Mahaprabhu's Mudra
Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in this world with a desire to bestow
the supreme benediction upon the conditioned living entities. Sri Krsna in
Vraja thought thus:
cira-kala nahi kari prema-bhakti dana
bhakti vina jagatera nahi avasthana
For a long time I have not bestowed unalloyed loving service to Me upon the
inhabitants of the world. Without such loving attachment, the existence of
the material world is useless. (Cc. Adi 3.14)
sakala jagate more kare vidhi-bhakti
vidhi-bhaktye vraja-bhava paite nahi sakti
Everywhere in the world people worship Me according to scriptural injunctions
(vidhi-bhakti). But simply by following such regulative principles one cannot
attain the loving sentiments of the devotees in Vraja-bhumi. (Cc. Adi 3.15)
aisvarya-jnanete saba jagat misrita
aisvarya-sithila-preme nahi mora prita
Knowing My opulence, the whole world looks upon Me with awe and veneration.
But devotion made feeble by such reverence does not attract Me. (Cc. Adi
3.16)
aisvarya-jnane vidhi-bhajana kariya
vaikunthake yaya catur-vidha mukti pana
By performing such regulated service in awe and veneration, one may go to
Vaikuntha and attain the four kinds of liberation. (Cc. Adi 3.17)
yuga-dharma pravartaimu nama-sankirtana
cari bhava-bhakti diya nacamu bhuvana
I shall personally inaugurate the religion of the age – nama-sankirtana,
the congregational chanting of the holy name. I shall make the world dance in
ecstasy, realizing the four mellows of loving devotional service. (Cc. Adi
3.19)
apani karimu bhakta-bhava angikare
apani acari’ bhakti sikaimu sabare
I shall accept the role of a devotee, and I shall teach devotional service by
practicing it Myself. (Cc. Adi 3.20)
yuga-dharma-pravartana haya amsa haite
ama vina anye nare vraja-prema dite
My plenary portions can establish the principles of religion for each age. No
one but Me, however, can bestow the kind of loving service performed by the
residents of Vraja. (Cc. Adi 3.26)
Thinking in this way the time for the advent of the yugavatara (Narayana)
arrived and thus Lord Narayana entered the body of Sri Krsna as He descended
into the world at Nadia in the form of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In His
youth the Lord performed many pastimes by which He flooded the world with the
nectar of bhakti-rasa (mellows of pure devotion). In the Lords later pastimes
He made the whole world fortunate by teaching about the name and fame of Sri
Krsna – sri-krsna janaye saba visva kaila dhanya.
anarpita-carim cirat karunayavatirnah kalau
samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam
harih purata-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandipitah
sada hrdaya-kandare sphuratu vah saci-nandanah
May that Lord, who is known as the son of Srimati Saci-devi, be
transcendentally situated in the innermost core of your heart. Resplendent
with the radiance of molten gold, He has descended in the age of Kali by His
causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before - the
most elevated mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love. (Cc.
Adi 1.4)
When the Lord appeared at Navadvipa He did so in the company of His eternal
associates and together they propagated the sankirtana movement. Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu only performs His sankirtana movement in the association of His
eternal associates and together they bestow the prime benediction on humanity
at large.
sva-bhaktebhyah suddham nija-bhajana-mudram upadisam
He instructs His own pure devotional service to His own devotees. (Cc.Adi
3.66)
Upadisam means instruction and the word mudra means a specific mark or
gesture. Thus the distinguishing characteristic always visible in Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu is that He gives instruction to His devotees in the
matter of pure devotional service. If one approaches the Sri Murti of Sri Sri
Gaura-Gadadhara one can see the right hand of Sriman Mahaprabhu in the
specific pose (mudra) of nija-bhajana-mudram upadisam – instructing the
mellows of His own pure devotional service.
In the verse beginning with, anarpita-carim cirat, the
words,unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam (bestowing what no incarnation has
ever offered before, the most elevated mellow of devotional service, the
mellow of conjugal love) are important. Indeed the mellow of conjugal love
(madhurya-rasa) is the sublime gift which Mahaprabhu descended to bestow. It
is certainly the distinguishing characteristic of the Gaudiya Vaisnava
sampradaya in that no other sampradaya offers access into this rasa.
This madhurya-rasa is the super-excellent rasa (mukhya-rasa) of Vraja because
it has as its constituents all the mellow characteristics of santa, dasya,
sakhya, and vatsalya-rasa within it – therefore the madhurya-rasa is the
most sublime mellow of rendering pure devotional service.
