By Nandagopal Jivana das
(Narender Nolakha)
I first pray to the divine lotus feet of my eternal father, my spiritual master, His Holiness Gopal Krsna Goswami Srila Bhagavatpada Maharaja; My eternal Grandpa,
His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada and the Most Merciful personality of Godhead,
Sriman Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu to bestow their blessings on this most fallen soul like me so that I can repeat what little bit I learned about Sanatana Dharma from Lord Caitanya’s Teachings.
Srila Prabhupada explains in his Introduction to Bhagavad Gita As It Is: “The English Word religion is a little different from sanatana-dharma. Religion conveys the idea of faith, and faith may change. One may have faith in a particular process, and he may change this faith and adopt another, but sanatana-dharma refers to that activity which cannot be changed. For instance, liquidity cannot be taken from water, nor can heat be taken from fire. Similarly, the eternal function of the eternal living entity cannot be taken from the living entity. Sanatana-dharma is eternally integral with the living entity. When we speak of sanatana-dharma, therefore, we must take it for granted on the authority of Sripada Ramanujacarya that it has neither beginning nor end. That which has neither end nor beginning must not be sectarian, for it cannot be limited by any boundaries. Those belonging to some sectarian faith will wrongly consider that sanatana-dharma is also sectarian, but if we go deeply into the matter and consider it in the light of modern science, it is possible for us to see that sanatana-dharma is the business of all the people of the world-nay, of all the living entities of the universe.”
Now, some personalities are claiming that serving humanity is the top most Sanatana Dharma. They Claim “Manav Seva- Madhav Seva” or “Nar Seva- Narayana Seva”. They believe that serving Humanity is equivalent to serving God. There is no need to Serve God separately, keep on serving Man. That’s it! That is summum bonum of life’s purpose. If human service is topmost then why do people burn the human body after it dies? They should keep it in their house and continue serving as before. Give him eatables, bathe and sleep with him. Why don’t they do this? Is this Sanatana Dharma which ends after sometime?
The dharma between two Sanatanas {eternals} is Sanatana Dharma. One Jivatma is Sanatana and second Paramatma is Sanatana. Upanishads informs us that on this tree like body, two birds are sitting-one jivatma and second Paramatma. There are innumerable jivatmas but Paramatma is only one but inspite of this fact, he is present in each and every body with each and every jivatma. We are jivatma sitting in our heart but then who is Paramatma? That Paramatma is Sri Krsna. Scriptures says “ete camsa kalah pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam”-Krsna is svayam bhagavan, source of all other incarnations and expansions. Krsna is eternal God. Jivatma is also eternal but they are Krsna’s part and parcel. “mamaivamso jiva loke jiva bhuta sanatanah.” And our dharma towards Krsna is in reality the topmost dharma. Each and every sastra says that:
sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata
yayatma suprasidati
The supreme occupation {dharma} for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self. {SB 1.2.6}
Our love towards Krsna is param dharma. God is Love and Love is God. And this is true only with the personality of Brajendranandana Sri Krsna, and not with any other avatars. It’s not for Nrisimhadeva or for Buddha and nor for Lord Ramachandra too. Just imagine a girl approaching Lord Ramachandra or Lord Nrisimha and saying that she wants to marry him. Just imagine the scene. It’s not possible. But anyone can approach Krsna with any sort of desire, it will be fulfilled. That’s why his name is “Rasa raja Sri Krsna”.
There were 16,100 beautiful girls who were daughters of many kings and were forcibly stolen by Bhaumasura, who kept them captive for his carnal desire.
These girls prayed piteously to Lord Krsna for their deliverance, and the merciful Lord, called by their fervent prayers, released them all by killing Bhaumasura. All these captive princesses were then accepted by the Lord as His wives, although in the estimation of society they were all fallen girls. The all-powerful Lord Krsna accepted the humble prayers of these girls and married them with the adoration of queens. Who can do this? Even Lord Visnu can’t do this then what to speak of others.
