© 2002 VNN
|
EDITORIAL  Humility - Sri Chaitanya's Teaching BY ARIJIT DAS EDITORIAL, Jun 24 (VNN) — The appearance date of Sri Krishna Chaitanya is February 18, 1486 By the sweet will of Sri Krishna there was an eclipse and everyone was chanting the holy name. The lord then made his appearance at Sridham Mayapur an area in what was the city of Navadwipa, Bengal, India. Gaudiya Vaisnavas are descendants of the disciples of Sri Chaitanya. Sri Chaitanya instructed the mass of people in the "Sankya philosophy " of acintya - bheda - abeda tattva, which maintains that the supreme lord is simultaneously one with and different from his creation. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught this philoshopy through the chanting of the holy name of the lord. He explained that the lord and his holy name are one and the same and by associating with that sound incarnation of the lord one is directly in the Lords Company. As one practices chanting of this sound vibration the devotee will pass through three stages of development. 1. The offensive stage 2. The clearing stage 3. Transcendental stage. In the offensive stage one may desire all kinds of material happiness, but in the second stage of devotion one becomes clear of all material contamination. The desire for profit, distinction and or adoration falls away. When one is situated on the transcendental stage he attains the most coveted position - pure love of god. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught that "Krishna Prema" is the highest stage for human beings to achieve. We have often heard the phrase "love of God". How far this love can be developed can be learned from the Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy. It is unique and the highest development of love of god that is presented by Sri Chaitanya and his disciples. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu left us eight verses of instruction in writing and they are known as Sri Sri Sikshastakam. All other literature was extensively written by his principal followers the Six Goswamis of Vrndavan as well as by their students. The philosophy of Mahaprabhu is richer than any other and it is admitted to be the living religion of the day with the potency of being spread as "Vishwa Dhama". Perfection of life is attained by chanting the holy names following the advice of Sri Sikshastakam. Trnad Api Sunicena "One should chant the holy name of the lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself more humble then the straw in the street and devoid of all sense of false prestige. Our beloved Guru Maharaja His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami is the personification of the teachings of Sri Krishna Chaitanya in the sense that with all sincerity and humility at hand he is executing the order of his guru maharaja by taking complete shelter of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna and making such pure devotion visible to the senses of ordinary conditioned souls with the hope that they too will take seriously the Sankirtan movement started by Sri Krishna Chaitanya. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami prabhupad said with all Vaisnava Humility that "He was simply a piece of straw in the broom stick of Bhaktivinode Thakur". This humble attitude is nothing artificial or imitation. It is factual and filled with genuine love, trust and sincerity. These devotees are absorbed on the highest platform of spiritual understanding, realizing the absolute position of Guru and Disciple. With out this realization everything will be minimized and will breed doubt, confusion and faithlessness. The modern idea that one should not be meek, rather one should be aggressive to fulfill ones desire is not applicable in the spiritual realm. One must learn humility and service to a higher living Vaisnava. The aggressive spirit suggests wanting to enjoy material energy and the passive or submissive spirit requires surrender in loving devotion. Mahaprabhu has taught us that Sri Krishna is the supreme enjoyer and that we are all his parts and parcels meant for being engaged in activities with devotional love. When the aggressive (exploitive) spirit is in possession of us the consequence will be that our spiritual progress will be restricted until this problem is understood and resolved. Sikshastakam Verse # 3 When we have faith in this idea that we can make progress. Otherwise we will not learn properly the timeless science of pure devotion. We will surely be misled by our own mental ideas and or mental concoctions of other conditioned souls (however pious they may appear). It is absolutely essential that we learn how to take complete shelter of Sri Radha and Sri Krishna otherwise when the moment of need arises we will find ourselves empty handed, confused and faithless. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings are not simply ornamental displays. They are reality - verses imbued with the power to change hearts. Practicing the teachings of Sikshastakam means to be eligible to enter Vrindavana. By the attitude developed by that practice we will allow other souls who may desire spiritual life to enter the gates Vrindavana and have the association of their Lord. Souls may come from the highest material realm or the very lowest it does not make a bit of difference. What does matter is that we do not make any distinctions based on mundane physical or mental ideas we may have had. That would be a great disservice and opposed to the teachings of Sri Chaitanya. Everything that we possess must be purified and utilized in the service of our guru Maharaja this includes our memory as well. When we can see through the eyes of Sikshastakam past, present and future then we will understand clearly Sri Krishna's desire (it will not just be philosophy) we will experience how they are surcharged with true spiritual emotion and enthusiasm. The teachings of Mahaprabhu and his followers are life-giving agents for those devotees who were sincere in their motives. Seeing through the eyes of Guru and Shastra, representatives of my guru Maharaj with the palms of their hands joined together humbly request everyone to please chant the holy names. No one has ever said that the chanting of the holy name is only for the pure unalloyed devotees. It's is for all classes of devotees. By chanting without offense one is sure to achieve the highest perfection of love of Godhead. That should be desired by all classes of devotees and is the goal. If we do not strictly follow the teachings of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu the result will be that even though we say we are doing service to Guru and Gauranga we are actually doing a disservice because we are "disqualifying souls" who are not a pure unalloyed devotees from chanting the holy names, which are in themselves the means to attain such a coveted position. The memory should be utilized in divine loving service by looking at the real spiritual benefit of souls whom we come in connection with and not to simply find fault with them. " In 1956 this person did this or that " this type of behavior is not inline with the teachings of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and must be purified by looking within ourselves and uprooting the dirty seeds of material desires that we are entertaining in our own hearts. What is expected is that the teachings of Guru and Krishna "AS IT IS" be excepted and clearly understood then distributed as much as possible not making mundane distinctions such as my friend, enemy, black, white, fat, skinny, rich, poor, educated, man, woman, child etc. These material distinctions are based on the body concept and have no value when dealing with souls. Everyone can be engaged in loving devotional service. Everyone is already qualified because of being part and parcel of Krishna. As we mentioned earlier one has to first learn how to take shelter of Krishna, the activities of devotional service and their particulars which are given by a genuine spiritual master. It is essential that one follow them. One may find oneself to be very weak in their execution but regardless one should not under any circumstances be discouraged. It is certain that as soon as we make a little progress there will be someone or something that will attempt to discourage us. That is natural. As one develops in genuine attraction towards devotional activities, then the perception that mundane complements or criticism have no real value and the importance of being steady in one's own devotion to Guru and Krishna becomes prominent. One should continue in this life doing service from the heart and this will with out a doubt please Guru and Krishna. Humility in the part of the devotee is the greatest thing and Krishna came at Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to teach us what it actually means. All glory to Sri Guru in Sri Gauranga Arijit Das ACBSP Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
NEWS DESK | EDITORIALS | TOP |
