CC Adi-Chapter 2 Introduction–This chapter explains that Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa Himself. …. This chapter stresses that a devotee must have knowledge of Kṛṣṇa’s personal form, His three principal energies, His pastimes and the relationship of the living entities with Him in order to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

SP says God is great but how great— that they do not know…——————————————-

The Personality of Godhead is unapproachable by those who are habituated to speculation about the Absolute Truth in terms of experimental scientific thought, without reference to the transcendental vibration. The ascending approach to the Absolute Truth ends in the realization of impersonal Brahman and the localized Paramātmā but not the Supreme Transcendental Personality.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/25

Saṅkarṣaṇa is the original source of all living entities because they are all expansions of His marginal potency. Some of them are conditioned by material nature, whereas others are under the protection of the spiritual nature. The material nature is a conditional manifestation of spiritual nature, just as smoke is a conditional stage of fire. Smoke is dependent on fire, but in a blazing fire there is no place for smoke. Smoke disturbs, but fire serves. The serving spirit of the residents of the transcendental world is displayed in five varieties of relationship with the Supreme Lord, who is the central enjoyer. In the material world everyone is a self-centered enjoyer of mundane happiness and distress. A person considers himself the lord of everything and tries to enjoy the illusory energy, but he is not successful because he is not independent: he is but a minute particle of the energy of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa. All living beings exist under the control of the Supreme Lord, who is therefore called Nārāyaṇa.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/36

Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in His Paramātmā feature, lives in the hearts of all living beings in both the transcendental and mundane creations. As Paramātmā, He witnesses all actions the living beings perform in all phases of time, namely past, present and future. Śrī Kṛṣṇa

 knows what the living beings have done for hundreds and thousands of past births, He sees what they are doing now, and therefore He knows the results of their present actions that will fructify in the future. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, the entire cosmic situation is created as soon as He glances over the material energy. Nothing can exist without His superintendence. Since He sees even the abode for rest of the collective living beings, He is the original Nārāyaṇa.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/46

“The Kāraṇodakaśāyī, Garbhodakaśāyī and Kṣīrodakaśāyī forms of Nārāyaṇa all create in cooperation with the material energy. In this way They are attached to māyā.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/49

“Superficially we see that these puruṣas have a relationship with māyā, but above them, in the fourth dimension, is Lord Kṛṣṇa, who has no contact with the material energy.

PURPORTThe three puruṣas-Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu-all have a relationship with the material energy, called māyā, because through māyā They create the material cosmos. These three puruṣas, who lie on the Kāraṇa, Garbha and Kṣīra oceans, are the Supersoul of everything that be: Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the Supersoul of the collective universes, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the Supersoul of the collective living beings, and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the Supersoul of all individual living entities. Because all of Them are somehow attracted to the affairs of the material energy, They can be said to have some affection for māyā.But the transcendental position of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself is not even slightly tinged by māyā. His transcendental state is called turīya, or the fourth-dimensional stage.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/52

“Although these three features of the Lord deal directly with the material energy, none of them are touched by it. They are all beyond illusion.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/54

” ‘This is the opulence of the Lord: Although situated in the material nature, He is never affected by the modes of nature. Similarly, those who have surrendered to Him and fixed their intelligence upon Him are not influenced by the modes of nature.’

PURPORTThis text is from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.11.38). Those who have taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead do not identify with the material world, even while living in it. Pure devotees may deal with the three modes of material nature, but because of their transcendental intelligence in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are not influenced by the material qualities. The spell of material activities does not attract such devotees. Therefore, the Supreme Lord and His devotees acting under Him are always free from material contamination.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/55

“You are the ultimate shelter of these three plenary portions. Thus there is not the slightest doubt that You are the primeval Nārāyaṇa.

