3rd Jewel Continued...

শ্রী গৌड़िয-কন্ঠহার

Gauḍiya Kanṭhahāra:

The Jeweled Necklace of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas

THIRD JEWEL: VAIṢṆAVA-TATTVA

...The Third Jewel Continued

Qualities of the Vaishnavas

Vaishnava-Tattva

Further Symptoms of an Uttama-adhikāri

३.११

गृहीत्वापीन्द्रियैर् अर्थान् यो न द्वेष्टि न हृष्यति विष्णोर् मायाम् इदं पश्यन् स वै भागवतोत्तमः

3.11

gṛhītvāpīndriyair arthān yo na dveṣṭi na hṛṣyati viṣṇor māyām idaṁ paśyan sa vai bhāgavatottamaḥ

One who is so absorbed in love of God that he sees everything as the energy of

Lord Kṛṣṇa (even while the senses perceive their objects), and who therefore

feels neither attachment nor hatred towards the things of this world is indeed the

greatest among devotees (bhāgavatottama). (Bhāg. 11.2.48)

३.१२

देहेन्द्रिय प्राण-मनो-धियां यो जन्माप्यय-क्षुद्-भय-तर्ष-कृच्छ्रैः

संसार-धर्मैर् अविमुह्यमानः स्मृत्या हरेर् भागवत-प्रधानः

3.12

dehendriya prāṇa-mano-dhiyāṁ yo janmāpyaya-kṣud-bhaya-tarṣa-kṛcchraiḥ

saṁsāra-dharmair avimuhyamānaḥ smṛtyā harer bhāgavata-pradhānaḥ

Within the material world, one's body, senses, mind, life airs, and intelligence

are always disturbed by birth, death, hunger, fear, and thirst. One who is not

bewildered by these miseries of material existence, who always remembers the

lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is considered bhāgavatapradhānaḥ,

a topmost devotee of the Lord. (Bhāg. 11.2.49)

३.१३

न काम-कर्म-बीजानां यस्य चेतसि सम्भवः वासुदेवैक-निलयः स वै भागवतोत्तमः

3.13

na kāma-karma-bījānāṁ yasya cetasi sambhavaḥ vāsudevaika-nilayaḥ sa vai bhāgavatottamaḥ

One who has taken exclusive shelter of the

Supreme Lord Vāsudeva, whose

heart is freed from the seeds of lust and karma is considered a bhāgavatottama.

(Bhāg. 11.2.50)

३.१४

न यस्य जन्म-कर्मभ्यां न वर्णाश्रम- जातिभिः

सज्जते ऽस्मिन्न् अहं-भावो देहे वै स हरेः प्रियः

3.14

na yasya janma-karmabhyāṁ na varṇāśrama- jātibhiḥ

sajjate 'sminn ahaṁ-bhāvo dehe vai sa hareḥ priyaḥ

One who is free from pride about his good birth, pious activities, exalted

varnāśrama position, and is free from bodily designations, and who serves the

Lord with humility is known as a beloved devotee of the Lord. (Bhāg. 11.2.51)

३.१५

न यस्य स्वः पर इति वित्तेष्व् आत्मनि वा भिदा सर्व-भूत-समः शान्तः स वै भागवतोत्तमः

3.15

na yasya svaḥ para iti vitteṣv ātmani vā bhidā sarva-bhūta-samaḥ śāntaḥ sa vai bhāgavatottamaḥ

A mahā-bhāgavata is one who is free from the conception of "This is mine and

this is for others". He thinks, "Everything is for

Kṛṣṇa". He sees all living

being as equally related to Kṛṣṇa, and he is peaceful, being filled with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (Bhāg. 11.2.52)

३.१६

त्रि-भुवन-विभव-हेतवे ऽप्य् अकुण्ठस्मृतिर् अजितात्म-सुरादिभिर् विमृग्यात्

न चलति भगवत्-पदारविन्दाल्

लव-निमिषार्धम् अपि यः स वैष्णवाग्र्यः

3.16

tri-bhuvana-vibhava-hetave 'py akuṇṭhasmṛtir ajitātma-surādibhir vimṛgyāt

na calati bhagavat-padāravindāl

lava-nimiṣārdham api yaḥ sa vaiṣṇavāgryaḥ

 The lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, are sought by demigods such as

Brahmā and Śiva, who have accepted Him as their life and soul. A pure devotee

can never forget Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet or give up their shelter for a moment, even in

exchange for the three worlds. Such a devotee is known as a mahā-bhāgavata.

