Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 21.13–48 – January 4, 1967, New York

Those who are liberated from this jaundice of materialism

Prabhupada:

This is a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam. This was recited by Brahma. The purpose of this verse is... Brahma says that "Although I am Brahma, and before me all the great sages, everyone, has tried to know the Supreme Lord in," I mean to say, "incomplete, but nobody could understand where is the end of these unlimited potencies of the Supreme Lord."

Even Lord Sri Krsna Himself, He does not know how unlimited is His potency. Lord Caitanya says that. He also does not know.

In this way, the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna, by His plenary expansions, He is doing unlimited activities, transcendental. So for a living entity, a small living entity like us, we cannot know. The only thing is that, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita, that satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca drdha-vratah, tusyanti ca ramanti ca [Bg 9.14].

The subject matter is so nice that the devotees who are engaged in Krsna consciousness in the transcendental loving service, they like. And in the association of pure devotee, these topics become palatable.

There are many instances in the Bhagavata also. When saunakadi rsi, sages headed by Saunaka Muni, was hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam from Suta Gosvami, they also uttered this, vayam tu na vitrpyama [SB 1.1.19]: "You are reciting about the glories of the Supreme Lord, His activities, so please continue. We are not yet satisfied. The subject matter is so nice that we want to more and more..." Svadu svadu krame krame. As you go on hearing, and as you become purified...

There is a very practical example: the sugar candy. Sugar candy is, by nature, it is very sweet. But if you give it to a patient who is jaundiced, if you give, he will taste it, that he'll say that it is bitter. It is bitter. You will have practical example. If you ask him what is the taste, he'll say bitter.

Everyone knows that sugar candy is very sweet, but if you give to a patient suffering from jaundice, he'll say it is bitter. Similarly, the krsna-katha, the Lord's name, fame, quality, entourage, all these things are very sweet. To whom? Those who are liberated from this jaundice of materialism. For them it is very sweet.

So as you feel sweetness of this krsna-katha, you should know that you are becoming liberated from this material entanglement. The same thing: sugar candy is the only medicine for jaundice. Those who are suffering from jaundice, they are prescribed by physician to take sugar candy water in the morning. And by drinking that sugar candy water, gradually he feels the sweetness of sugar candy. That is the test that he is getting free from the disease.

So similarly, Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam or anything where the topics of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is discussed, if you feel it is interesting, that means you are getting out of the jaundice of this material disease. Yes. This is the test. If you don't feel interested, then you must know that the jaundice of material disease is there. So this is the test. The more you feel krsna-katha, the topics of Krsna, tasteful, the more you'll know that you are getting free from the jaundice of material disease.

Gopa. Krsna, you know, in His abode, He is just like a sixteen-years-old boy, and His main pastime is to take the cows and..., in the pasturing ground with His friends, boyfriends, and play with them. This is Krsna's day's business. So Sukadeva Gosvami has written a very nice verse, that these boys who are playing with Krsna, in their past life they had accumulated heaps of pious activities. Krta-punya-punjah Now, Sukadeva Gosvami is writing. Now, these boys who are playing with Krsna, they are playing with whom? They are playing with the Supreme Absolute Truth, who is considered as impersonal by the great sages. Ittham satam brahma... Brahma-sukha. Brahma, transcendental Brahman realization. The reservoir of Brahman realization is here, Krsna. So these boys who are playing with this Krsna, He is the reservoir of the Brahman realization.

Ittham satam brahma-sukhanubhutya dasyam gatanam para-daivatena. And dasyam gatanam, those who have accepted the Supreme Lord as master, that means devotees, for them this Krsna is the Supreme Lord. For the impersonalist He is Supreme Brahman, and for the personalist He is Supreme Lord. And mayasritanam nara-darakena: and those who are under the spell of materialism, for them He is ordinary boy. Mayasritanam nara-darakena sardham vijahruh krta-punya-punjah With Him these boys, who had accumulated millions and millions' births of pious activities, now they have got the opportunity of playing with Krsna face to face, just like ordinary boys play. So similarly, Krsna is very much fond of playing with His young boyfriends. That is mentioned in the Brahma-samhita: surabhir abhipalayantam, laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam [Bs 5.29]. So these things are explained here also.

