Mahaprabhu's Directives

Nimai Vishvambhar was only a sixteen year old boy when a big scholar came to Him. This scholar was famous all over India, and you can say that he was the chief of the entire library of knowledge. His name is Kesav Kashmiri. Nimai Pandit defeated this scholar within half an hour, and did so in a very miraculous way. Keshav Kashmini could understand, "I am defeated," but he did not feel any pain. He thought, "Mother Saraswati is unhappy with me, that is why this boy has defeated me." After that, he very earnestly worshipped Mother Saraswati in the evening and understood what had happened.

When Digvijayi Pandit (Kesav Kashmiri) came to see Nimai, he spoke to Him, "I have heard Your name before, and now, hearing You teach Your students, I think You are a master of Kalap-vyakaran (grammar). Very good..."

Nimai Pandit gave much honour to him and then said, "O Pandit, since you have come to us, please let us hear some prayers to Mother Ganga."

After Digvijayi Pandit had recited some prayers to Mother Ganges, Nimai said, "We cannot understand everything, but could you explain some of the slokas to us?"

Digvijayi Pandit wanted to test Nimai Pandit, so he asked Him, "Which sloka should I explain? I have told so many..."

Then Nimai Pandit quoted a sloka, and Digvijayi was astonished, "I have spoken so many slokas as quick as a lightning, how could He have memorised one of them?" He asked Nimai, "How did You memorise it? I have spoken as quick as a lightning!"

Nimai replied, "You have got the mercy of Mother Saraswati, and I have also got Mother Saraswati's mercy, that is why I could memorise it."

The sloka that Nimai quoted was,

mahattvam gangayah satatam idam abhati nitaram
yad esa sri-visnoh charana-kamalotpatti-subhaga
dvitiya-sri-laksmir iva sura-narair archya-charana
bhavani-bhartur ya sirasi vibhavaty adbhuta-guna

"The greatness of mother Ganges always brilliantly exists. She is the most fortunate because she emanated from the lotus feet of Sri Visnu, the Personality of Godhead. She is a second goddess of fortune, and therefore she is always worshiped both by demigods and by humanity. Endowed with all wonderful qualities, she flourishes on the head of Lord Siva."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.16.41)

Then, Mahaprabhu said to Digvijayi Pandit, "Could you explain to us the merits and faults in this sloka?"

Digvijayi got a little angry, "Faults? There is nothing bad inside it! Everything I have said in it is without fault."

Mahaprabhu said, "Yes, no doubt, but even the writings of great scholars can sometimes have some fault. I can see there is some fault in this sloka."

"Do You, now? Then You tell me. What fault can You see?"

"If you do not become angry, I shall tell it." And Mahaprabhu explained the faults of that sloka. Digvijayi Pandit wanted to defeat Nimai Pandit's arguments, but he could not.

So, what I want to say is that Nimai Pandit is sixteen years old, but He is so brilliant, He defeated Digvijayi Pandit (a world conquerer), and all scholar pandits of Navadwip gave honour to Nimai—they arranged a meeting and awarded Him the title 'Badisimha' (বাদিসিংহ, 'a lion destroying misconception'). That Nimai Pandit preached Krishna consciousness with many of His associates, such as Haridas Thakur, Srivas Pandit, Gadadhar Pandit, Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, and many others. They were all great scholars. Nimai Pandit had a big preaching group and He also spread Krishna consciousness with His own divine power. In the end, He decided to take sannyas to preach Krishna consciousness.

This Mahaprabhu has given three directives to us. He did not compose so many slokas. He could compose it—one who can memorise so many things within a second, can compose many slokas; it was within Mahaprabhu's capacity, but He did not do it. He has only given us some directives to show us the direction, and He has given only one sloka for our direction:

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

"One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

Everyone knows this sloka. Mahaprabhu has given only one sloka to us for our practising life. I have been hearing about it from my young age. I have always heard from great big scholars, it is my good fortune that I have met great scholars in my life, and I can say that all of them give this one directive. Not only that, we also see that all scriptures—Srimad Bhagavatam, Puranas, Vedas, Vedanta, Upanisadas, etc.—all scriptures fall under one directive, which is,

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

"One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

It is very simple.

(1) Trinad api—be humble. You can understand it yourself—if you try to analyse yourself to see how qualified you are, then you will see, "I am not so qualified, I am not such a great personality." Then you will naturally be humble.

(2) There is so much disturbance all around us, you cannot deny it. Then, it is necessary to be tolerant. From family life to sannyas life, disturbance is always there, others will always affect you—it is necessary to be tolerant.

