Sri Vrndavana dasa Thakura`s

Sri Caitanya Bhagavata

With Comentary from Sri Srimad Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati Thakur

Madhya kandha, Part one

TEXT 137

The Vaisnavas are eternally pure and full of knowledge. Their quarreling is simply part of their pastimes.

Comentary:

The pure Vaisnavas are full of eternally pure knowledge. The differences of opinion seen among such exalted Vaisnavas is simply for increasing the wonders. There are actually no differences of opinion among Vaisnavas. Differences of opinion are only present among mental speculators. The differences of opinion found among Vaisnavas expands the variety of their constitutional activities. In those, there is no question of material enjoyment, renunciation, or pseudo devotional service.

TEXT 138

If someone who has lost his intelligence and does not understand this worships one and criticizes the other, he will be ruined.

Comentary:

Those who do not understand this fact and consider that one Vaisnava has eternally pure knowledge while another Vaisnava does not are understood to have perverted intelligence. The confidential mystery in this regard is that if one accepts a non-Vaisnava as a Vaisnava without knowing the difference between a Vaisnava and a non-Vaisnava, then such a misconception will spread among the Vaisnavas and create bewilderment.

TEXT 139

"Just as a foolish person who worships the feet of a brdhrnana and then beats him in the head goes to hell, one who worships the Deity form of Lord Visnu and then disrespects that same Lord who is situated in the hearts of all living entities also goes to hell.

Comentary:

In this regard one should discuss the Srimad Bhagavatam (3.29.21-24 and 11.5.14-15).

TEXT 140-141

What to speak of being envious of the Vaisnavas, if one causes pain to ordinary living entities he is considered a fallen low-class person. Even after worshiping Lord Visnu, if a person gives trouble to other living entities, his worship becomes fruitless. Such a person suffers unlimited miseries.

Comentary:

If a person is knowingly or unknowingly envious of a Vaisnava who is engaged in the nonduplicitous service of Lord Hari, his degradation is inevitable. Of this there is no doubt. Apart from this, if even persons claiming to be devotees of Visnu are envious of ordinary living entities and give various troubles to them, they are actually far away from devotional service to Visnu and are not fit to be called human beings. Their worship of Visnu becomes the source of misery. Those endowed with an absence of jive-daya, or compassion for other living entities, and yet proudly consider themselves servants of Lord Visnu achieve the threefold miseries rather than the devotional service of the Lord.

TEXT 142

The worship of persons who do not know that Lord Visnu is present within the heart of every living entity is certainly materialistic.

Comentary:

Activities performed through material senses by conditioned souls who desire to enjoy their results are called' prakrta, or materialistic. Those who consider that the Supersoul, Lord Visnu, is not present within each and every atom of gross and subtle matter and consider that He does not exist within the hearts of all living entities--such persons' worship of Visnu is simply cheating and materialistic rascaldom.

TEXT 143

eka haste yena vipra-carana pakhale

ara haste dhela mare mathaya, kapale

Their worship is like someone who washes the feet of a brahmana with one hand and beats him on the head with his other hand.

Comentary:

By becoming envious of living entities, one automatically becomes envious of Lord Visnu, who is situated in their hearts. As it is contradictory for a person to hit the head of a brahmana with a stone and wash his feet with another hand, if one is indifferent to the worship of a Vaisnava, who is nondifferent from Visnu, and worships Lord Visnu, then that worship becomes a source of misery.

TEXT 144

Consider carefully, have such persons ever been benefited, or will they ever be benefited?

Comentary:

Those who discriminate between Hari, Guru, and Vaisnava and worship one while criticizing another will never attain any auspiciousness. This is simple to understand.

TEXT 145

yata papa haya prajd-janere hiritsile

tara sata-guna haya vaisnava nindile

It is a hundred times more sinful to blaspheme a Vaisnava than to be envious of ordinary living entities.

Comentary:

Lord Visnu is situated in the heart of every human being. And although Vaisnavas appear to be ordinary human beings, they are always situated as Vaisnavas due to their inclination towards the service of Lord Visnu residing in their hearts. Ordinary human beings are bereft of the service of Visnu and are situated in the modes of passion and ignorance, whereas Vaisnavas are fully saturated with the mode of goodness and are constantly engaged in the service of Visnu. So if one carefully considers the differences that exist between them, then it is understood that by envying a Vaisnava who is engaged in the service of Visnu one incurs a hundred times more sins or offenses than by envying an ordinary living entity. In the Srimad Bhagavatam (4.4.13) it is stated:

nascaryam etad yad asatsu sarvada

mahad-vininda kunapatma-vadisu

ser~yatn mahapfirusa-pada-painsubhir

nirasta-tejahsu tad eva sobhanam

"It is not wonderful for persons who have accepted the transient material body as the self to engage always in deriding great souls. Such envy on the part of materialistic persons is very good because that is the way they fall down. They are diminished by the dust of the feet of great personalities." In the Skanda Purana it is stated:

"My dear King, if one derides an exalted devotee, he loses the results of his pious activities, his opulence, his reputation and his sons. Vaisnavas are all great souls. Whoever blasphemes them falls down to the hell known as Maharaurava. He is also accompanied by his forefathers. Whoever kills or blasphemes a Vaisnava and whoever is envious of a Vaisnava or angry with him, or whoever does not offer him obeisances or feel joy upon seeing a Vaisnava, certainly falls into a hellish condition. O ruler of the world, one who first respects a Vaisnava and then later insults him is vanquished along with his family." In the Amrta-saroddhara it is stated:

janma-prabhrti yat kincit sukrtarn samuparjitam

nasam ayati tat sarvarn pidayed yadi vaisnavan

"If one gives pain to the Vaisnavas, then the results of his pious activities like high birth and high caste are all destroyed." In the Dvaraka-mahatmya it is said:

"Those most sinful people who criticize great Vaisnavas are subjected by Yamaraja to the severe punishment of being sliced in pieces by very sharp saws. Lord Hari, the Supersoul of the entire universe, is never pleased with the miscreant who insults a Vaisnava, even if he has worshiped Visnu for hundreds of births." In the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, Krsna janma-khanda, it is stated:

ye nindanti hrgkesarn tad-bhaktarh punya-rupinam

Sata-janmarjitarn pu~iyarn tesdm nasyati niscitam

to patanti maha-ghore kumbhipdke bhayanake

bhaksitdh kita-sarighena yavac candra-divdkarau

tasya darsana-matrena pu~iyarn nasyati niscitam

gafigain snatva ravirn drstd tada vidvan visuddhyati

"Those who criticize Lord Hrsikesa and His devotees lose all the benefits accrued in a hundred pious births. Such sinners rot in the Kumbhipaka hell and are eaten by hordes of worms for as long as the sun and moon exist. If one sees a person who blasphemes Lord Visnu and His devotees, then the results of all his pious activities are lost. When learned persons see such non-Vaisnavas, they purify themselves by taking bath in the Ganges and looking at the sun."

TEXT 146-148

sraddha kari' murti puje bhakta na adare'

murkha, nica, patitere daya nahi kare

eka avatara bhaje, nd bhajaye ara

krsna-raghundthe kare bheda-vyavahara

'balarama-siva-prati prita nahi kare

bhaktadhama'sastre kahe a sabajanare

Those who faithfully worship the Deity form of the Lord but do not respect His devotees; those who do not show compassion to those who are foolish, wretched, and fallen; those who worship one incarnation of the Lord and do not worship other incarnations; those who discriminate between Krsna and Ramacandra; and those who have no love for Balarama and Siva are, according to the scriptures, the lowest of all devotees.

Comentary:

Those who faithfully worship the Supreme Lord but do not worship the devotees who are engaged in His service and inseparably related to Him; those who do not display mercy by instructing the fallen souls who are bereft of the Lord's service; and those who do not display mercy by giving up the association of atheists who are averse to the Lord are described by the scriptures as low-class persons devoid of devotion. If worshipers of Rama envy the devotees of Krsna, or if so-called devotees of Krsna blaspheme the worshipers of Çri Rama-Sita, then they should not be counted as devotees but rather as low-class persons. Lord Visnu resides in innumerable Vaikuntha planets in His various eternal forms. Those who have no faith in the existence of that Visnu or His devotees are fit to be called adhama, or low-class. The worship of those who blaspheme the servants of the Lord like Baladeva, Laksmi, Garuda, Vayu, and Rudra is incomplete. That is why it is stated in the ~rimad Bhagavatam (11.2.47) that those devotees who are situated on the platform of kanistha-adhikara are eligible to fall down into material existence: "A devotee who faithfully engages in the worship of the Deity in the temple but does not behave properly toward other devotees or people in general is called a prakrta-bhakta, a materialistic devotee, and is considered to be in the lowest position." There are two kinds of Vaisnavas-ordinary or unauthorized Vaisnav and pure or authorized Vaisnavas. The Visnusvami-samprada originated from Rudradeva, the Çri Madhva-sampradaya originatfrom Brahma, the Ramanuja-sampradaya originated from Laksmidevi, and the Nimbarka-sampradaya originated from the fo Kumaras. If someone respects one and blasphemes another 1 taking into consideration their mutual disagreements, then he ce tainly falls from the platform of kanistha-adhikara. All the demigo and demigoddesses pass their time fulfilling their responsibility serving the Lord, and their entrusted positions are known to tr world. Yet their constitutional position as Vaisnavas is not lost. one out of material conceptions disrespects the demigods at demigoddesses, he cannot have devotion to Visnu. If one accepts tl spiritual masters or the demigods and demigoddesses to be devo of devotion to Visnu, then he commits offense. But by worshiph the entrusted positions of the demigods and demigoddesses at thereby forgetting the service of Krsna, one cannot achieve ai benefit. That is why Thakura Narottama has said: hrsike govind seva, na pujiba devi-deva, ei ta'ananya-bhakti-katha--"I will enga; my senses in the service of Govinda, and I will not worship tl demigods. This is the description of unalloyed devotional servicf Becoming unalloyed in the service of the Lord does not ent, blasphemy of the demigods. All the demigods and demigoddess are under the shelter of the Supreme Lord, therefore simply I serving the Supreme Lord the worship of the demigods is automa ically performed. If one worships a particular demigod

demigoddess, then other demigods and demigoddesses become di pleased. But if one worships the Supreme Lord, then all tl demigods, who are subordinate to the Supreme Lord, are automa ically worshiped. Blasphemy of a Vaisnava is hundreds of tim~ more severe than blasphemy of an ordinary living entity. Therefo no intelligent person should tread such a path.

TEXT 149

arcayam eva haraye piijarn yah sraddhayehate

na tad-bhaktesu canyesu sa bhaktah prakrtah smrtah

"A devotee who faithfully engages in the worship of the Deity in the temple but does not behave properly toward other devotees or people in general is called a prakrta-bhakta, a materialistic devotee, and is considered to be in the lowest position."