The Message of Sree Chaitanya

(By Kishori Mohan Bhaktibandhava)
(Adopted from the lecture of M.M. Pandit Sundarananda Vidyavinode, Editor "Gaudiya," broadcasted through the Radio on June 9, in Calcutta)

A connecting link between the Transcendental word and human ears having been ordained by the kind providence. It has been possible to bring the Message of Sree Chaitanya to the doors of the people of this universe. It is not through the medium of the tie of the flesh but through that of sound or speech that we stand united with our fellows also in the ordinary affairs of life. We can have a peep into one another's mind not through our eyes, but through our ears.

The Transcendental Message of Sree Chaitanya runs in the channel of spoken communication. The Message advises us not to make any attempt to see the Form of the Absolute through our mundane eyes. The Absolute in the fullness of His Initiative and personality is our Eternal arbitrator and Regulator. In trying to see and hear Him by our initiative we shall see and hear things other than they really are. When the Transcendental Message entering through the ears reaches our liberated cognition, it opens our spiritual eyes to show the real thing in its true colour. By means of the transcendental sound a link can be established between us, the whole animated kingdom and the Absolute. It is the Divine Sound alone Who can give us a clue to what has never been seen not made cognisable by our senses.

Scientists have called the present age "the age of machines"; while philosophers have described the same "as the age of free controversy". The word 'controversy' is a synonym for the word "Kali" for which reason the Puranic authors have termed the present age the "Kali Yuga". Whatever faults and good qualities may be attributed to this Kali Yuga, the only good quality that drowns its other attributes, either good or bad, is in the discovery of the acme of glory in the virtue of the Divine Sound. Radios and other instruments of the like as carriers of sound have wrought wonders in the world.

To turn to the nature of the message of Sree Chaitanya to the world, in His own language it can be put in a nut-shell and summed up in one word as "the constant chanting of Sree Hari"; and the science of pure devotion teaches us to take and consider all animate and inanimate things of the universe as the potential carriers of the transcendental chant. Material science is the imperfect and perverted reflection of spiritual science. Material science that is creating wonders and dazzling the eyes of the world every moment is after all only perverted shadow, although it has so much overpowered all worldly people with the glare of its charms. To rouse up all who have been thus stupefied by discovering to them the connecting link of Divine Love, is the message of Sree Chaitanya. This connecting link of Divine Love has its full manifestation and display in the chanting of Sree Hari. Hari Kirtan or the chanting of Sree Hari should not be misunderstood as something palatable to our ears; but it is that which enhances the gratification of the pleasures of Sree Hari. What is palatable to us has been termed by the Upanishad as "Preya" which, however sweet and pleasing it may be to our ears or other senses, is not at all conducive to our eternal good in the long run, but that which is termed "Shreya" though distinctly unpalatable and bitter to the senses at the beginning, leads to our eternal wellbeing in the end.

The message of Sree Chaitanya is the message about the "Shreya" of the Upanishads the best and final goal of the "Shreya" of all souls being Krishna Prema. In the transcendental love of Krishna there is not an iota of hankering for the gratification of one's senses. A devotee, fully surrendering himself to Krishna, does not require anything to gratify his senses, neither does he hanker for the so-called salvation for which worldly people on being disillusioned of the vanities of the world, are so very anxious; but his ultimate aim is unconditional devotion to Godhead. He desires no other pleasure but to make himself an instrument for the gratification of the Spiritual Senses of Krishna against all apparent odds and at the cost of all seeming difficulties and sorrows arising therefrom. His outlook is in always searching for His pleasures wherein he identifies all his needs and outside which he finds no separate requirement for himself.

There are people who speak highly about renunciation. Like desire for rest after prolonged fatigue, desire for renunciation arises in human breast after prolonged enjoyment. But in respect of the eternal bliss of the service of the Lord there is no locus standi for any desire of renunciation. Unlike in 'kama' (sensuous pleasure) there is nothing troublesome or monotonous in 'prema' (divine love). To a "bhogi" (enjoyer of the world) the word "tyag" (renunciation) has got a sinister charm; but 'prema' is a different thing altogether and not an object of vaunt of worldly people. If Sree Hari be worshipped or not, there is no necessity for any "tapas" (austerities); and if He be found within and without or not, there is also no necessity for any such 'tapas'.