(Bhāg. 11.2.53)

३.१७

भगवत् उरु-विक्रमाङ्घ्रि-शाखानख- मणि-चन्द्रिकया निरस्त-तापे

हृदि कथम् उपसीदतां पुनः स प्रभवति चन्द्र इवोदिते ऽर्क-तापः

3.17

bhagavat uru-vikramāṅghri-śākhānakha- maṇi-candrikayā nirasta-tāpe

hṛdi katham upasīdatāṁ punaḥ sa prabhavati candra ivodite 'rka-tāpaḥ

How can the painful fever of material life befall those who hold the cooling

lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa within their hearts? By the power of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet

all the troubles in the heart of His pure devotee are banished forever, for His

toenails are like gems whose rays soothe the heart

of His devotee and relieve him from all trouble, just like the rays of the moon cool the earth from the heat of the summer sun. (Bhāg. 11.2.54)

३.१८

विसृजति हृदयं न यस्य साक्षाद्

धरिर् अवशाभिहितो ऽप्य् अघौघ-नाशः प्रणय-रसनया धृताङ्घ्रि-पद्मः

स भवति भागवत-प्रधान उक्तः

3.18

visṛjati hṛdayaṁ na yasya sākṣād

dharir avaśābhihito 'py aghaugha-nāśaḥ praṇaya-rasanayā dhṛtāṅghri-padmaḥ

sa bhavati bhāgavata-pradhāna uktaḥ

One who chants the holy name of the Supreme

Lord, Hari, even unconsciously, is freed from all sins. When Lord Hari grants liberation from sin to one who even unconsciously or negligently chants is holy name, the position of one who

never abandons the shelter of His lotus feet must be considered highly exalted.

Such a devotee can never give up the association of the Lord, nor can the Lord

give up his association. Kṛṣṇa Himself dwells eternally within his heart. Such a

great soul is known as a mahā-bhāgavata. (Bhāg.

11.2.55)

The Paramahaṁsa Vaiṣṇava

३.१९

ज्ञान-निष्ठो विरक्तो वा मद्-भक्तो वानपेक्षकः

स लिङ्गान् आश्रमांस् त्यक्त्वा चरेद् अविधि-गोचरः

3.19

jñāna-niṣṭho virakto vā mad-bhakto vānapekṣakaḥ

sa liṅgān āśramāṁs tyaktvā cared avidhi-gocaraḥ 

The paramahaṁsa is fixed in transcendental knowledge. He is free from

attachment to all sense enjoyments and does not long for anything, including

mokṣa. Such a great soul has renounced not only the duties of varnāśrama, but

also its external marks including even the dress of a sannyāsī. Such a great soul

has given up all attachment to previous conceptions of religion and duty,

beginning with dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa, and including varnāśramadharma,

for he has already surpassed all Vedic injunctions and prohibitions. He

is no longer ruled by the scriptures for he is spontaneously devoted to the

Supreme Personality of Godhead on the highest

platform of divine love. (Bhāg.

11.18.28)

Description of the Three Kinds of Devotees
From Caitanya-caritāmṛta-

৩.২০

শ্রদ্ধৱান্ জন হয ভক্তি-অধিকারী

উত্তম,ঽ ঽমধ্যম,ঽ ঽকনিষ্ঠ,ঽ শ্রদ্ধা- অনুসারী.

