How to Read and Understand Shastra

Transcript

5:54Shastrartha: The Meaning of Scripture

So, by the causeless mercy of Srila Prabhupada, we go on living in this world—not just physically, but in the society of devotees, discussing the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, chanting the holy name and honoring bhagavat-prasadam. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! And we are speaking about shastra—this weapon against maya, the sacred scripture that, ideally, should take up a very significant part of our life.

7:00I remember how, probably five or six years ago or thereabouts, one of the senior devotees shared something with us at a meeting. This is public information—it was said at a meeting, so I will repeat it. Once a survey was held among the members of the GBC: how much time a day do you give to reading shastra? The survey was anonymous. The average came out to fourteen minutes. Hare Krishna.

7:21Jiva Gosvami explains, commenting in the Krama-sandarbha and also in the other sandarbhas, how an advanced devotee differs from a neophyte. And he says literally this: shraddha na shastrartha-avadharana-jata. Avadharana means deep understanding. If a person’s faith is not based on this deep understanding—of what? Of shastra. Shastrartha-avadharana. Artha means the meaning of the scriptures, the essence, something principal, what lies within, that for the sake of which everything exists. Artha is meaning, purpose. Shastrartha is the import of the scriptures.

8:49And when Jiva Gosvami describes the neophyte devotee, he says that his faith is not based on deep understanding, since the word avadharana means precisely a deep understanding of the meaning of the scriptures. For there is a difference between understanding scripture with one’s mind and intellect and understanding the meaning of scripture. There are many erudite people, even now in Kali-yuga, who above all have a strong memory, logic and the ability to think and reason analytically. Does this mean such a person is qualified to understand shastrartha, that is, the actual meaning of scripture? According to the conclusions of our acharyas—no. This is not a qualification. In other words, even if a person spends a great deal of time in his relationship with shastra, that still does not show that he has understood the actual meaning of the scriptures.

10:17The Prakrita-bhakta and the Rules of Shastra

In this commentary, when Jiva Gosvami explains who a kanishtha-adhikari is—a kanishtha-adhikari, a very weak qualification, otherwise called a prakrita-bhakta, a materialistic devotee, or a devotee-materialist—he quotes a well-known verse from the Bhagavatam, from the eighty-fourth chapter of the Tenth Canto, the thirteenth verse:

Yasyatma-buddhih—one whose mind is fixed on the body. Kunape tri-dhatuke. Tri-dhatu means that our body, according to Ayurveda, consists of three doshas. In Ayurveda these are called the three doshas: vata, pitta and kapha. In general, Ayurveda classifies the dhatus into seven categories, and that is a separate topic, but here in the Bhagavatam, Sukadeva Gosvami—actually it is Krishna who is speaking—means by dhatu precisely the doshas, because our body consists of certain energies called doshas.

11:41So if a person is yasyatma-buddhih—fixed on the kunapa, on his material body made of the three dhatus, tri-dhatuke—he is sva-dhih: he considers kalatradishu, his wife, children, house and other material assets, to be his own. If he thinks so… Sva-dhih: dhi means to reflect, to think, to be aware: “this is mine.” And again, he thinks that his homeland is worthy of worship. He identifies himself with the body, with his family and with the land where he was born. Yat-tirtha-buddhih salile: and holy places, tirthas, he considers important for their sacred water. What is most important on the banks of the Ganga? For him—the Ganga herself.

13:09Na karhichij janeshv abhijneshu—he does not understand that the most important thing in holy places is the jana, the people who are abhijneshu. Abhijna means those who understand, very spiritually advanced. Abhijna also means those who deeply know shastrartha, that is, the import of the scriptures. And such a person, according to the Bhagavatam, is—sa eva, he indeed, without doubt—go-kharah. The traditional translation is that he is no different from a go, a cow, or a khara, which means an ass. Our acharyas give an alternative meaning: there were special donkeys that served the cows. So the word go-khara refers to a donkey that, among other things, serves the cows. A person who identifies himself with the body, with his family and with the land where he was born is no different from a donkey.

