Resolute In Purpose: Teachings 4, 5

Lord Chaitanya says that to attain the goal of pure love of God, we need fixed determination.

na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagad-isha kamaye
mama janmani jamanishvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

Almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service, birth after birth.?

This verse establishes the exclusivity of purpose necessary for proper chanting of the holy name. Single-minded determination. The Gita also says that one must be vyavasaya-atmika, or ?resolute on the path of God consciousness.?

bhogaishvarya-prasaktanam
tayapahrita-chetasam
vyavasayatmika buddhih
samadhau na vidhiyate

?In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Supreme Lord Godhead does not take place.? (Bhagavad-gita 2.44)

This is like a sister verse to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?s fourth verse?it contains all of the same elements. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that He doesn?t want money, He doesn?t want followers, He doesn?t want beautiful women. No. He doesn?t want any material enjoyment at all. Why? Because if He did want such enjoyment, then the resolute determination for practicing devotional service would not take place. And He only wants pure devotional service. He is showing the resolute determination required. If we are divided, if we have some separate interest, we are finished. We will not get the desired goal. We want prema- bhakti, love of God. We want ahaituki-bhakti, totally unmotivated and uninterrupted devotional service.

In His conversations with Ramananda Raya, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu rejects svadharma-acharana, or external religious observances; He rejects krishna-karmarpana, or offering the results of our fruitive activities to Krishna; He rejects karma-mishra-bhakti, or devotion mixed with fruitive intentions; He even rejects jnana-mishra- bhakti, or devotion polluted by a preponderance of knowledge. These things are laudable, no doubt, but Lord Chaitanya was only able to endorse pure, unmotivated spiritual love, completely unalloyed?not polluted by even the most subtle tinge of needless knowledge.

That?s what He is endorsing in this verse. Mama janmani jamanishware: ?Birth after birth, let me just serve Your lotus feet.? In what way? How would I like to serve You? Bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi: ?Let me serve You without any ulterior motive. Let me serve You in a completely pure way.?

Question: But it can't be artificial. What if I want to pursue spiritual life but I?m not ready to be totally devoted? What if I do have separate interests but I nonetheless want to try the chanting process?

Satyaraja Dasa: There's no harm. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has already said that there are no hard and fast rules. In fact, unless one begins?and in the beginning it?s likely one will chant offensively?how can one possibly graduate to higher levels of spiritual attainment?

So we must begin. Whatever level we?re on, that?s all right. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is showing us a higher level. And, in fact, if we are maturing properly, we will see that we are gradually losing our taste for sense enjoyment and developing a taste for spiri-tual pleasure, a taste for the divine name, for sacred vegetarian food, for spiritual painting, for Deity worship, for kirtana, divinely inspired song and dance.

That?s what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is showing in this verse: If you are actually developing a taste for the holy name, you will naturally develop a distaste for material enjoyment. Your material fever goes down. In this way you can ascertain your progress. Just like when you?re sick?if your fever goes down, you know you?re getting well. Krishna says:

vishaya vinivartante
niraharasya dehinah
rasa-varjam raso ?py asya
param drishtva nivartate

?Although an embodied soul may restrict himself from sense enjoyment, the taste for it remains. He can genuinely give up the lower taste only when he has experienced the higher taste.? (Bhagavad-gita 2.59)

So, this is the point. When one understands the need for spiritual life and the need to curtail material excesses, one begins to practice certain penance and austerity. People may become vegetarian. Or they may fast on certain days. They may chant a prescribed number of holy names on the rosary?whatever. But they are doing it by using their higher intelligence, not because it necessarily ?feels good.? It is a calculated austerity. One foregoes some short-range pleasure in favor of a considerably more promising and substantial long-range pleasure. That?s the beginning of spiritual life.

But then something interesting happens. Param drishtva nivartate: One experiences a higher taste. Then, as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says in this verse, one doesn?t care for money, fame, recognition, or the opposite sex. No. Enjoying these things is like chewing the chewed. They have lost their flavor. Rather, one?s senses are now alive to spiritual life. They perceive new dimensions. They can now embrace reality in a more substantial way. You?re finally awake! Alive! Vibrant! The entire spiritual world opens up, and now, possibly for the first time, you can see the material world in perspective. So this is Krishna consciousness. This is the initial effect of the holy name.

Question: What is the ultimate effect of the holy name?

Satyaraja Dasa: To develop pure love of God.

Hope For The Fallen
Now we’ll go on to the fifth verse:

ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram
patitam mam vishame bhavambudhau
kripaya tava pada-pankaja-
sthita-dhuli-sadrisham vicintaya

“O Son of Maharaja Nanda [Krishna], I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms of Your lotus feet.”

I would like to begin with a word of caution: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself—God—but to teach the highest path of spiritual mysticism, devotional service, He comes in the form of His own devotee. Therefore, in this verse, especially, He speaks as if He were an ordinary, conditioned soul. This is His special mercy. He is commiserating, showing us that He understands and that we can still attain the supreme destination, even in our very fallen condition.

