Transcendental Nectar of Sadhu-Sanga

Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaja

Founder-President-Acharyya: Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math

Vaisnavas from all over the world are celebrating the 500^th anniversary of Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's (also known as Gauranga Mahaprabhu) acceptance of Sannyas order. You can read "Life and Precepts of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu" here. On this divine occasion we wanted to share an excerpt from the book “The Golden Volcano of Divine Love” by His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaja. Download the book "The Golden Volcano of Divine Love" as PDF file.

 

Diving deep into the reality of His own beauty and sweetness, Krishna stole the mood of Radharani and, garbing Himself in Her brilliant luster, appeared as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu preached the full-fledged theistic conception given in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam mainly deals with the comparative study of theism and the ontology of Krishna consciousness. It surpasses all other Vedic literatures, even the Puranas. The Brahma-vaivarta Purana and Padma Purana represent the importance of devotion to Krishna through narration and history to some extent, but fall short of the philosophical and ontological standard set by the Mahapurana, Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam can satisfy all Vedantic scholars, for it represents Krishna consciousness in its fullest dignity. Srimad-Bhagavatam expounds as the highest attainment of theism not consciousness, intelligence, or ontology, but ecstasy, beauty, and harmony-rasa. In Srimad-Bhagavatam, rasa is all-important. It is a unique treatise, for it takes theism from the plane of intellectual jugglery to the domain of rasa.

I once began writing a book which was to be a summary study of the 18,000 verse Srimad-Bhagavatam. Bhaktivinoda Thakura condensed the whole Bhagavata principle into 1,000 verses in his Bhagavatarkamarici-mala. I had a mind to consolidate it even more, to represent it within 300 verses. I began that book, but could not finish it.

Srimad Bhagavatam is a vast treatise in the Sanskrit language, filled with essential information, historical reference, and expositions on the major schools of philosophy. In Srimad-Bhagavatam, many minor points of history and geography are also mentioned which, although nonessential, support its conclusions. Whatever is unnecessary in Srimad-Bhagavatam is eliminated when its meaning reaches its purest and most intensified glory in the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So, if we are to consider the very gist of Srimad-Bhagavatam, we must study the life and precepts of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Just as the teachings of the great author of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Srila Vyasadeva, were percolated by the realizations of Sukadeva Goswami, the essence of Srimad-Bhagavatam has been percolated by the life and precepts of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Therefore, because the teachings of Sriman Mahaprabhu represent the gist of Srimad-Bhagavatam, I would like to include here one of the verses I originally composed to introduce my summary study. It glorifies the position of Gadadhara Pandita, the most intimate associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Gadadhara Pandita used to read Srimad-Bhagavatam in Jagannatha Puri, at the Tota-Gopinatha temple. He would read, and Sriman Mahaprabhu and the great devotees like Svarupa Damodara and Ramananda Raya were his audience:

nilambhodhi-tate sada sva-virahaksepanvitam bandhavam

srimad-bhagavati katha madiraya sanjivayam bhati yah

srimad-bhagavatam sada sva-nayanasru-payanaih pujayan

gosvami-pravaro gadadhara-vibhur-bhuyat mad-eka-gatih

"On the shore of the broad blue ocean, Gadadhara Pandita used to read Srimad-Bhagavatam to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who was suffering from the great internal pain of separation from Himself (Krishna). Gadadhara Pandita supplied the wine of krishna-lila to intoxicate his afflicted friend and give Him relief. As he read, tears would fall from his eyes like flower offerings onto the pages of Srimad-Bhagavatam. May the pleasure of that brilliant personality, Gadadhara Pandita, the best of the Goswamis, be my only object in writing this book."

The title of this book is The Golden Volcano of Divine Love. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu felt a great pain of separation from Krishna which burned like fire and was expressed as the Siksastakam. This is explained in Prema Dhama Deva Stotram (54):

sri-svarupa-raya-sanga-gambhirantya-lilanam

dvadasabda-vahni-garbha-vipralambha-silanam

radhikadhirudha-bhava-kanti-Krishna-kunjaram

prema-dhama-devam-eva-naum-gaura-sundaram

"Diving into the reality of His own beauty and sweetness, Krishna stole the mood of Radharani and, garbing Himself in Her brilliant luster, appeared as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. For the last twelve years of His manifest pastimes, He was deeply absorbed in the mood of union and separation and shared His heart's inner feelings with His most confidential devotees. In the agony of separation from Krishna, volcanic eruptions of ecstasy flowed from His heart, and His teachings, known as Siksastakam, appeared from His lips like streams of golden lava. I fall at the feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Golden Volcano of Divine Love."