14:13So Jiva Gosvami quotes this verse from the Bhagavatam in order to emphasize that a person who knows shastrartha, the meaning of the scriptures, does not have these qualities. He dis-identifies himself from the body, dis-identifies himself from his family, from the people around him and, in principle, from the material world. But if a person throws away the instructions of shastra and acts however he pleases, he will never manage to accomplish this feat. As the Christians say, an ascetic is, literally, one who accomplishes a spiritual feat. To develop such consciousness—Krishna consciousness, whose secondary result is freedom from the bodily concept, and whose primary result is prema-bhakti, love for Krishna—to develop such a state of consciousness is truly a great, an enormous feat, and it begins with following the rules of the scriptures.

15:37And a person who rejects shastra—and shastra matters above all for its instructions, its rules—such a person will attain neither happiness, nor perfection, nor the spiritual world. As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita:

Vartate kama-karatah—he does whatever he feels like. Kama-karatah—“I do as I please.” Na sa siddhim avapnoti na sukham—he will attain neither siddhi nor sukham, that is, happiness in this life, na param gatim—nor param gati, that is, the return to the spiritual world. Siddhi, sukham and param gati—these three things a person does not attain if he is shastra-vidhim utsrijya, if he does not follow the injunctions. Vidhi means an injunction of shastra. That is exactly where the name vaidhi-bhakti comes from—bhakti based on rules.

16:43Therefore the core of the practice of beginning devotees is precisely vidhi, the rules contained in shastra. Shastra contains rules. Shastra contains Krishna-lila, Krishna-guna, Krishna-nama, Krishna-rupa. Shastra contains descriptions of the Lord’s activities and His transcendental qualities, and discussing these activities is also a process of bhakti. So shastra is essential for us because we can immerse ourselves in the transcendental reality by discussing Krishna’s pastimes. And shastra is relevant because we can draw from it rules and injunctions for our own life, in order to make progress in spiritual life—for without following rules, progress is impossible.

17:27This was the main reproach Srila Prabhupada made to modern religions when he came to the West: you do not follow what Jesus Christ says. You don’t follow it! He said, “Thou shalt not kill.” Srila Prabhupada’s classic method: as soon as he began arguing with Christians—let us put that word in quotation marks—he would immediately take them by the throat, like a goose, and say, “Thou shalt not kill!” And the person could say nothing; he simply choked, because his arguments ran out at once. People know not what they do. They do not understand that by killing a cow they commit murder. Yes, we have advanced; we already understand this. But does that mean we are not go-khara? For simply not killing is only the beginning. It is just one of the many shastra-vidhis, the injunctions of shastra. Therefore it is essential for us to know the rules contained in the scriptures. And in order to know the rules of the scriptures, we need to study the scriptures.

18:50Reading, Studying, Serving: The Bhagavatam Is Krishna

I want to emphasize an important point: what shastra is and what our relationship with it is. One can read shastra, and one can study shastra. Do you feel the difference between these two words? Reading shastra and studying shastra. And the next thing that is essential in our relationship with shastra: reading does not equal studying, and studying does not equal serving shastra. For shastra, according to the information found on the pages of shastra itself, is non-different from Lord Krishna:

When Krishna departed for the spiritual world, dharma, knowledge and all the other virtues went with Him. Kalau nashta-drisham—and in order to give sight, spiritual sight, to the blinded people of Kali-yuga, Krishna appears through the puranarka, like the sun. Arka means “sun”: puranarka is the Purana that is like the sun. The sun rises and gives all of us the ability to see. Physically, too, our eyes depend on the energy of the sun. The sun is the very ability to see. The puranarka, the Bhagavatam, gives us the ability to see things as they are. If we see something as unconnected with Krishna, that is maya. The Bhagavata Purana lets us see everything in connection with Krishna. Therefore this Purana is non-different from Krishna.