You see, Krishna came at the end of Dvapara-yuga, about five thousand years ago, and He spoke Bhagavad-gita for the enlightenment of all living beings. Many people misunderstood His teachings, however, and so He came again, in Kali-yuga, about five hundred years ago, just to show us by His own example how one can live according to the principles of the Gita. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu showed the practical application of His own teachings.

But make no mistake: If the teacher shows the student how to practice writing the alphabet by his own example, we should not think he is doing it to learn himself. Although Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in this verse, posed as a devotee bewildered about his place in this world—He says He is bhava- ambudhah, or “in the ocean of nescience”—we should know that He is just showing us how to admit our own fallen condition. He is teaching by His own example. That’s quite clear, for the scriptures themselves and advanced spiritual masters throughout history vouch for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s total divinity. So we shouldn’t be bewildered by His apparent splashing in “the ocean of nescience.”

It’s highly significant that this verse begins ayi nanda-tanuja, for the Lord always likes to be remembered in relation to His devotees, and so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is showing how to do this. He’s calling Krishna the son of Maharaja Nanda. When Sri Krishna descended to earth five thousand years ago, He came, as always, with His associates and paraphernalia and abode. So the devotee Nanda always plays the role of Krishna’s father. In this way, Krishna relishes a relationship with this particular devotee. In the ultimate analysis, of course, Krishna is eternal, and so the terms “father” and “mother” lose all meaning, at least as we relate to such concepts here in this realm.

But such relationships exist here because they have their original counterpart in that realm, in the spiritual realm. This is called rasa theology, and it is very developed in our Chaitanya Vaishnavism. Briefly stated, in one’s original, or constitutional, spiritual position, one may interact with God in one of five primary relationships. For example, one can relate as a neutral party, in a relationship called shanta-rasa; as a servant in dasya-rasa; as a friend in sakhya-rasa; as a parent in vatsalya-rasa; or as a transcendental lover in madhurya-rasa.Rasa theology is a very important tenet of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings, and it is dealt with at length in the writings of the Goswamis.

Exemplary Humility

In this, the fifth verse of Sikshashtaka, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is addressing Krishna in relationship to His great devotee Nanda Maharaja, who is in vatsalya-rasa, parenthood, and this form of address brings great pleasure to the Lord. But what does Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tell Krishna, the divine son of Nanda Maharaja? He says, “I am Your fallen servant, eternally.”

Yes. We are eternally Krishna’s servants. We are part of God. And Cai-tanya Mahaprabhu is bringing out a logical conclusion: “Since I am originally Sri Krishna’s servant, I should return to His service. That’s my natural, constitutional position.”

And I should return to that service in a humble way. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says kripaya tava pada-pankaja-sthita- dhuli-sadrisham vicintaya: “Please be merciful unto me and allow me to be a particle of dust at Your lotus feet.” This is the mood. We should not think, “All right. I’ll be Your servant. But only if I can make an important place for myself among Your devotees, only if I can take a prominent role.” No. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has taught the proper mood: gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa- dasanudasah. We aspire to be servants of the servants of the servants of Krishna, the maintainer of the gopis, the revered cowherd maidens. We are removed, indirect servants. The more removed, the better. It is a humble position. “Oh, the servants of Krishna are so great. I’m not worthy of their shoes, not even the dust from their feet.” Chaitanya Mahaprabhu teaches us to approach God with this humility—dhuli-sadrisham, like a particle of dust.

Many exalted devotees in the annals of Vaishnava history have prayed in this way. For example, Lord Brahma, the first created being and the founder of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s lineage, prayed to take birth as anything—a rock, a leaf—in the forest of Vrindavana. Why? So the great devotees of Krishna who always reside in Vrindavana might perchance step on him and he could get the dust of their feet. Brahma’s prayer is recorded in the Tenth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Uddhava, too, wanted such a benediction. He was the greatest of the Yadavas, Krishna’s relatives, but still he knew that the love of the gopis was superior to his. For this reason he wanted to take the dust from their feet on his head. But he was too humble to ask them. So he also prayed to be born as a creeper in the land of Vrindavana. He thought that the gopis would perhaps dance on his head and he would receive the mercy of Krishna.

It should be understood that whether one is an atom of dust at Sri Krishna’s feet, as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu prays to become, or an atom of dust at the feet of Krishna’s pure devotee, there is no difference. It is this mood of humility that is sought by the devotees, and by attaining this level of humility, they can attain the mercy of Sri Krishna.

Brahma received the benediction of being born as Haridasa Thakura, one of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s most intimate followers and the great teacher of the holy name. And Uddhava was born as Paramananda Puri, one of the peers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s spiritual master. So they received the topmost benediction: They gained entrance into the pastimes of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.