Now there are so many friends, cowherd boys, nobody can count. Nobody... Unlimited, everything unlimited. They have unlimited number of cows, unlimited number of boyfriends-everything unlimited.

Now these cowherds boys, they have got a cane in the hand, vetra. And each of them has got a flute also. Vetra venu dala. And a lotus flower, and a srṅgara, a horn. Srṅgara vastra, and very nicely dressed, and full of ornaments. Just like Krsna is dressed, similarly, His friends, cowherd boys, they are also dressed.

In the spiritual world, when you'll go, you'll not be able to understand who is Krsna and who is not Krsna. Everyone is like Krsna. Similarly, in the Vaikuntha planets everyone is like Visnu. That is called sayujya-mukti. The living entities, when they enter into the spiritual planets, they become as good as Krsna and Visnu-there is no difference-because it is absolute world.

Here the difference is there. The impersonalists, they cannot understand that even in individuality there is no difference. As soon as they think of individuality, oh, they think that there is difference. Then what is liberation? Yes. And actually there is no difference. The difference is only that Krsna's personality and others' personality, they are conscious that "Krsna is our object of love." That's it. The center is Krsna. In this way, the individual boys and girls and Krsna, everyone is enjoying spiritual bliss.

Now these, all these cowherd boys and everything, cows and everything, they are all expansion of Krsna's energy. It is spiritual. Just like we are expansion of Krsna's marginal energy and the matter is also expansion of Krsna's inferior, material energy, similarly, in the spiritual world all those things-Krsna, the cowherd boys, the cows and everything-they are also expansion of His spiritual energy.

Brahma, he was, I mean to say, bewildered. When Krsna came on this planet, Brahma... Muhyanti yat surayah.

Brahma was astonished and Indra was astonished: "How is that, my Lord Krsna has come at Vrndavana as a cowherd boy?" So they came to Vrndavana to test. So all... Brahma, by his...

He has got so much power, he had kidnapped all the cows and the boys of Krsna. And when he came back he saw the Krsna is playing with the same cows and boys again. Then he could understand that "This boy is Krsna." Then he offered his prayer and begged pardon from Him, that "I misunderstood." In this way there are many narrations in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Here Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is referring to that incident.

So he was astonished, and then, after prayer, he was satisfied.

So Brahma admitted that "If anybody says that 'I know Krsna. I know the Supreme Personality of Godhead in detail,' so maybe he may know, but so far I am concerned, I do not know."

The purport is that Brahma is the first creature in this universe. He is the first living entity. He accepts his inability to understand about Krsna, and what to speak of others? What to speak of the commentator who says that "This is not Krsna; this is something else"?

Brahma admitted that "Your activities, Your pastimes, everything of You, it is not possible even to taste or to understand even a particle of it." The very verse recited here,

Nobody can understand how great is Krsna.

That is described, the glories of Krsna-nobody can understand. Similarly, vrndavana-sthanera ascarya vibhuta. Similarly, the land which is known as Vrndavana, it has also got unlimited potency. Still, as I have several times mentioned, if you go to Vrndavana you'll find unlimited potency of spiritual atmosphere still. And therefore Lord Caitanya recommended that aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayah tad dhama vrndavanam [Caitanya-manjusa]:

"As Lord Krsna is worshipable, similarly His place, Vrndavana, is as good as Krsna. It is also worshipable." And actually, still in India, if you go to Vrndavana, you'll see so many saints and sages are still there. They are worshiping Vrndavana-dhama. Yes.

Now, Caitanya Mahaprabhu's attitude was... When He was speaking of Krsna He sometimes became in trance, and He became sometimes unconscious. That was His... Because Caitanya Mahaprabhu's incarnation is that He is Krsna, and Krsna is trying to understand Krsna as Krsna's devotee. That is His feature. These are very complicated things, but that is the position of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So when He used to speak something of Krsna, He sometimes became unconscious.

