Based on a Lecture by His Grace Sundar Gopāl Prabhu,
The Senior Spiritual Mentor of International Sri Krishna Mandir (ISKM)
On May 29, 2017 at ISKM Singapore
SYMPTOMS OF SPIRITUAL RECESSION
Some people challenge, “Show me God! Then I will believe.” Then there are others who say that they have seen God and are having conversations with God. Then, there are some who advertise themselves as God and there are many people, a rather large chunk, who accept such people as God.
This is kali-yuga — an age of spiritual recession. The religiosity of the people is drastically reduced in this age. Greatly influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance, people of this age are unclear about real religious principles. They mistake religion to be irreligion and irreligion to be religion. All the above-mentioned classes of people have no idea what an exalted position it is to see God. They think that seeing God is a cheap affair.
Those who challenge the existence of God do so on the strength of their limited senses. They think, “If there is a God, why can’t I see Him?” They do not stop to think, “First of all, what is the power of my eyes?” We can’t see so many things with our eyes. How can we see God just like that? But it is not that God cannot be seen. But one must qualify oneself to see Him. But this class of people think they are qualified just because they have eyes.
Those who think they are already in communication with God are technically called sahajiyā. They take everything very cheaply or easily. They think the highest result of seeing God can be had without undergoing any penance and sacrifice or without the dutiful study of the Vedic literature under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. They sometimes mock the real devotees who are making great sacrifices by strictly restraining from sinful life, studying the Vedic scriptures and dedicating their life by engaging cent per cent in the Lord’s service.
Those who advertise themselves as God are the lowest of mankind and those who follow such rascals are in the deepest dungeons of ignorance. The self-proclaimed “God” neither has the power to display the opulence of God nor does he even possess any knowledge of the opulence of God. The follower of such a rascal is another great fool because he does not know the real greatness of God and therefore gets cheated by a charismatic rascal. Just as the captain and passengers of a stone boat sink into the waters without a doubt, both the cheaters and the cheated sink down to the most abominable type of existence after this life.
The reason for Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa to exhibit His wonderful universal form was just to set the benchmark for an incarnation of God. If, in the future, someone claims to be God, he can be challenged to show his universal form. If the “incarnation of God” cannot do so, he should be declared a dog instead of God.
THOSE WHO SAW GOD
Having said all that, seeing God is not an impossible affair. Lord Kṛṣṇa confirms in the Bhagavad-gītā that there have been many souls in the past who had purified themselves from attachment, fear and anger by taking refuge of Him and thus attained His kingdom to live with Him. The Vedic literature, called the Purāṇas, are replete with descriptions of the uncommon penances that great devotees underwent in order to have an audience with the Lord. For the purpose of this article, we pick three of them, all from the pages of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, just so that one may have an idea of what it takes to see God.
THE EXAMPLE OF LORD BRAHMĀ
First, there is the example of Lord Brahmā. He is the first created being within the universe. He created the rest of the universe based on the instructions and intelligence supplied to him by Lord Kṛṣṇa. But it did not happen without arduous effort.
His situation at the beginning of creation is described in the second and the third cantos of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. A lotus flower sprouted from the navel of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu who was lying in the universal waters. Lord Brahmā was born on the whorl of the lotus flower. But he did not know who he was, nor did he know why he was sitting on a lotus flower. He did not know where he came from and everything was pitch dark. He could not see anything. He made his best endeavors to find out the source of his existence. He climbed down the stem of the lotus flower for one hundred years of his time, which amounts to astronomical number of earthly years. He still could not find the end of it. Being overcome by intense fear, he came back up and sat on the whorl of the lotus totally perplexed. He then heard an occult sound, “tapa, tapa.” By the intelligence derived from the Lord in the heart, he could understand that it meant “penance.” He then underwent the greatest penances in the history of creation for a thousand years of the demigods, which amounts to 36 million earth years. He is therefore known as the greatest of all yogīs in the universe. The Lord, being pleased by such nondeceptive penance of Lord Brahmā, awarded him the power with which to see Him. Brahmā could then see the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Lord Viṣṇu, who is the reservoir of resplendent beauty. The Lord then gave him the intelligence to execute the creative function.
THE EXAMPLE OF PRAHLĀDA MAHĀRĀJA
The next example is that of Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja was the son of the stalwart demon Hiraṇyakaśipu but he was a great devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa. When he was only a tender boy of five years of age, his father wanted to punish him with death only because of his unwavering devotion to Lord Nārāyaṇa. Hiraṇyakaśipu’s servants tried to kill him in many ways but he was saved by the special mercy of Lord Nārāyaṇa. He was thrown in boiling oil, thrown off a cliff, thown into a pit of the most poisonous snakes, was trampled by elephants, was struck by the most deadly weapons and at last, was given poison by his own father to drink. He did not die by all these devices because he was protected by Lord Nārāyaṇa. Finally, the Lord appeared as Nṛsiṁhadeva to kill Hiraṇyakaśipu and more importantly, to enliven Prahlāda Mahārāja. In other words, Prahlāda had to tolerate so much harassment in order to see the Lord face to face.