21:24Krishna, who departed at the end of Dvapara-yuga, at the beginning of Kali-yuga, took everything auspicious with Him, but He manifested as the Bhagavatam. Therefore the Bhagavatam is Krishna. If you place the book Bhagavatam next to the Deity, you can perform the same puja to this book as to the Deity. In the same way, Krishna appears in the form of the holy name. Therefore the holy name deserves exactly the same worship as the archa—meaning the archa-vigraha, the Lord’s form on the altar. The Bhagavatam is the Vaishnava’s Deity. The Bhagavatam is not a book. The Bhagavatam is not an app. The Bhagavatam is a Deity, and this Deity must be worshiped every day. Precisely worshiped—served.

22:28And it is precisely through serving the Bhagavatam that a person is cleansed of the most basic anarthas, of most of the sinful layers in his heart. In this way he becomes established in goodness, getting rid of lust, anger, greed and other negative qualities—precisely through regular service to the Bhagavatam. Therefore it is said:

One must serve the Bhagavatam every day. Bhagavaty uttama-shloke bhaktir bhavati naishthiki—and that is how firm faith develops. Firm faith!

23:13Shastra Is the Source of Faith

For today, once again, I especially want to stress that faith, shraddha, is exactly what we lack. Faith arises from shastra. Shraddha, faith, comes from shastra. Shastra is the source of faith in a transcendental reality—non-material, imperceptible to the senses. After all, faith is formed on the basis of pramana, the evidence we see around us. If I eat and that food makes me feel good, I believe, because I have experience. If I see people sitting in front of me, I believe, because I have experience through my eyes. I hear the voice of my child—I have experience through hearing. But all of this is experience we gain through the material senses. And Krishna cannot be perceived by the material senses. There is no way to perceive Krishna. There is absolutely no way to perceive Krishna with the material senses. So in material life our evidence is our senses, our sensations, our perception. But in spiritual life our material senses cannot perceive Krishna.

24:36Nayam atma pravachanena labhyo na medhaya na bahuna shrutena. The Lord cannot be attained by argument, by a deep and penetrating intellect or by strong logic. And not even by extensive study of shastra, bahuna shrutena.

Krishna cannot be perceived by the senses. Sevonmukhe… svayam eva sphuraty adah: only to one who is inclined to serve Krishna does Krishna reveal Himself. Service to Krishna in the form of the holy name, in the form of the Deity on the altar, in the form of the Bhagavatam and in the form of the Vaishnavas. For Krishna and the Vaishnavas are non-different from each other. What’s more, one who worships the Vaishnavas makes more significant spiritual progress than one who worships Krishna. Krishna is actually quite categorical about this: if someone worships Me, he is not My devotee. But if he worships My devotees, if he is mad-bhakta-bhakta, a devotee of My devotees, then he is truly My devotee.

26:29And this, in fact, is the key difference between a prakrita-bhakta, a materialistic devotee, and a spiritually advanced madhyama-adhikari. To be a madhyama-bhakta means that he worships the devotees and always seeks their company. He develops friendships with devotees with whom he can speak about Krishna. For devotees are those with whom we can discuss Krishna-lila, Krishna-guna, Krishna-rupa, Krishna-nama, and also honor bhagavat-prasadam. So the value, the heartfelt value of devotees is what naturally distinguishes a person advanced in bhakti from one who is not. An unadvanced bhakta divides devotees into the categories of “ours” and “not ours.” He sees through material concepts, in the spirit of yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke, that is, all these materialistic things. It is impossible for him to see devotion, because devotion sees devotion. Devotion sees devotion! To perceive devotion, one must be a devotee oneself. And right now we are speaking only of the madhyama level—what to speak of the uttama-adhikari, who has advanced so far that he sees everyone in a holy spirit.

27:53Therefore the beginning devotee, as the Bhagavatam says, is focused on worshiping the Deity. This does not mean that Deity worship is deficient. It means that he does not have enough intelligence to understand shastra deeply, to serve shastra, to worship shastra—and therefore to know shastra.