Now... So far the demigods are concerned, Brahma is the chief. Brahma, Visnu and Mahesvara, they are ajnakari. They are under the order of Krsna: Brahma, Visnu, Mahesvara.

Then there are three purusa-avataras; we have already discussed. Jagat... For material creation there are three purusa incarnation.

And those three incarnation are called Maha-Visnu; Padmanabha, Padmanabha Visnu-Padmanabha means from His navel there is a stem of lotus flower-and Ksirodakasayi Visnu. Ei tina-sthula-suksma-sarva-antaryami.

So all these incarnation are plenary parts of Krsna. And this is confirmed in Brahma-samhita:

So Govinda, the Supreme Lord, the cause of all causes, His plenary portions are these three Visnus.

Now, Krsna abode, the, I mean to say, planet which is called Goloka Vrndavana, that has three divisions. As we have got replica on this earth, there is Vrndavana, Mathura and Dvaraka... Dvaraka is in Gujarat, and Mathura and Vrndavana is in U.P., United..., Uttar Pradesh, near Delhi. And Dvaraka is about three hundred miles or more than that from Delhi. So these are replicas of the original Krsnaloka.

So out of these three places, Vrndavana-dhama is the most important. That is the confidential home of Krsna. Just like a businessman might have many places for his business, I mean to say, activities, but his home is different from all this business. He may live in the countryside in a cottage, but he may be a very big businessman.

Similarly Krsna, although He's all-powerful, He lives at Vrndavana in the gardenlike city. Not city; a tract of land. A small city is there now; they have named Vrndavana. But Vrndavana is not that small city. It is a tract of land about eighty-four miles.

So it is full of garden and full of nice places. Anywhere you go, you will find something wonder to see. There are many trees of fruits and flowers, many varieties of birds, and the cranes on the Yamuna side. Every... Each and every place is remembering Krsna. If you go there you'll find that "Krsna is... Somewhere He was playing. I must find out." It is such nice place. So Vrndavana is the most confidential part of Krsna's abode.

So in the spiritual world, that Vrndavana planet is the highest planet, and below that planet there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets, which are called Visnuloka.

And the presiding Deity, predominating Deity in those planets, is called Narayana. Narayana is also expansion of Krsna. Generally, Narayana is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but from authentic scripture we understand that Narayana is expansion of Krsna.

Although Krsna is two-handed and, I mean to say, busy with His flute-playing, but we do not know-many do not know-that He is..., has expanded as Narayana and Visnu. He is the predominating Deity all over the spiritual world.

And each and every planet there are innumerable devotees. He's surrounded by the innumerable devotees. And He's citing evidencial verse from Brahma-samhita:

His own personal planet is Goloka Vrndavana, and below that planet there are many other, innumerable planets, which are known as Vaikuntha. And below that spiritual world there is material world. And between material world and spiritual world there is another space, which is called Sivaloka. And below that Sivaloka is this Devi-dhama.

This material is called Devi-dhama. Durga. The presiding deity of this Devi-dhama is Durga. He's giving evidences from many authentic Vedic literature. One of them is Brahma-samhita. Then He's giving another evidence from Padma Purana, the existence of spiritual planets.

In Indian spiritual society the evidences are given from Vedic literature. Then it is accepted. Not that mental speculationist's theory, "I think this is... I think that. I..." No. Just the same example I have several times cited before you, that the law court, they give evidences from the law book, sections from the law book.

Similarly, the process is whenever we speak something transcendental subject, if we can pick up evidences from Vedic literatures... There are many authentic Vedic literatures. They are accepted by the spiritual societies. And one's learning is proved if he can give evidences from these Vedic literatures. Similarly Lord Caitanya, whatever He is speaking, He's giving immediately references from Vedic literature.

So, so far the existence of the spiritual world and different planets, spiritual planets, Vaikuntha and Krsnaloka, one may think... Of course, those who have no knowledge, they may think that these are all stories. No, they are not stories; they are actual facts, and Lord Caitanya is giving evidences from Brahma-samhita, from Padma Purana and similar other Vedic literatures.

Thank you very much.

Any question? [end]