Sree Krishna is the fullest Object of Divine Love. All the varieties of "rasa" (mellow principle) are centered in Him. Shanta, Dasya, Sakhya, Batsalya, and Madhura are the five principal 'rasas'; and Hasya, Adbhuta, Bira, karuna, Radars, Bibhatsa, and Bhayanaka are the seven subsidiary rasas; all of which find full scope in Krishna. No where else except in Krishna free scope for the full exercise of all the rasas is to be found. With a thorough analysis Sree Chaitanya has made this eternal truth manifest to the world. To give a full delineation thereof is not at all possible within the short compass of this discourse Brahma, Paramatma, Iswara and the name of the gods of most religious sects are epithets by reference to this world; that is, these names are attributive in the mundane sense; but the name Krishna is not of the type, the name being identical with the Personality Himself. Krishna is the Owner or Possessor of all Divine Powers and Attributes. He is far far above all the conceptions we have formed about Him with the help of our experience of the things of this world either in theatres, bioscopes, literatures or in the common sayings of men. Man cannot derive from his experience any true conception about Him. A Historical Krishna, an allegorical Krishna, a super-natural Krishna, a heroic Krishna or an immoral Krishna is a conception far away from the real Truth. Hence the Bhagabat describes Him as Adhokshaja i.e. One Who has reserved to Himself the exclusive right of not being exposed to human senses; because the fullest initiative and personality are focused in Him. He is the Regulator of all empirical knowledge of the 'jivas' and with His own initiative controls the same. He is also called Aprakrita, being beyond all ‘pratyaksha’ (what is seen by anyone) and 'paroksha' (what is seen or known through others). Not to speak of Pratyaksha, Paroksha and the Aparoksha (Knowledge of Impersonalism), Aprakrita is more elevated even than the Adhokshaja Truth. Aprakrita Krishna is the fullest Personality in His Transcendental Pastimes, to whom there is no equal, nor superior, but Who is the Son of the king of Braja, the Autocrat and the 'Adwayajnan'. In the language of politics He can be called the Transcendental Despot. He is also a Personification of the full free will and the unrivalled Hero of all spiritual dramas and literatures, the mundane ones, having no reference to Aprakrita Krishna, being the tiny perverted reflection thereof.

The entire cognition of the jiva has got an eternal relation to this Aprakrita Krishna. The natural bent of this cognition towards Krishna is called 'Bhakti' which in its fully ripened state is called Prema. This Prema is the summum bonum of all animated beings. Hence the Message of Sree Chaitanya or, as a matter of fact, of Sree Krishna Himself is not such as to be confined only to a sect of Bengal or India; neither it is such as to have no interest for the atheists, narrow sectarians, scientists, historians or modernists. Every entity of this universe has his eternal real self and his eternal inclination, wherein the necessity for the service of this emporium of all perfect rasas is found inherent. But enveloped as we are at present within the coarse and subtle tabernacles of the body and mind, we have been misguided to construe the "anartha" (that which is not 'shreya') to be our "artha" (necessary), and vice versa.