PURPORT-Brahmā has confirmed that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, the source of the three manifestations known as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu (Mahā–Viṣṇu). For His pastimes, Lord Kṛṣṇa has four original manifestations-namely Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. The first puruṣa–avatāra,Mahā–Viṣṇu in the Causal Ocean, who is the creator of the aggregate material energy, is an expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa; the second puruṣa, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, is an expansion of Pradyumna; and the third puruṣa, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, is an expansion of Aniruddha. All these are within the category of manifestations of Nārāyaṇa, who is a manifestation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/56

The truth indicated in this verse [Text 30] is the essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This conclusion, through synonyms, applies everywhere.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/59

Not knowing that Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān are all features of Kṛṣṇa, foolish scholars speculate in various ways.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/60

Because Nārāyaṇa has four hands whereas Kṛṣṇa looks just like a man, they say that Nārāyaṇa is the original God whereas Kṛṣṇa is but an incarnation.PURPORT-Some scholars argue that Nārāyaṇa is the original Personality of Godhead of whom Kṛṣṇa is an incarnation because Śrī Kṛṣṇa has two hands whereas Nārāyaṇa has four. Such unintelligent scholars do not understand the features of the Absolute.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/61
In this way their arguments appear in various forms, but the poetry of the Bhāgavatam expertly refutes them all.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/62

“Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth say that it is nondual knowledge and is called impersonal Brahman, localized Paramātmā and the Personality of Godhead.”

PURPORT-This text is from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

 (1.2.11).Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/adi/63

CC Adi chapt 2-Sastric proofs for the Divinty of CaitanyaMahaprabhu-#5

Adi 2.22–That Govinda personally appears as Caitanya Gosāñi. No other Lord is as merciful in delivering the fallen souls.

PURPORT-Having described Govinda in terms of His Brahman and Paramātmā features, now the author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta advances his argument to prove that Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the identical personality.…The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta most emphatically stresses that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is not an expansion of the prakāśa or vilāsa forms of Śrī Kṛṣṇa; He is the svayaṁ-rūpa, Govinda. Apart from the relevant scriptural evidence forwarded by Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, there are innumerable other scriptural statements regarding Lord Caitanya’s being the Supreme Lord Himself. The following examples may be cited:(

1) From the Caitanya Upaniṣad (5): gauraḥ sarvātmā mahā-puruṣo mahātmā mahā-yogī tri-guṇātītaḥ sattva-rūpo bhaktiṁ loke kāśyati. “Lord Gaura, who is the all-pervading Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears as a great saint and powerful mystic who is above the three modes of nature and is the emblem of transcendental activity. He disseminates the cult of devotion throughout the world.”

(2) From the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad:tam īśvarāṇāṁ paramaṁ maheśvaraṁtaṁ devatānāṁ paramaṁ ca daivatampatiṁ patīnāṁ paramaṁ parastādvidāma devaṁ bhuvaneśam īḍyam”O Supreme Lord, You are the Supreme Maheśvara, the worshipable Deity of all the demigods and the Supreme Lord of all lords. You are the controller of all controllers, the Personality of Godhead, the Lord of everything worshipable.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.7)mahān prabhur vai puruṣaḥsattvasyaiṣa pravartakaḥsu-nirmalām imāṁ prāptimīśāno jyotir avyayaḥ”The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Mahāprabhu, who disseminates transcendental enlightenment. Just to be in touch with Him is to be in contact with the indestructible brahmajyoti.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.12)

(3) From the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.1.3):yadā paśyaḥ paśyate rukma-varṇaṁkartāram īśaṁ puruṣaṁ brahma-yonim”One who sees that golden-colored Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Lord, the supreme actor, who is the source of the Supreme Brahman, is liberated.”