He was vomiting the fire of painful separation from Krishna in the form of the Siksastakam. Therefore, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is compared to a golden volcano and the Siksastakam is compared to divine lava.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has taught us that separation is the highest principle in divinity. Just as the most intense conception of ecstasy is association with Krishna, the most intense conception of pain is separation from Krishna. Yet the pain felt from Krishna's separation is far more intense than the ecstasy felt from His association. Sriman Mahaprabhu says, "Can't you understand the painful situation you are in? Your senses must have been destroyed? Otherwise you would have died from the pain of separation from Krishna. It is inconceivable. We belong to Him wholesale. He is all in all to us, but we can't see Him. We are forcibly separated from Him. How can we tolerate this?" And Bhaktivinoda Thakura once said, "I can't tolerate separation from Krishna any longer. I can go on for only three or four more days, and then I shall have to leave this body."

To love Krishna means that we shall have to "die to live." In the beginning divine love seems like lava, death, but really it is nectar, life. Many persons in this ordinary world are also frustrated in love. They sometimes go mad and commit suicide because they can't tolerate the pain. But the pain which comes with separation from Krishna, although compared with lava, is not injurious like lava. Kaviraja Goswami explains:

bahye visajvala haya bhitara anandamaya,

krishna-premara adbhuta carita

"The wonderful characteristic of divine love of Krishna is that although externally, it works like fiery lava, internally it is like sweet nectar that fills the heart with the greatest joy."

Although He felt the greatest pain of separation from Krishna, still, within His heart, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu experienced the deepest ecstatic joy. The ecstatic symptoms manifested by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu have never been found in the history of the world or even expressed in any scripture. In Him, we find the highest conception of the Ultimate Reality. This is explained in my Prema Dhama Deva Stotram (66):

atma-siddha-sava-lila-purna-saukhya-laksanam

svanubhava-matta-nrtya-kirtanatma-vantanam

advayaika-laksya-purna-tattva-tat-paratmaram

prema-dhama-devam-eva naumi gaura-sundaram

"This is the all-conquering conclusion. The highest conception of the Ultimate Reality must also be the highest form of ananda, ecstasy. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna, ecstasy Himself, tasting His own sweetness and dancing in ecstatic joy. His own holy name is the cause of His ecstasy, expressed as dancing, and the holy name is the effect of His ecstasy, expressed as chanting. The cause is the effect. The dynamo is creating ecstatic energy which makes Him dance, and His chanting distributes that ecstasy to others."

In this way, by every word from His lotus mouth and every gesture and movement of His beautiful golden figure, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu performs His ecstatic pastimes of divine love.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Absolute Truth in its fullest and most dynamic expression. The influence of Radharani over Krishna has transformed Him into a devotee, and He is searching Himself. Krishna - the personification of ecstasy and beauty - is mad in tasting His own internal nectar and His dancing indicates that He is full of ecstasy. And His sankirtana movement is the distribution of that ecstasy to others.

In the teachings of Karabhajana Rsi we find mention of the different incarnations for different ages (yugavataras). In Dvapara-yuga, the yugavatara is mentioned as follows:

dvapare bhagavan syamah

pita-vasa nijayudhah

srivatsadibhir ankais ca

laksanair upalaksitah

In Dvapara-yuga, Lord Krishna appears with the color of a dark rain cloud, wearing lightning-colored garments. He is decorated with beautiful ornaments, His chest bears the mark of Srivatsa, and He carries His own weapons. After the description of the yugavatara of Dvapara-yuga, Karabhajana Rsi mentions of kali-yugavatara:

iti dvapara urv-isa

stuvanti jagad-isvaram

nana-tantra-vidhanena

kalav api tatha srnu

He says, "O King, up to Dvapara-yuga, I have finished describing the incarnations for different ages who come to remind the people of the most appropriate duty for their age. They come and tell us, 'If you do this, you will get the greatest benefit.' O King, after the Dvapara age is finished, the age of Kali comes. The incarnation for the age of Kali has been mentioned in many places in the scriptures, and now I am going to explain that information to you." (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5.31)

Then he says:

krsna-varnam tvisa'krsnam

sangopangastra parsadam

yajnaih sankirtana-prayair

yajanti hi su-medhasah

In a suppressed way, this verse explains the advent of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The ordinary of krsna-varnam is "of a black color." But tvisa'krsnam means "His luster is not black." Accompanied by His associates, he is worshiped by the process of sankirtana, the chanting of the holy name of Krishna, and those of sharp intellect will perform this kind of worship.

Sripada Nityananda Prabhu

By the grace of Nityananda Prabhu (Nityananda Prabhu is Balaram in Dvapara-yuga) we develop our attraction for Sri Gauranga. Nityananda Prabhu helps us consolidate the foundation which helps us progress further. His mercy sometimes exceeds the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He won't allow even those who want to avoid Krishna consciousness to escape. If someone says, "I don't want it," Nityananda Prabhu won't allow it. He will say, "No! You must want it. I request you earnestly - take it! Use it and you will be able to feel the value of Krishna consciousness."