28:14Knowing Shastra with the Heart, Not Only the Mind

For knowing shastra through vijnana, through spiritual revelation, and knowing shastra only intellectually are two very different things. Because when critical times come, a person immediately breaks down and shows his entire bodily concept. Critical times are trials—vipada, the various trials that come into our life. So a person who knows shastra intellectually but does not know it with his heart, through vijnana, cannot, in principle, know shastra at all. This is yet another deception of illusion.

28:58For the same Bhagavatam, as Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura says, can enlighten a person, and this same Bhagavatam can plunge a person into maya—just like Lord Krishna Himself: paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritam. Krishna protects the devotees and destroys the miscreant non-devotees who violate the laws of religion. But Krishna also creates maya. Maya does not exist separately from Krishna. Maya, prakriti, pradhana, the mahat-tattva, the material world—this is Krishna’s energy, meant to bewilder the living beings. But all of these are Krishna’s energies. Matta eveti tan viddhi—know that these are My energies: sattva, rajas and tamas. Tamas, too, is Krishna’s energy.

30:03So, just as Krishna bewilders the living beings through maya, so does the Srimad-Bhagavatam: if a person is not attuned as a servant, if the mood of service is not developed in him, he cannot comprehend the Bhagavatam. He cannot even understand how to properly follow these rules from the Bhagavatam, the vidhi. Naturally, some things he neglects and some he does not follow. This is called niyamagraha. A person cannot even simply control his tongue so as not to be a glutton. According to the teachings of the holy fathers of the Church, who advanced in spiritual life, gluttony is the first of the seven sins and the easiest to control. Hare Krishna—the easiest to control! What to speak of pride, which comes last on that list? What to speak of lust?

31:27Pride: The Disease of the Prakrita-bhakta

Madhvacharya, commenting on the verse that describes the prakrita-bhakta, that is, the kanishtha-adhikari, states quite sternly, in his own style, that the whole disease of the prakrita-bhakta lies in his pride. He thinks he is an advanced devotee. He does not notice the advancement of other devotees. He does not notice devotion. He does not see that others, too, are serving Krishna. What to speak of other living beings! For when the Bhagavatam describes the kanishtha-bhakta, the beginning devotee, it says:

32:12Na tad-bhakteshu chanyeshu—he shows respect neither to the bhaktas, the devotees, nor to anyone else. Anyeshu means others: other people, bhaktas and all other living beings. He may allow himself to kill insects, for example. He may allow himself to criticize other people, for example. This is natural for a prakrita-bhakta, for a person who does not understand the essence of the scriptures. But our acharyas give us a very important comment, and on this they are basically unanimous: nevertheless, such a prakrita-bhakta will one day become an uttama-bhakta, because he is a bhakta after all. He has stepped onto the path of devotional service. This does not mean he is a damned materialist.

33:18The madhyama-adhikari loves people, forgives people, feels compassion for the ignorance of this world. What ignorance? Above all, atheism. It is not that materialists are damned—that, of course, was said in quotation marks. The madhyama-bhakta treats all living beings with love. When he is insulted, he is upekshaka: he does not get close to that person, but he does not hold a grudge against him either. Our acharyas speak about this. He wishes him well. That is a madhyama-bhakta. What to speak of an uttama-bhakta! These are very, very, very serious things. So a person who cannot show respect to devotees, who makes distinctions among them, a person who cannot respect other living beings—sa bhaktah prakritah smritah. Such a bhakta is called prakrita. He is a devotee-materialist.

34:26A question: is it bad when I realize that I am a devotee-materialist, a prakrita-bhakta? It is very good! Because the main trouble is precisely that the prakrita-bhakta does not realize his true position. On the basis of his regalia—such as Indian names and threads hanging around his neck—he thinks he has advanced. He thinks he has advanced by virtue of his years of service or his status in a religious organization. He thinks he has advanced, although in fact, in real life, he is shastra-vidhim utsrijya—he neglects the instructions of shastra, with all the consequences that follow from this. That is the main trouble.