শাস্ত্র-যুক্ত্যে সুনিপুণ, দৃঢ-শ্রদ্ধা-যাঞ্র

ঽুত্তম-অধিকারিঽ সেই তারযে সংসার. শাস্ত্র-যুক্তি নাহি জানে দৃঢ, শ্রদ্ধাৱান্

ঽমধ্যম-অধিকারিঽ সেই মহা-ভাগ্যৱান্. যাহার কোমল শ্রদ্ধা, সে ঽকনিষ্ঠঽ জন ক্রমে ক্রমে তেঙ্হো ভক্ত হৈবে উত্তম.ঽ

3.20

śraddhavān jana haya bhakti-adhikārī

'uttama,' 'madhyama,' 'kaniṣṭha,' śraddhā- anusārī.

śāstra-yuktye sunipuṇa, dṛḍha-śraddhā-yāñra

'uttama-adhikāri' sei tāraye saṁsāra. śāstra-yukti nāhi jāne dṛḍha, śraddhāvān

'madhyama-adhikāri' sei mahā-bhāgyavān. yāhāra komala śraddhā, se 'kaniṣṭha' jana krame krame teṅho bhakta haibe 'uttama.'

A faithful devotee is a truly eligible candidate for the loving service of the Lord.

According to one's faith, one is classified as a topmost devotee, an intermediate

devotee, or an inferior devotee.

One who is expert in logic, argument, and the revealed scriptures and who has

firm faith in Kṛṣṇa is classified as a topmost devotee. He can deliver the whole

world.

One who is not very expert in argument, logic, and the scriptures, but who has

firm faith, is considered a second-class devotee. He also must be considered

most fortunate.

One whose faith is soft and pliable is called a neophyte, but by following the

process gradually he will rise to the platform of a first-class devotee. (Cc.

Madhya 22.64, 65, 67, 69)

Śrī Caitanya Explains the Three Kinds of
Devotees

An Ordinary Vaiṣṇava

৩.২১

প্রভু কহে, "যাঙ্র মুখে শুনি এক-বার কৃষ্ণ-নাম, সেই পূজ্য, শ্রেষ্ঠ সবাকার"

3.21

prabhu kahe, "yāṅra mukhe śuni eka-bāra kṛṣṇa-nāma, sei pūjya, śreṣṭha sabākāra"

The Lord said: Whoever chants the holy name of

Kṛṣṇa just once may be

considered a Vaiṣṇava. Such a person is worshipable, and is the topmost human being. (Cc. Madhya 15.106)

A Superior Vaiṣṇava

৩.২২

"কৃষ্ণ-নাম" নিরন্তর যাঞ্হার ৱদনে সে ৱৈষ্ণৱ-শ্রেষ্ঠ, ভজ তাঙ্হার চরণে

3.22

"kṛṣṇa-nāma" nirantara yāñhāra vadane se vaiṣṇava-śreṣṭha, bhaja tāṅhāra caraṇe

A person who is always chanting the holy name of the Lord is a superior

Vaiṣṇava, and your duty is to serve his lotus feet. (Cc. Madhya 16.72)

The Topmost Vaiṣṇava

৩.২৩

যাঙ্হার দর্শনে মুখে আইসে কৃষ্ণ-নাম তাঙ্হারে জানিহ তুমি ঽৱৈষ্ণৱ-প্রধানঽ

3.23

yāṅhāra darśane mukhe āise kṛṣṇa-nāma tāṅhāre jāniha tumi 'vaiṣṇava-pradhāna'

The topmost Vaiṣṇava is he whose very presence makes others chant the holy

name of Kṛṣṇa. He is superior to all others! (Cc. Madhya 16.74)

Dangerous Books

Dangerous Books

Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his lecture on the Bhagavata comments that the true critic does not destroy, he harmonizes: The true critic, will never advise us to go back to the point whence we started, as he fully knows that in that case there will be a fruitless loss of our valuable time and labor. He will direct the adjustment of the angle of the race at the point where we are. This is also the characteristic of the useful student. He will read an old author and will find out his exact position in the progress of thought. He will never propose to burn the book on the grounds that it contains thoughts which are useless. 

