Lord Caitanya's Master Plan - Part 1 Date: 2020-03-09 Author: Kalacakra Krsna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly. Wish you all a very happy Gaura Purnima! On this auspicious day of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's appearance, let us try to meditate on one of His glorious pastimes for our purification. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, even while staying in the householder life, inundated the whole world with the congregational chanting of the holy names. Even mlecchas and yavanas were getting transformed into devotees, however mayavadis, fruitive workers and non-devotees were expert in avoiding the Krishna consciousness movement, so the flood of holy names could not touch them. Caitanya Mahaprabhu deeply thought over this and expertly devised a master plan to attract all these classes of people too. 1. A devotee should be ready for personal sacrifice: The mayavadis who focus mainly on the study of vedanta philosophy won't pay heed to the holy names and consider the devotees as some mad and illiterate people. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu, after deep consideration, decided to take sannyas even though he stayed in the householder life only till he was twenty-four years old. He did this because the mayavadis and false logicians give respect and pay heed only to one in renounced order and one who is expert in Vedanta. Being the Supreme Lord Himself, there was no need for Caitanya Mahaprabhu to take sannyas, but just like Lord Krishna studied in the gurukul of His Guru Sandipani muni to set a personal example, Lord Gauranga wanted to teach the devotees that in order to bring someone to Krishna consciousness, we should be ready to give up desires for our own comforts and undergo all kinds of austerities. 2. Mahaprabhu teaches how to tolerate like a tree: The Lord then passed through Varanasi on the way to Vrindavana, but the mayavadi sannyasis still blasphemed Him saying He is not studying vedanta and is interested only in chanting the holy names. Even though His staunch devotees like Tapan Misra and Chandrashekara were very upset at these blasphemes, Mahaprabhu was not at all affected, He simply smiled because He had already decided the course of action. He exhibited taror api sahishnuna by tolerating all the blasphemes. 3. The Lord begins His master plan by His omnipotency:Taking compassion upon His pure devotees, the Lord then arranged by His omnipotency, inspired a brahmana from within his heart, to invite Him for a gathering at his home where all the other mayavadi sannyasis were also invited. He thus arranged a situation to meet with the sannyasis of Varanasi so that a discussion can take place with them. Thus the all-knowing Lord in one-go devised the plan to alleviate the pain in the hearts of His pure devotees as well as transform the powerful mayavadis into devotees of Krishna. 4. Mahaprabhu teaches how to offer all respects to others: When He went to the brahmana's house, as He saw all the mayavadi sannyasis of Varanasi who were given respectful seats, without waiting for them to offer respects to Him, instantly He offered His obeisances to all of them. He exhibited the quality of amanina manadena - to not demand respect from others and respect everyone without reservation. There is an interesting reason why in the verse trnad api sunicena, Caitanya Mahaprabhu says amanina first and manadena next, i.e., not expect any respect from others and offer all respects to everyone. If we follow this sequence, then the desire for 'expecting respect from others' is removed from our heart first. Thus our heart becomes pure and then with this purified heart when we offer respects to others, we will offer without any expectation of respects from them. This makes our 'offering of respect to others' pure. Whereas if we reverse the sequence, i.e., manadena amanina, we may pay respect to others, but the expectation for respect will still be there in our heart, "I have paid my respect to him, now he has to offer me respect in return." And when they don't reciprocate, then mental concoction, judging tendency, fault-finding, anger and their eternal associates take position in our hearts. 5. Mahaprabhu is the emblem of humility: After offering obeisances, the Lord sat near the place where people wash their feet. He exhibited His humility - trnad api sunicena by doing so. At the same time, He is also teaching all the preachers of the movement that how much ever great a scholarly devotee we may be, our preaching can be fruitful only through our good behavior like humility and simplicity. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is teaching us through His personal example that before we start preaching, it is very important to cultivate the qualities of devotees such as humility, tolerance, no expectation and respecting everyone. Unless we do this, our preaching will not be successful. We will continue to meditate further on this most purifying pastime of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the subsequent offering Krishna willing. Thank you very much Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva Kalacakra Krsna das Lord Caitanya's Master Plan - Part 2 Date: 2020-03-10 Author: Kalacakra Krsna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. On the occasion of Gaura Purnima we began meditating on the beautiful pastime of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's interaction with the sannyasis of Varanasi. In the last offering we saw how the Lord attracted all the mayavadi sannyasis by His humility, tolerance, pridelessness and giving respect to everyone. Let us try to meditate further on this pastime. 6. Mahaprabhu captivates the sannyasis by His transcendental form: Lord Gauranga washed His feet and sat right there even though it was not very clean. The Lord knew that though the sannyasis were attracted by his saintly behavior still they are attracted to the brahman effulgence more strongly than to the personal form of Lord Sri Krishna, even though He is the source of the brahman effulgence. Hence upon being seated, the Lord then exhibited His mystic power by manifesting an effulgence as brilliant as the illumination of millions of suns. Thus the Lord mesmerized the mayavadi sannyasis by His mystic power. It is said that Lord Gauranga, in the kali yuga did not carry the usual weapons like sword, arrows etc. to destroy the miscreants and non-devotees. He instead brought His beautiful golden form and the holy name as His weapons. And by these weapons, the Lord conquered all the universes and is still continuing to do so. 7. Mahaprabhu teaches us how to develop friendly relationship: By this time, the leader of the sannyasis Prakashananda Saraswati was very much attracted to Lord Gauranga and requested Him with great respect to come and sit with them. But the Lord responded again with deep humility, "I belong to the lower order of sannyasis and therefore and I do not deserve to sit with you." However Prakashananda Saraswati forcefully caught hold of the Lord's hand and seated Him with great respect in the midst of the assembly. The Lord again instructs us through this that if we are humble by nature, never expect any respect from others and give all respects to everyone (especially to those who blaspheme us) and in this mood chant the holy names lovingly, then automatically even the most envious persons will develop a positive relationship with us. Developing amicable relationship with others depends on our amicable loving relationship with Krishna and His devotional service. It is aptly said in Srimad Bhagavatam 4.9.47, yasya prasanno bhagavān guṇair maitry-ādibhir hariḥ tasmai namanti bhūtāni nimnam āpa iva svayam Unto one who has transcendental qualities due to friendly behavior with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all living entities offer honor, just as water automatically flows down by nature. 8. Our purity attracts others, not material qualifications: After making Him sit in the midst of the assembly, Prakashananda Saraswati asked Mahaprabhu, "You are a sannyasi like us and are living in Varanasi. Why don't you associate with us?" This is a significant point for us to note. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was never anxious to either associate with the mayavadis or defeat them in any debate. He was completely self-satisfied in always chanting the Supreme Lord's holy names and relishing His pastimes. But this made the other mayavadi sannyasis and their leader Prakashananda Saraswati to wonder why He is not associating with them. They were even anxious about it. Whenever we go in the midst of the public for preaching, sankirtan, class etc. we should never be anxious to attract their attention. We should only do these services for the pleasure of Guru and Krishna. When we are self-content, in other words, we don't hanker for anything from others (amanina), then automatically other living entities get attracted to us. It is only the purity of our devotion that makes us attractive to others, not our material qualifications. So, by this time, all the sannyasis developed a lot of eagerness to hear from Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the Lord decided this is the right time to speak to them.