse from the Bhagavad Gita When you read Prabhupāda's presentation, there'll be completely different meaning. And some mayavadi has translated the same words and it will be completely different meaning. So they have a saying in ISKCON, different shlokas for different folks. That means depending upon which mentality you want to be, you can select an instruction of Prabhupāda, some shloka to justify your position. But if you want to be a good devotee, then there's only one shloka, that is Mokṣamimāṣvataḥ. Give up everything and surrender to Me and I will protect you. So with these words I'll end the discussion today. All of you should constantly be praying to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But praying doesn't mean you just pray and don't follow it up with physical action. You have to demonstrate the sincerity of your prayer by doing what Kṛṣṇa has asked you to do. So always keep yourself engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The opportunity to become Krishna consciousness is given after millions and millions of births and deaths. And if you want to be sure that Maya won't touch you, then stay determined on this path. So in the days of Lord Nrsimhadeva marathon, please take advantage of, uh, this marathon mood and try and do something to get Lord Chaitanya Das and Lord Nrsimhadeva's mercy. How many devotees who are sitting here right now are not from Moscow City? Durgāgora, higher, higher, higher. You're going to get enough prasādam, so don't feel, don't, you're about 20, 25, 30, maybe more, 50%, 50%. So all these devotees have come from other cities. Is it sinful if you engage in, it's not going to be sinful if you do book distribution in Moscow, is it? If you want the credit, the points can go to your yatra. Just like Moscow, some Kṛṣṇa devotees are even in Siberia and Bloody buttstockers. So your yatra devotees are in Moscow. It's happening just like in America and everywhere. Devotees from one temple, they travel 10,000 miles wherever the distribution is going. Like in ISKCON, in some temples they sell paintings to subsidize book sales. So you have devotees from Australia, but they're selling paintings in America, Africa, everywhere. So devotees like to go where the soil is fertile. It appears these days that the Siberian soil is a little more fertile than Moscow. So please take part in this marathon and get the mercy of Lord Nrsimhadev. So as I told you all, on this trip while I'm in Moscow, I'll just give the class in the morning, except maybe on Sundays when I'll give in the evening also, because I want to use the afternoon for studying. I'll give the Bhagavadam at 6 o'clock and then give a little chaitanya-charitamrita after Prabhupada's guru puja for those devotees who are visiting from other places. So everybody's going to go out for the marathon today, da? And stay out as late as you want, as long as it is safe, the mafia and all won't create. And when you come back, there'll be prasadam for them. Okay. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Rama Hare Rama. Lama Lama Hare Hare.