Can Lord Ramachandra bow his head at Sita Devi’s feet? Can Nrisimhadeva bow in front of His Laksmi? And what does Krsna do? He bows his head at the lotus feet of gopis, at the lotus feet of Srimati Radhika rani. She makes him dance on her finger. Just imagine. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is dancing like a normal cowherd boy for a little piece of butter inspite of the fact that He is the source of all. Only Krsna can do this. Nor Nrisimhadeva can do this nor Ramachandra nor any other avatar. Why? Because they are acting under different functional responsibilities being different manifestations of the same Supreme Godhead-Krsna. Just imagine Lord Nrisimhadeva dancing with damsels of vraja in rasa dance. Everybody will run away and only Nrisimhadeva will be dancing.
Hari Bol…it was just a joke!!!!!
Inspite of being Supreme Lord of all that exist, inspite of being atmaram, Krsna performs these pastimes just to give pleasure to His pure and unalloyed devotees. What does Krsna says to Gopis? He says that I can’t repay your debt even in a lifetime of Brahma. That’s why there is no para-tattva other than Krsna. And what is the responsibility of jivatma towards Krsna? To love him. This is real Sanatana Dharma. We say Social Service or Serving the parents, etc. Yes, its sanatana dharma but of the lowest level. The topmost and supreme Sanatana Dharma is to serve Krsna. By serving Krsna, we serve everyone. If we satisfy Krsna, everyone will be satisfied. This is Sanatana Dharma. Our scriptures say “sarve sukhina bhavantu”—everyone should be happy! Because we are not happy that’s why scriptures pray to Lord that everyone should remain happy. But how can we remain happy? Only by serving Krsna and not by any other way. Why? Because Krsna is “anandamaya abhyasat”. He is saccidananda svarupa; prem svarupa. That’s why by worshiping him we’ll also become blissful and happy. That’s why it is said: “harer naam harer naam harer naam kevalam/ kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha.”-- Only by Chanting Harinaam, we can be happy. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.
Sense gratification can be found in any form of life but Krsna- Bhakti can be achieved only in human life. So, from today onwards set a goal for your life. One who does not have any goal for his life is no better then an animal! Which animal? In a slaughter house, one animal is slaughtered in front of other animals but still other animals are busy in eating grass. They don’t know that next is their number to be slaughtered. They’ll fight for little grass but won’t do anything to escape from being slaughtered. The same position is ours. We also fight over small small issues every now and then forgetting that we can be slaughtered at any moment. We see our relatives suffering so much at the time of death but we think that we’ll not die. Even if we understand theoretically that we’ve to die one day then also we don’t do anything. Just think- are we better then those animals that are going to be slaughtered at any moment?
Vedanta says: “athato brahma jijnasa”—now, you’ve got this human life; you should utilize it for enquiring about the absolute truth and your relation ship with him. First of all find a guru and surrender to him. Guru should also be a person who knows absolute truth, who can remove all our doubts, who’ve interest in Harinaam Sankirtana and detached from the material world. If we find such a great soul then surrender to him at once and become his disciple. Then all our doubts will be cleared and if we follow guru’s instructions then our car like life will go on smoothly. The more we practice more our car will run smoothly otherwise it’ll run very slow like bullock-cart. It’ll run, no doubt but it’ll take more time to reach are goal.
Srila Vyasadeva, an incarnation of God, even after dividing the Vedas into four, writing all Upanishads, Samhita, Puranas (Histories), Mahabharata and Brahma Sutra, was not satisfied. Sitting at the bank of Ganges, he was thinking what He has left that still He is not satisfied from within. At that time, Narada Muni, his spiritual master came. Naradaji asked “Why are you still unhappy even after writing so many scriptures.” Vyasadeva told him that he don’t know the reason for this. He asked Naradaji, “Can you tell me what mistake I’ve committed- I’ve described everything. I don’t understand what I’ve left? ”
Naradaji then told him that “You’ve described dharma, artha, kama, moksa; Do you think God will be happy by this only? After performing so many sacrifices, people used to go to heavenly planets or get the post of Indra or even Brahma. Is these sacrifices real dharma? write that nothing will happen by performing these sacrifices, they are all temporary. One may go to Brahma loka but then also he’ll have to return to this planet.
That’s why now you describe those activities by performing which one doesn’t have to come back to this world again.”