I confess that I have probably fallen into the vice of reading, a vice which led Don Quixote to madness. We have been admonished not to read too many books. And yet as a consequence of my service as an editor I fell into this vice and soon grew addicted to reading. I cannot recommend this vice, as it soon leads to thinking, the most dangerous of all vices. 

And yet Bhaktivinoda in his generosity finds that every wave is favourable  "No thought is useless," he says. 

Thoughts are means by which we attain out objects. The reader who denounces a bad thought does not know that a bad road is even capable of improvement and conversion into a good one. One thought is a road leading to another. Thus the reader will find that one thought which is the object to-day will be the means of a further object to-morrow. Thoughts will necessarily continue to be an endless series of means and objects in the progresses of humanity. The great reformers will always assert that they have come out not to destroy the old law, but to fulfill it. Valmîki, Vyāsa, Plato, Jesus, Mohammed, Confucius and Caitanya Mahāprabhu assert the fact either expressly or by their conduct.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura expresses his faith that a real search for truth will become a journey to surrender. Sincere truth-seeking will lead to sincere truth-finding in the form of devotion, surrender and dedication. 

Bhaktivinoda felt no need to censor or burn books. He saw that those who appreciate true quality will be attracted to the real thing, leaving aside imitations. Truth prevails not by the suppression of alternate views, but by contrast to them, just as sunlight attracts by its very illumination. There is no need to curse the darkness when we can light a candle.  At the same time, who will buy candles when there is ample sunlight?

And yet there are those who would burn books and suppress truth. As someone who spent years distributing books, I have first-hand experience of the difficulties associated with freedom of speech. It is said that "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only if you own a printing press." But even owning a printing press is insufficient against censorship. Only recently were young people able to read our books in Russia, in Ukraine and in other parts of the ex-Soviet Union. 20 years after our printing press closed in the United States, while our publications were gathering cobwebs in libraries, they were reprinted and eagerly read in foreign countries and in translations after restrictions were lifted. Those who would burn books lose in the end, because you cannot burn ideas.

As a young man, as part of my reading vice, I grew attached to a science fiction author, Ray Bradbury. He wrote a book that has been banned as often as it has been burned: Fahrenheit 451. 
It's an interesting conceit: In the future, fireman don't put fires out, they start them. The firemen of the future hunt down libraries and burn them. Books are dangerous.

Bradbury was writing after the Second World War. Hitler had seen the danger of books and had ordered massive quantities of books burned. Bradbury's characters said, "“A book is a loaded gun in the house next door…Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?”

Book burning in Chile, during Pinochet

Thoughts are dangerous. Books are dangerous. Oddly, Bradbury's book about dangerous books is considered dangerous and is often on the list of banned books. http://study.com/academy/lesson/why-is-fahrenheit-451-banned.html 

FAHRENHEIT 451: The temperature at which book paper catches fire and burns.

This book is often banned, simply because it asks people to think:

“If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a senseof motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change.” 

― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Thinking is a dangerous and subversive activity: for this reason, Bradbury's book is often banned in schools and libraries around the United States as well as in many other countries where thinking is prohibited. 

Bhaktivinoda Thakura wasn't afraid of people thinking. He believed that if people took a good look at the Bhagavata  they would embrace it's teachings and philosophy for the Bhagavata is sublime literature. Where ordinary minds are busy with romance novels or action stories, the Bhagavata is transcendental medicine for the soul.