35:08Please, dear devotees, I really want to stress this, to focus precisely on this concept: the prakrita-bhakta does not realize his pitiful position. On the contrary, because of his pride, darpa, he thinks he has advanced, and in this way he blocks his further progress. In fact, he does not show respect to the bhaktas. He does not show respect to the demigods, as Madhvacharya says. He does not appreciate, does not understand who the demigods really are—that they, too, are great devotees of the Lord. Of course, he considers himself more advanced, since he is a follower of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He shows no respect to the devotees, says Madhvacharya, no respect to the demigods—and, naturally, he neglects Vishnu. In fact, he has no firm faith in Vishnu.

36:11Kanishtha, Madhyama and Uttama

Therefore Rupa Gosvami, describing the kanishtha-adhikari in his work Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, says komala-shraddha—very weak shraddha. And when Rupa Gosvami describes an advanced Vaishnava, he says that the madhyama is shraddhavan, one who has faith, although he is not so expert in the knowledge of shastra. He knows the shastras quite well, but perhaps not as deeply as the uttama-bhakta. For when the level of the uttama-bhakta is described, it is said: shastre yuktau cha nipunah. In shastra and in logic based on shastra he is nipuna, which means very skillful, expert. Nipuna is a synonym of the word daksha: skilled, one who understands things very clearly. Shastre yuktau cha nipunah—he is highly advanced in both shastra and logic.

37:38And his faith is very strong. Accordingly, shastra is once again linked with faith. It is precisely thanks to shastra that we break away from the sensory experience of this world and open a portal into the transcendental reality. It is precisely thanks to shastra that this happens. That is why the Vedanta says: shastra-yonitvat. The source of knowledge, the source of realizing the Lord, is shastra.

Praudha-shraddho ’dhikari—he is an adhikari in the sense that his shraddha is very mature. And once again the emphasis is above all on nishchaya, very firm dridha-nishchaya: he moves toward Krishna with great determination. Vyavasayatmika buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana—he has one goal. Bahu-shakha hy anantash cha buddhayo ’vyavasayinam—the beginner has very many different desires. They confuse him. He has no single goal, and so he stalls, and so he stagnates.

38:40Therefore becoming a beginning devotee does not yet mean that you will immediately, automatically attain the position of an uttama. No! Madhvacharya is uncompromising. He says that such a person may even go to hell. Hare Krishna. Because it is precisely a proud attitude, a failure to understand the position of devotees, that makes one commit aparadha, which Mahaprabhu called a mad elephant in the garden of bhakti. Therefore, in Madhvacharya’s opinion, a person may go to hell even though he has begun the practice of devotional service. This should sober us up. Like a cold shower, it should bring us to our senses: wait, wait, wait! Such is reality. Outwardly starting simply to chant the holy name and becoming an adherent of a religious organization does not yet say anything. One has to perform an enormous labor, a feat. One has to truly become an ascetic.

39:44Sa bhaktav uttamo matah, Rupa Gosvami concludes: one who is advanced, shastre yuktau cha nipunah, is considered an uttama-bhakta. And if it is a madhyama-bhakta, then he is anipunah: not so advanced in the knowledge of shastra, but he has strong faith in Krishna, because he knows shastra quite deeply and well.

40:08How to Serve Shastra Every Day

Therefore, if we are speaking about shastra today, it is very important first of all to stress—I will repeat it once more—that there is a difference between reading, studying and serving shastra. Every day one must serve shastra. That is why we take the book Bhagavatam. All sorts of circumstances happen in life. In our age of gadgets we are used to doing everything with gadgets, including reading the Bhagavatam. And that is not bad. But if we are speaking of nityam bhagavata-sevaya, regular service to the Bhagavatam, regular seva, then it must be a ceremony of worshiping Krishna. It should not be the same approach as with ordinary books or a news feed.