(4) From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:dhyeyaṁ sadā paribhava-ghnam abhīṣṭa-dohaṁtīrthāspadaṁ śiva-viriñci-nutaṁ śaraṇyambhṛtyārti-haṁ praṇata-pāla bhavābdhi-potaṁvande mahā-puruṣa te caraṇāravindam”We offer our respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Him, the Lord, upon whom one should always meditate. He destroys insults to His devotees. He removes the distresses of His devotees and satisfies their desires. He, the abode of all holy places and the shelter of all sages, is worshipable by Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. He is the boat of the demigods for crossing the ocean of birth and death.” (Bhāg. 11.5.33)tyaktvā sudustyaja-surepsita-rājya-lakṣmīṁdharmiṣṭha ārya-vacasā yad agād araṇyammāyā-mṛgaṁ dayitayepsitam anvadhāvadvande mahā-puruṣa te caraṇāravindam”We offer our respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of the Lord, upon whom one should always meditate. He left His householder life, leaving aside His eternal consort, whom even the denizens of heaven adore. He went into the forest to deliver the fallen souls, who are put into illusion by material energy.” (Bhāg. 11.5.3

4)Prahlāda said:itthaṁ nṛ-tiryag-ṛṣi-deva-jhaṣāvatārairlokān vibhāvayasi haṁsi jagat-pratīpāndharmaṁ mahā-puruṣa pāsi yugānuvṛttaṁchannaḥ kalau yad abhavas tri-yugo ‘tha sa tvam”My Lord, You kill all the enemies of the world in Your multifarious incarnations in the families of men, animals, demigods, ṛṣis, aquatics and so on. Thus You illuminate the worlds with transcendental knowledge. In the Age of Kali, O Mahāpuruṣa, You sometimes appear in a covered incarnation. Therefore You are known as Tri-yuga [one who appears in only three yugas].” (Bhāg. 7.9.38)(5) From the Kṛṣṇa-yāmala-tantra: puṇya-kṣetre navadvīpe bhaviṣyāmi śacī-sutaḥ. “I shall appear in the holy land of Navadvīpa as the son of Śacīdevī.”

(6) From the Vāyu Purāṇa: kalau saṅkīrtanārambhe bhaviṣyāmi śacī-sutaḥ. “In the Age of Kali when the saṅkīrtana movement is inaugurated, I shall descend as the son of Śacīdevī.”(7) From the Brahma-yāmala-tantra:atha vāhaṁ dharādhāmebhūtvā mad-bhakta-rūpa-dhṛkmāyāyāṁ ca bhaviṣyāmikalau saṅkīrtanāgame”Sometimes I personally appear on the surface of the world in the garb of a devotee. Specifically, I appear as the son of Śacī in Kali-yuga to start the saṅkīrtana movement.”(8), From the Ananta-saṁhitā:ya eva bhagavān kṛṣṇorādhikā-prāṇa-vallabhaḥsṛṣṭy ādau sa jagan-nāthogaura āsīn maheśvari”The Supreme Person, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, who is the life of Śrī Rādhārāṇī and is the Lord of the universe in creation, maintenance and annihilation, appears as Gaura, O Maheśvarī.”

Paris Aug 3 1976 conversations

Prabhupāda: Yes. Anyway, just inquire. These are our garden flowers.

Jayatīrtha: Oh, very nice.

Prabhupāda: This is also?Bhagavān: Yes.

Prabhupāda:Yes. Anything grown in the garden, that is hundred times valuable than it is purchased from the market. (pause) Bhagavad-gītā is a book which can guide the whole human society. In all different branches of knowledge, namely in politics, in sociology, in religion, in culture, in philosophy, in economics, everything, all lines are described very vividly, and the human society can take advantage of it. 

Aug 3 1976 French farm conversations
Bhagavān: Yes. No one is getting any salary here, they are just working and taking…
Prabhupāda: Yes, that’s all. Why salary? Kṛṣṇa’s servant. We are eternal servant. That is the beauty of our institution. We have no hired men. Unless one is sincere, why he’ll work? What is the time now?

Bhagavān: Eight-thirty.

Prabhupāda: I think it is stopped. Just see how beautifully it is colored. This sense, aesthetic sense. Kṛṣṇa knows how it will become beautiful. Svā-bhāvikī jñāna–bala–kriyā ca. Construction—eh?—of the flower. And there is no intelligence.