२.१

धर्मः प्रोज्झित-कैतवो ऽत्र परमो निर्मत्सराणां सतां

वेद्यं वास्तवम् अत्र वस्तु-शिवदं ताप- त्रयोन्मूलनम्

श्रीमद्-भागवते महा-मुनि-कृते किं वा परैर् ईश्वरः

सद्यो हृद्य् अवरुध्यते ऽत्र कृतिभिः शुश्रूषुभिस् तत्-क्षणात्

2.1

dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ

vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu-śivadaṁ tāpa- trayonmūlanam

śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ

sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate 'tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt

Completely rejecting mundane "dharma"  materialistic "religion" the Bhāgavata gives the highest truth. Pure-hearted, truth-seeking devotees will understand this book which expounds the highest truth for the welfare of all. Knowing this all misery is vanquished. This book, called the Bhagavata was made by the great sage Vyāsa in the maturity of his spiritual realisation and is sufficient in itself for God-realization. What is the need for any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge, the Supreme Lord is established within his heart. (Bhāg. 1.1.2)

Bhaktivinoda was convinced that there was no need for censorship, since anyone who read the Bhagavata would become enchanted by its sublime nature.

Oddly, in Bradbury's book the fireman in charge of book-burning becomes enchanted in the end by reading.  He discovers a secret society of human books. Since books have become illegal, book-lovers have formed a society of friends. Each friend embodies a particular book, by memorising its text, imbibing its meaning, and finally "becoming" the book itself.

When I first read this it seemed like silly conceit: why go to the trouble of memorising a text when there are so many other ways of preserving it? Now we have the digital age and all kinds of electronic media. On a tiny chip I can preserve thousands of books. Why bother to "embody" a book? 

In Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, different people in the secret society "embody" different books; this one is "Hamlet," and that one is "Don Quixote." One person is introduced as "Anna Karenina," while another is "The Bible." At the time the book was written, Bradbury was concerned that television would do away with libraries.  But there is another interesting point I would like to make here about "embodying" a work. 

When I was younger I would often hear about the "book bhagavata" and the person bhagavata. I found this confusing: How can a person be the same as a book. Taking a page from Bradbury's book, I think I understand the idea. The person bhagavata embodies the book bhagavata.  Not that he necessarily has memorised every word of the book bhagavata;  but that he has imbibed its spirit. The person bhagavata understands the book bhagavata deeply; he knows its message, and dives and surfaces in the waves of its transcendental meaning. 

The person bhagavata has the power to share the sublime meaning of the bhagavata  to others through his own deep communion with its spirit.

To try to better understand the nature of the two bhagavatas, I was reading Gaudiya Kantahara yesterday and found this:



Two Kinds of Bhāgavata: the Book and the Person

২.২১

দুই স্থানে ভাগৱত নাম শুনি মাত্র গ্রন্থ-ভাগৱত, আর কৃষ্ণ-কৃপা-পাত্র

2.21

dui sthāne bhāgavata nāma śuni mātra grantha-bhāgavata, āra kṛṣṇa-kṛpā-pātra

The name bhāgavata applies to two things: the book Bhāgavata, and the agent of Kṛṣṇa's mercy, the devotee bhāgavata. (Cb. Antya 3.532)

২.২২

এক ভাগৱত বড ভাগৱত-শাস্ত্র আর ভাগৱত ভক্ত ভক্তি-রস-পাত্র

2.22

eka bhāgavata baḍa bhāgavata-śāstra āra bhāgavata bhakta bhakti-rasa-pātra 

One of the bhāgavatas is the great scripture, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The other is the pure devotee bhāgavata, who is absorbed in bhakti-rasa. (Cc. Ādi 1.99)

২.২৩

দুই ভাগৱত দ্ৱারা দিযা ভক্তি-রস তাঙ্হার হৃদযে তাঙ্রে প্রেমে হয ৱশ

2.23

dui bhāgavata dvārā diyā bhakti-rasa tāṅhāra hṛdaye tāṅre preme haya vaśa

Through the actions of these two bhāgavatas the

Lord instills the mellows of bhakti-rasa into the heart of a living being and thus the Lord, in the heart of His devotee, comes under the control of His devotee's love. (Cc. Ādi 1.100)

According to my reading, either by taking shelter of the person bhagavata  or the book bhagavata,  the effect is the same, entrance into the transcendental world of Krishna-bhakti.