41:10If there is a chance to set the book before you—even if you have four more books open in digital form—still, if there is a chance to set the book down, you should set the book down. You should offer your obeisances to this book and offer prayers. One must bow down to the book and offer prayers to it. Srila Prabhupada, beginning his commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, set down the mangalacharana—this prayer, om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-shalakaya, and so on. Mangalacharana means something auspicious before a very important event. And a very important event is the worship of shastra.

42:11Just as when we enter the altar: we go through purification procedures—we put on the proper clothes, recite mantras, perform achamana, apply tilaka, do the bhuta-shuddhi procedure, offer various prayers—and only then, after a certain amount of time, do we enter the holy of holies, the altar. In the same way a devotee, every day, even if he sets aside fifteen minutes for shastra, or fourteen. But it should be like this. If there is no possibility, then one can read from gadgets—no problem. You can read from gadgets all day long; that is very good. But a devotee must build his life around the worship of Krishna.

42:53Worship means puja. Puja means worshiping Krishna in the form of the Bhagavatam, in the form of the Bhagavad-gita, in the form of another shastra, the Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. And we pray to the guru, to Srila Prabhupada and to Krishna not in order to understand something from this shastra, for we are aware of our pitiful position. Who am I to understand the Bhagavatam? The most enlightened of sages do not understand the Bhagavatam, because to understand the Bhagavatam means to understand Krishna. And about Krishna—muhyanti yat surayah—even the most enlightened personalities are bewildered. Therefore we do not pray to understand the Bhagavatam. We pray that Krishna will count our reading as service to our spiritual master, to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada and to Krishna Himself. We simply want to serve Krishna in this way.

44:01That is why we open the Bhagavatam every day—not to pump up our intellect, to become an erudite philosopher in Krishna consciousness, a preacher, or even to prepare for a lecture. Not for that. For that too, but it is not param-artha, not the highest goal. The highest goal is bhagavata-seva, rendering service to the Bhagavatam. What is the point if I prepare a lecture and deliver it brilliantly, but Krishna and the guru—and this is the most important thing—are not pleased with me? What is the point of that? What is the point if I perform great feats, build great temples, but the guru and Krishna are not pleased with me? Therefore the desire to please the guru and Krishna is the very spirit of service, seva-bhava. It is precisely through seva that the Lord reveals Himself.

45:26Service Reveals the Meaning of Scripture

And seeing such an attitude in His beginning bhakta—if he performs shravana and kirtana properly—hridy antah-stho, Krishna, who is in the heart, destroys what hinders us, the anarthas. Vidhunoti—He frees us from the consequences of our anarthas and aparadhas. Krishna pours out His mercy. In other words, then—nashta-prayeshv abhadreshu nityam bhagavata-sevaya, bhagavaty uttama-shloke bhaktir bhavati naishthiki—a person becomes a madhyama-bhakta. Then, having received Krishna’s mercy, when he—as a proper adhikari, of course—regularly serves the Bhagavatam through hearing and repeating, through shravanam and kirtanam, the glorification of the Lord, when he does all this in the spirit of service, sevonmukha, then he becomes established in his faith. Then the Bhagavatam, the true meaning of scripture, is revealed to him—for his obedience, for his humility, for his attempts simply to serve.

46:29And to serve means precisely to please. There is a big difference between simply serving and serving in order to please. It means thinking of the welfare of another living being—be it the Supreme Krishna or a tiny particle of Krishna. To serve means to please. This does not mean we will manage to please everyone. All the most advanced sadhus had bitter enemies who wanted to destroy them. It was not the sadhu who saw them as enemies—it was they who saw the sadhu as an enemy. But in any case a devotee prays for those who offend him. This is natural. Yes, it does not come right away.

47:12Therefore it is essential for a kanishtha-bhakta to take shelter of one who has advanced in understanding shastrartha, the meaning of shastra. Such deep understanding means that he feels prema for Bhagavan—love, that is. He feels this love for Bhagavan. He feels mercy, compassion for living beings. He has friendly relationships with the Vaishnavas, and he keeps away from people who criticize both himself and Bhagavan. So the only way for a kanishtha to progress is to do what the madhyama tells him. In this way he himself will become a madhyama.