THE EXAMPLE OF DHRUVA MAHĀRĀJA
Then, another example is Dhruva Mahārāja. He was also a five-year-old boy, the great grandson of Lord Brahmā himself. An insult by his stepmother instigated him to take to the forest to seek out the Lord in order to take revenge. He was then blessed to meet his spiritual master Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni instructed him in the process of meditation on the Paramātmā (Supersoul) in the heart. Dhruva Mahārāja executed his spiritual master’s instructions with an uncommon, mighty determination and within six months, saw Lord Viṣṇu face to face. The following is a brief description of his austerity as found in the fourth canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
As instructed by the great sage Nārada, Dhruva Mahārāja constantly chanted the mantra — oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya and meditated on the Supersoul in the heart while keeping his bodily necessities to the bare minimum. For the first month Dhruva Mahārāja ate only fruits and berries on every third day. In the second month he ate only dry grass and leaves every six days. In the third month he drank water only every nine days. In the fourth month he inhaled air only every twelfth day. By the fifth month, he had controlled his breathing so perfectly that he was able to stand on only one leg, just as a column stands, without motion, and concentrate his mind fully on the Parabrahman, the Supreme Lord. As Dhruva Mahārāja kept himself steadily standing on one leg, the pressure of his big toe pushed down half the earth, just as an elephant being carried on a boat rocks the boat left and right with his every step. Thus the entire universe trembled. Lord Viṣṇu, having been greatly pleased with this uncommon penance of Dhruva Mahārāja, appeared before him. Being completely satisfied by such vision, Dhruva Mahārāja forgot all about the envy towards his stepmother and became a pure devotee of the Lord.
THE MOST MUNIFICENT INCARNATION OF GOD
The bottom line is that to see God is most difficult. Moreover, given the present age of kali-yuga, we do not even have such facilities as a long duration of life, a peaceful, undistracted mind, ability to live in the forest alone, etc. Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults but there is one good quality of this age. Just by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, one can attain all perfection. That chanting process was inaugurated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu some 530 years ago.
He did not just inaugurate the Saṅkīrtana movement. Indeed it is only by His mercy that one can chant the holy names of Kṛṣṇa effectively. There are many offences to be avoided while chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra but in chanting the name of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, there is no offence to be considered. Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted us to surrender before He relieved us from material life. But Lord Caitanya made no such condition. Therefore Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī addressed Him as the most munificent incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, more magnanimous than Kṛṣṇa Himself. That same love of God which was attained by paying a heavy price in the form of severe austerities and penances is being offered by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to not only the common man but also to the most fallen souls such as Jagāi and Mādhāi; nay, even to the animals in the Jhārikhaṇḍa forest.
Jagāi and Mādhāi were brothers who were rogues and rascals of the highest order but by the mercy of Lord Nityānanda and Lord Caitanya, they achieved the highest perfection and became pure devotees of Kṛṣṇa. While Lord Caitanya was traveling to Vṛndāvana on foot, He passed through the Jhārikhaṇḍa forest where He induced fercious animals like tigers, elephants and even deer to come together and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in great ecstasy. Such were the wonderful activities of Lord Caitanya.
Lord Caitanya is the selfsame Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as confirmed in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and many other scriptures. But He incarnated as bhakta-avatāra, as a devotee of Kṛṣṇa in order to teach us how to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. He is the perfect ācārya. An ācārya means teacher who teaches by his perfect example. Ācāra means practical application and one who teaches by himself following the teachings is called an ācārya.
Lord Caitanya appeared in the fair complexion and devotional mood of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. Therefore He is also know as Gaurāṅga. He distributed love of Kṛṣṇa indiscriminately, and once a person attains love of Kṛṣṇa, where is the difficulty to see the Lord everywhere and at all times, without interruption? Therefore, taking shelter at the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya is the easiest way to see God.
UNDERSTANDING OUR GOOD FORTUNE
We are indeed very fortunate that we have taken birth in the same kali-yuga as Lord Caitanya appeared. It is not that Lord Caitanya appears in every kali-yuga. His appearance is very, very rare. It is important to understand how rare it actually is so that we may deeply appreciate the real value of our good fortune.
It is explained that Lord Kṛṣṇa comes only once in a day of Brahmā. According to the statements of Bhagavad-gītā, Brahmā’s one day is equal to 4,320,000,000 years. His night is also of the same duration. That means Lord Kṛṣṇa comes once in 8,640,000,000 years.
One day of Brahmā comprises 1,000 cycles of the 4 yugas — satya, tretā, dvāpara and kali-yugas. That is equal to the combined lifetimes of 14 Manus, the progenitors of mankind. That means 14 Manus take birth and die in succession within the duration of one day of Brahmā. So if we do the math, each Manu lives for about 71 cycles of the 4 yugas and then dies. Lord Kṛṣṇa always comes in the dvāpara-yuga of the 28th cycle of the 4 yugas during the tenure of the 7th Manu. And, Lord Caitanya also comes only once in the day of Brahmā, in the kali-yuga that just follows the advent of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So Lord Caitanya also comes once in 8,640,000,000 years.
We can just imagine how fortunate we are that Lord Caitanya just appeared 530 years ago. Moreover, we have access to the books and the whole Hare Kṛṣṇa movement that was established His confidential devotee — His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. We just cannot ask for a better deal than this.
So everyday, before chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, all devotees take shelter of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, along with His confidential associates, by chanting the Pañca-Tattva mahā-mantra:
(jaya) śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
“I offer my obeisances to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa and all others in the line of devotion.”
There is an excellent verse from the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi-līlā 14.1):
kathañcana smṛte yasmin
duṣkaraṁ sukaraṁ bhavet
vismṛte viparītaṁ syāt
śrī-caitanyaṁ namāmi tam
“Things that are very difficult to do become easy to execute if one somehow or other simply remembers Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But if one does not remember Him, even easy things become very difficult. To this Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu I offer my respectful obeisances.” [End]