Hari–śauri: Chance.

Prabhupāda: So beat them with shoes and when they protest, “Oh, it is chance, don’t mind. It is by chance I am beating.” (laughter)

Bhagavān: It seems they are struggling so hard for existence they do not have time to contemplate these simple things, working so hard.

Prabhupāda: So show the simple example that how by simple living and thinking of Kṛṣṇa, one can become perfect and happy.

Some Conclusions–In the above Prabhupada is telling us that anything we grow in our gardens is  a 100 times better than any store bought food-even if its organic ! Why is this so? Because the life force wanes the minute you pick the vegetables and store bought food has been out of the ground, in transit by truck, then stored in some refrigerator for who knows how long?He also says that no sincere devotee works for a “salary”. Tell that to all the thousands of salaried people in iskcon these days who are making a lot of money doing their paid for hire work-therefore its not bhakti but bhukti.Hare Krsnadamaghosa dasbelow is some of the vegetables I just picked for Krsna’s dinner tonight.
Rutabagas, peppers and beets-fresh corn on the cob not shown in this shot

two different kinds of steamed beets

Hare Krsna–I first learned of this nice devotee when some Australian devotees came to our ashram for a Janmastami festival. They showed and gave me a copy of Gopinathas 3 volume set of books called –Make Vrndavana- a huge compilation all from the conversations books that he did  focusing on what Srila Prabhupada preached about simple living, and cow protection.I have this rare set of books and they are simply wonderful.!!
When he was kicked out of some Iskcon farm in Australia due to some “management issues” with him. I dont know what happened at that time but from what I can surmise about him and iskcon it was because he was not standing for the current guru fall downs and politics surrounding them all. So he lived in some van or car for about a year, I was told, and went daily to the local library to use their computer so he could put together his 3 volume set–Make Vrndavana. Below is part of his story, and I wish I could have met such a great soul

Hare Krsna

damaghosa das

Story by Priyavrata das

For me, Gopinatha Acharya das was a hero — a true living legend. His example of brahmacharya was untouchable in ISKCON. When I became a monk in 1983, he was the one I aspired to be like. His cool demeanor, strong determination, effulgent brow, piercing eyes, soft voice, gentle movements and graceful gait were something out of the great stories we read in the ancient scriptures. He was a “throwback man” — someone that had popped in from a past age just to give us encouragement. When I first met him he was leading the charge to sell sets of the ancient India classic Srimad Bhagavatam, considered the “cream of the Ancient Vedic literature.” He would go door to door in Sydney making presentations and encouraging people to purchase the 12 books that made up the series. And he was very successful too, usually selling more than anyone else. His good friend and ally in this endeavor, Brighupati dasa is today the number one bookseller for Bhakitvedanta Book Trust in the United States. And then something changed. After dedicating years of his life to studying these ancient scriptures and sharing their wisdom with the world, he decided to go live on a farm and protect cows. I remember the day I asked him, “What happened? Why did you stop your preaching work?” With a reassuring smile, he said: “I came to the conclusion that protecting cows and showing an example of living on the land in harmony with nature and the cows, was the best preaching. This is the actual front-line of preaching.” I was shocked at first but then realized how profound his statement was. Yes, he was right. The purpose of the ancient scriptures is to inspire us to remember God and to live in harmony with God’s plan. Srila Prabhupada, the author of these books, repeatedly encouraged his readers to live simply but to never forget Krishna. He proposed that the Hare Krishna movement should create an alternative society and be fully independent and self-sufficient and that his society should be centred on cow protection, as clearly shown in these selected quotes:

“We shall have to live there self-independently, simply by raising cows, grains, fruits, and flowers.” (Letter to Kirtanananda, 12 January 1968)

“If we can keep cows sufficiently and grow our necessary foodstuffs, then we shall show a new life to your countrymen—completely spiritual life in healthy atmosphere in divine consciousness.” (Letter to Satyabhama, 30 March 1969)

Continue reading →