48:16Madhyama means that roughly 75% of the anarthas have been destroyed. This is not mathematics: someone, somewhere, at some point simply said so, and it stuck. But in any case most of the anarthas are destroyed. Nashta-prayeshu: praya means “almost.” Almost completely, because the madhyama-adhikari is almost completely purified. And what happens next?

48:58Then all these moods born of rajas and tamas—kama-lobhadayash cha ye, lust, greed, anger, envy and other faults—cheta etair anaviddham, disappear from consciousness. Sthitam sattve prasidati—and he becomes established in goodness. Such a person becomes established in goodness. And all this happens shanaih shanaih, gradually, as Krishna says.

49:42The Brahmana Who Read the Gita at Srirangam

Once Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed for four months, for Chaturmasya, in the house of Venkata Bhatta. This was in Srirangam. Every day Mahaprabhu would come to the beautiful temple of Srirangam, before the huge Deity. He danced, sang, shed tears and displayed the ecstatic symptoms of an uttama-bhagavata. People, seeing this sight, likewise gathered in the temple, came, bowed down, listened, sang and danced. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came, He simply enchanted the hearts of each and every one. People looked at Him—an inconceivable sight: how beautiful He is, sundara, how sweet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is!

50:24And there Mahaprabhu saw that one brahmana, overwhelmed with ananda, ananda-avesha, would come every day, open the Bhagavad-gita and read it before the Deity. And this brahmana, ashuddha padena—ashuddha literally translates as “impure”—pronounced the padas incorrectly. Padas means quarters: each shloka consists of four padas. He pronounced them incorrectly, but nevertheless—pulakashru-kampa-sveda. Pulaka, ashru, kampa, sveda means: his hair stood on end, tears flowed from his eyes, he perspired in ecstasy. And Mahaprabhu saw all this.

51:32And then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came up to him and said: kon artha jani tomara eta sukha haya—what meaning, what artha, do you know in this Bhagavad-gita that it gives you such happiness, sukha haya? Other brahmanas—learned, so to speak, advanced—laughed at this brahmana who stood before the Deity reading incorrectly. But, as the Chaitanya-charitamrita says, he did not care. This brahmana did not care what others thought of him. That is another sign of an advanced devotee. So: kon artha jani tomara eta sukha haya—what artha do you know that arouses such ecstatic emotions in you?

52:15The first thing the brahmana said in his personal conversation with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was: murkha ami—“I am a fool.” This is the most intelligent thing one can say to a personality like Mahaprabhu. The guru—Guru Maharaja, or Gurudeva—is non-different from the Lord. Therefore the best thing one can realize in the presence of the guru is murkha ami. And he said: shuddhashuddha gita padi—“I repeat—sometimes correctly, sometimes incorrectly I read these padas, these quatrains—but I do it.” Why? Guru-ajna mani—“I do it because my guru told me to. And when I do it, the beautiful Lord, shyamala, dark, sundara, who gives hita-upadesha, beneficial instructions, to Arjuna—all this, ananda-avesha, pierces me with ananda. In this way, carrying out my guru’s instruction, not even understanding the meaning of the Gita, I receive tanra darashana, His darshan—the darshan of the dark, beautiful Lord Krishna, who, holding the reins in His hands, gives instructions to Arjuna,” said this brahmana.

53:42Then, prabhu kahe, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said: “Gita-pathe tomara-i adhikara—in fact you are an adhikari, you are qualified to study the Gita, because you have understood the very essence of the Bhagavad-gita, gitara artha-sara.” And Mahaprabhu embraced this brahmana and pressed him tightly to Himself. Both of them, in ecstatic feelings, were bathed in tears and trembling. The brahmana offered obeisances at the lotus feet of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and after that, every single day, he did not leave Gaura-sundara. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Hare Krishna. Dear devotees, thank you very much for your attention.