To remove our all pervading and contagious oblivion of the Absolute, to remove our dense ignorance by pouring into our ears the life giving-nectar of the Mahamantra in order to awaken us to the function of our real-self, Sree Chaitanya, the Divine Figure of Transcendental Love, appeared in this world four hundred forty-nine years ago at Sree Mayapur in the old town of Navadwip. Due to the pernicious effect of time, His Message and Teachings subsequently came to be perverted and distorted; and people began to show intense hatred towards the dubious morality, meanness and degraded culture of the so-called current Vaishnava religion taking it to be the facsimile of the real cult of Vaishnavism promulgated by Sree Chaitanya. The corruptions and debaucheries of the sects of 'Nera-naries' and 'Bauls', their hypocrisies, their immoral movements and other exhibitions of the type were misconstrued to be the doctrine of Sree Chaitanya. Professional singers, in imitation of the supremely devotional poets like Chandidas and Vidyapati, composing ribald songs about Radha-Krishna, gratified the sensuous cravings of worldly people. Formalities and rituals became the instruments to these people for earning their livelihood and the real Message of Sree Chaitanya concealed itself from the public view. At such a juncture, when the religious firmament was so much over-clouded with corruptions and ignorance. Thakur Bhakti Vinode, the Pioneer of the present age to bring down again into this world the current of unalloyed devotion as promulgated by Sree Chaitanya, appeared on the scene in a village of Bengal not very far from the birth-site of Sree Chaitanya. His principal motto was to establish true uniformity in the preaching and practice of the religion of love by eliminating all hypocrisies both in speech and performance. In order to elucidate the real cult of Sree Chaitanya, he wrote about a hundred treatises on the Vaishnava religion. He also renewed Sree Viswa Vaishnava Raj Sabha or the spiritual association of all pure devotees, a full development and re-organisation, of which has been brought about by His Divine Grace Sree Sreemad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur, the president-Acharya of Sree Gaudiya Math and the present spiritual Head of the Sabha. For the disemination of the Message of Sree Chaitanya throughout the length and breadth of India and the West, the present Acharya has sent out trained missionaries in all directions and established over fifty centres of spiritual instruction. For the reestablishment of Daiva-Varnashrama-Dharma, circulation of Vaishnava literature, publication of theistic magazines in different languages, multiplication and revival of theistic institutions, constant culture of the Absolute, establishment of Maths to give opportunities to the people for associating with saints, organisation of theistic exhibition. etc., or to bring about the permanent good of all souls, has been the self imposed solemn duty of Sree Gaudiya Math under the guidance of the most revered President Acharya.

Some are of opinion that the material gifts of science are only meant for the enjoyment of men, which, when visualised in their true colours, are found to tend to jealousy and mortal warfare among nations, in the end. The so-called religious sects, due to their bitter worldly experience, throw the blame for the misfortune of humanity on the gifts of science and advise recourse to mental dissipations under the garb of renunciation. But the ways of the Acharya of Sree Gaudiya Math are quite different. He teaches how to utilize the gifts of science for propagating the saving Message of Sree Chaitanya. The radio, instead of being used as an object of luxury, is being utilised for broadcasting the Message of Sree Chaitanya throughout the length and breadth of the animate kingdom. The telephone, telegraph, aeroplane, bioscope and all other gifts of science can serve the permanent good of humanity if they offer to carry the Message of Sree Chaitanya under the direction of the Acharya. Then and then alone the scientific world and mechanical civilisation will be able to obtain the greatest all-embracing good; otherwise the dissemination of palpable or supressed enjoyments is sure to bring about the ruin of mankind, proving at the same time the alleged horrible futility of the gifts of science. Do not the last great European war and the futile proposals of the disarmament league as reactions thereof, fully testify to the truth of these statements?

The main-spring of the Message of Sree Chaitanya is the dissemination of the science of Transcendental Sound by means of the chant of the Name. Of all the discoveries made hither to in the domain of mechanical-civilisation, the radio stands foremost to declare the height of its glory and to pointedly show us the high excellence of the efficacy of sound. But the science of Transcendental Sound lying beyond the range of mundane medium is, indeed, the eternal novelty itself. If we want to have the songs from Krishna's Flute we will have to transcend the region of three dimensions and worship the 'Shabda-Brahma' or the living Transcendental Sound. He can, out of His Mercy come down from the Transcendental Region to the mundane medium without compromising in any way His real entity. Anybody catching the songs of Krishna's Flute can communicate and extend the same to the ears of mankind. If no non-conducting screen intervenes between the Message of Sree Chaitanya and our ears, it alone can really sweeten our whole life. The Science of this Transcendental Sound offers all bona fide universal peace, universal love, universal good and in one word, the highest goal of mankind. To be infused with the potentialities of this Transcendental Sound and thereby to be able to direct one's course of life towards the goal for the consummation of the summum bonum, is the Message of Sree Chaitanya in brief.