(3) Everyone wants some respect. Give it to them! What loss it is for you? If you see the character of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu, you will be even more settled in this principle:

One day, Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu was talking to Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami. Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami corrected Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's sloka, and Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu knew that what he wanted to correct was already perfect, but when Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami said, "This would be good," he changed his mood. It means giving honour to Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami. Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu knows, "I am right," but when Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami Prabhu corrected something, he accepted that correction and changed the sloka. However, Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu could not tolerate it. Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu knows Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu, he knows who Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu is. So, he followed Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami Prabhu and told him, "Sir, there is some difficulty about what you have told to Srila Rupa Goswami." They discussed the matter and Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami Prabhu understood that he was wrong and that Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu was right. He came back and told Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu, "No, no, you were right and I was wrong. What you had written was right." Then he added, "I met this seventeen-eighteen-year-old boy. Who is that boy? He is very intelligent and he understands your language. He has even corrected me!" Later, Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu spoke to Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu, "This is not Mahaprabhu's mood. What difficulty is there to give honour to him? You cannot stay in Mahaprabhu's line. Go back to your house."

We should use discretion, then we can understand—we may be right, but if some respectable personality wants some respect, give that respect to them.

Mahaprabhu has told everyone simply,

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

"One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

Those who hold these three qualities will be qualified to do kirtan:

1) trinad api sunicena—be humble;
2) taror iva sahisnuna—be tolerant;
3) amanina manadena—give honour to others.

Be humble, be tolerant, and give honour to others. This is a very simple thing. And chant 'Hare Krishna' with this mood, then you will be qualified to chant. Chanting 'Hare Krishna' means you will get love and affection for Krishna, and Krishna will be more merciful to you, He will reveal Himself in your heart and give you service to His Divine Grace. This is a very simple method, but we must try to follow it, otherwise we will be cheated—we will be cheated by our Guru. If we do not follow these directives, the result will not come. We need the result, and we need a good result—that is our desire, expectation, etc. We must try to follow this, then there will be no disturbance—disturbance will always come, this is the law, the nature of this world, but we will be able to harmonise with everything. These three directives will give us life—through these three directives we will get a real spiritual life.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was only sixteen years old, a boy, when he defeated Digvijayi Pandit (a digvijayi is a scholar who has conquered the whole world). Then, even if we consider Him an ordinary man, if we follow His advice, we will be benefitted. Mahaprabhu realised everything and finally He gave those three directives. At the time when Mahaprabhu gave this sloka to us, His age was forty-seven. He gave us the eight slokas of Siksastakam during his last time.

Siksastakam begins with "Cheto-darpana-marjanam...," the glorification of Harinam. In the second sloka ("namnam akari..."), He described the quality of the Name of the Lord, He says that there are different types of Names and speaks about their glorification. And the third sloka says how we will actually be qualified to chant this Harinam. That is the "trinad api sunichena" sloka.

Ultimately, if you fully surrender to Krishna, you will be super benefitted in your life. So many devotees of Mahaprabhu received direct mercy of Mahaprabhu, and they told everything.

nama-srestham manum api sachi-putram atra svarupam
rupam tasyagrajam uru-purim mathurim gostavatim
radha-kundam giri-varam aho radhika-madhavasam
prapto yasya prathita-krpaya sri gurum tam nato 'smi

"I am fully indebted to Sri Gurudev. He has given me the highest conception of the Holy Name of Krishna, he has given me the mantra. He has given me the service of that great saviour, the son of Mother Sachi, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Gurudev has brought me to the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu's most favourite personal assistant, Svarup Damodar; he has brought me in connection with Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatan Goswami. Gurudev has given me Mathura Mandala, where Radha and Govinda have Their Pastimes; I have received from Gurudev an acquaintance with Vrindavan, where the cows and the milkmen have their village constructed, Radha-Kunda, the favourite place of Radha and Govinda for Their Pastimes, and this great Govardhan. And lastly he has given me the hope that one day I can get the service of Sri Sri Radhika and Madhava. I have been given all these assurances by my Gurudev, so I bow my head with all my respects to his lotus feet."

We can see so many slokas in the scriptures composed by the sad-goswamis and their associates, their followers. So many things are written, especially Srila Narottam Das Thakur composed so many things. Yet, all directives point to "trinad api sunichena." So, if we try to follow this "trinad api" sloka, then everything will be harmonised within us. This is necessary to follow.

Hare Krishna.

Other discourses by His Divine Grace:

• The Wonderful Nature of the Vaisnava
• Sripad Bhakti Vichar Jajavar Maharaj
• A Miracle and Wealth of Our Mission
• Sripad Rishabdev Prabhu: A Miracle Personality
• On the Appearance Day of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur
• The Greatest Gift of Sri Vedavyas

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