"Those words which do not describe the glories of the Lord, who alone can sanctify the atmosphere of the whole universe, are considered by saintly persons to be like unto a place of pilgrimage for crows. Since the all-perfect persons are inhabitants of the transcendental abode, they do not derive any pleasure there." (SB 1.5.10)
"On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc., of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a different creation, full of transcendental words directed toward bringing about a revolution in the impious lives of this world's misdirected civilization. Such transcendental literatures, even though imperfectly composed, are heard, sung and accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest." (SB 1.5.11)
"Knowledge of self-realization, even though free from all material affinity, does not look well if devoid of a conception of the Infallible [God]. What, then, is the use of fruitive activities, which are naturally painful from the very beginning and transient by nature, if they are not utilized for the devotional service of the Lord?" (SB 1.5.12)
This incident proves that Krsna-Bhakti is the topmost Sanatana Dharma. Now we’ll try to understand it a little deeper. Attaining Krsna-Prem is the highest goal of Krsna Bhakti. First stage of prem is rati. Bhava and Rati are synonyms. Starting from Shradhha, Sadhu sang and Bhajan Kriya, when we progress in devotional service then there is anartha nivritti i.e. all our anarthas will be removed. Then if we continue our Sadhana, we’ll reach the stage of Nistha (steadiness). After Nistha, Ruchi (interest) comes. When one attains the stage of ruchi, he shows ruchi in chanting the holy names, ruchi in serving the guru, ruchi in hearing Hari Katha.
Then Asakti. When one cannot live without Harinaam, without any Seva, etc. it is known as Asakti in devotional service. And above this stage, comes Bhava or Rati. Our existence is called Sattva. Krsna and His abode is Visuddha-Sattva. Another is Misra-Sattva i.e. our conditioned state. We are spirit but right now we are attached to this material world. That is conditioned state. When all this material attachment will be removed then we’ll attain the stage of Suddha-Sattva. Then by the grace of Lord’s Devotional Service, we get to know about our original Bhava. This is called Rati. And this Rati is of five types: Santa (neutral), Dasya (servitor ship), Sakhya (as a friend), Vatsalya (Parental affection) and Madhurya (conjugal-love). Then this Rati fructifies into Prema—Santa Prema, Dasya Prema, Sakhya Prema, Vatsalya Prema and Madhurya Prema. Now, we’ll explain them briefly with examples.
Four Kumars are in Santa Rasa. They see God everywhere and within everyone. They see Krsna as the basis of the universe. They think that Krsna is not hungry or thirsty and He (Krsna) remains untouched by these material things. That’s why they can’t do any service. This is Santa Nistha.
Dasya- Hanumanji Serve the Lord in Dasya Rasa. He serves the Lord with awe and reverence. When Ravana kidnaps the wife of His Lord then he crosses the ocean angrily, burns the whole Lanka, beats Ravana also and when Rama is hungry then he supplies Him (Rama) with varieties of fruits and food. He serves the Lord with different techniques. Without Service, there is no Hanuman. That’s why Dasya Rasa is higher that Santa Rasa.
Still Sakhya Prema is better than Dasya Prema. Krsna wanders in forests with Rama, Sridama, Subala and many other friends. These friends cannot live without Krsna. Krsna plays varieties of games with his friends. Krsna who killed Kamsa within few seconds and killed so many demons single handedly, that Krsna is now being defeated by Sridama. And Krsna becomes very happy. That’s why there is a bit of Mamta in Sakhya Prema.
Mamta means Krsna is mine. This type of Mamta we need if we want to attain Krsna.
Where is this Mamta? It is present in Krsna’s friends to some extent but to fullest extent it is found in Maiya. Friends cannot bind Krsna but Yasoda Maiya binds Krsna. There was strength of 60,000 elephants in Putana. She came to feed her breast, which was smeared with poison, to Krsna. And Krsna drank her very life with the Milk. Putana was screaming and trying to remove Krsna from her chest but Krsna didn’t moved even an inch. But Yasoda Maiya put Krsna on the floor when she saw that the milk was boiling on the stove. Yasoda Maiya at once made him sit on the floor. This is Prema.
Even higher than this is Madhurya Prema. It is found in its highest possible level in the damsels of vraja- gopis. They serve Krsna with all their resources. And in those gopis, Srimati Radharani is the greatest. Her love for Krsna is the top-most. There cannot be anyone greater than Her in the whole creation. And a desire to become the maid servant of the servant of the servant of the divine lotus feet of Sri Radhika is the topmost thing. Serving Krsna with this Bhava is the topmost level of Sanatana Dharma. Hare Krsna!