The purpose of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s advent (to instruct the most
elevated mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love) has been
confirmed by Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya in the following verse:
vairagya-vidya-nija-bhakti-yoga-
siksartham ekah purusah puranah
sri-krsna-caitanya-sarira-dhari
krpambudhir yas tam aham prapadye
Let me take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, who has
descended in the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to teach us real knowledge,
His devotional service, and detachment from whatever does not foster Krsna
consciousness. He has descended because He is an ocean of transcendental
mercy. Let me surrender unto His lotus feet. (Cc. Madhya 6.254)
the supreme benediction upon the conditioned living entities. Sri Krsna in
Vraja thought thus:
cira-kala nahi kari prema-bhakti dana
bhakti vina jagatera nahi avasthana
For a long time I have not bestowed unalloyed loving service to Me upon the
inhabitants of the world. Without such loving attachment, the existence of
the material world is useless. (Cc. Adi 3.14)
sakala jagate more kare vidhi-bhakti
vidhi-bhaktye vraja-bhava paite nahi sakti
Everywhere in the world people worship Me according to scriptural injunctions
(vidhi-bhakti). But simply by following such regulative principles one cannot
attain the loving sentiments of the devotees in Vraja-bhumi. (Cc. Adi 3.15)
aisvarya-jnanete saba jagat misrita
aisvarya-sithila-preme nahi mora prita
Knowing My opulence, the whole world looks upon Me with awe and veneration.
But devotion made feeble by such reverence does not attract Me. (Cc. Adi
3.16)
aisvarya-jnane vidhi-bhajana kariya
vaikunthake yaya catur-vidha mukti pana
By performing such regulated service in awe and veneration, one may go to
Vaikuntha and attain the four kinds of liberation. (Cc. Adi 3.17)
yuga-dharma pravartaimu nama-sankirtana
cari bhava-bhakti diya nacamu bhuvana
I shall personally inaugurate the religion of the age – nama-sankirtana,
the congregational chanting of the holy name. I shall make the world dance in
ecstasy, realizing the four mellows of loving devotional service. (Cc. Adi
3.19)
apani karimu bhakta-bhava angikare
apani acari’ bhakti sikaimu sabare
I shall accept the role of a devotee, and I shall teach devotional service by
practicing it Myself. (Cc. Adi 3.20)
yuga-dharma-pravartana haya amsa haite
ama vina anye nare vraja-prema dite
My plenary portions can establish the principles of religion for each age. No
one but Me, however, can bestow the kind of loving service performed by the
residents of Vraja. (Cc. Adi 3.26)
Thinking in this way the time for the advent of the yugavatara (Narayana)
arrived and thus Lord Narayana entered the body of Sri Krsna as He descended
into the world at Nadia in the form of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In His
youth the Lord performed many pastimes by which He flooded the world with the
nectar of bhakti-rasa (mellows of pure devotion). In the Lords later pastimes
He made the whole world fortunate by teaching about the name and fame of Sri
Krsna – sri-krsna janaye saba visva kaila dhanya.
anarpita-carim cirat karunayavatirnah kalau
samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam
harih purata-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandipitah
sada hrdaya-kandare sphuratu vah saci-nandanah
May that Lord, who is known as the son of Srimati Saci-devi, be
transcendentally situated in the innermost core of your heart. Resplendent
with the radiance of molten gold, He has descended in the age of Kali by His
causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before - the
most elevated mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love. (Cc.
Adi 1.4)
When the Lord appeared at Navadvipa He did so in the company of His eternal
associates and together they propagated the sankirtana movement. Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu only performs His sankirtana movement in the association of His
eternal associates and together they bestow the prime benediction on humanity
at large.
sva-bhaktebhyah suddham nija-bhajana-mudram upadisam
He instructs His own pure devotional service to His own devotees. (Cc.Adi
3.66)
Upadisam means instruction and the word mudra means a specific mark or
gesture. Thus the distinguishing characteristic always visible in Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu is that He gives instruction to His devotees in the
matter of pure devotional service. If one approaches the Sri Murti of Sri Sri
Gaura-Gadadhara one can see the right hand of Sriman Mahaprabhu in the
specific pose (mudra) of nija-bhajana-mudram upadisam – instructing the
mellows of His own pure devotional service.
In the verse beginning with, anarpita-carim cirat, the
words,unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam (bestowing what no incarnation has
ever offered before, the most elevated mellow of devotional service, the
mellow of conjugal love) are important. Indeed the mellow of conjugal love
(madhurya-rasa) is the sublime gift which Mahaprabhu descended to bestow. It
is certainly the distinguishing characteristic of the Gaudiya Vaisnava
sampradaya in that no other sampradaya offers access into this rasa.
This madhurya-rasa is the super-excellent rasa (mukhya-rasa) of Vraja because
it has as its constituents all the mellow characteristics of santa, dasya,
sakhya, and vatsalya-rasa within it – therefore the madhurya-rasa is the
most sublime mellow of rendering pure devotional service.
The purpose of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s advent (to instruct the most
elevated mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love) has been
confirmed by Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya in the following verse:
vairagya-vidya-nija-bhakti-yoga-
siksartham ekah purusah puranah
sri-krsna-caitanya-sarira-dhari
krpambudhir yas tam aham prapadye
Let me take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, who has
descended in the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to teach us real knowledge,
His devotional service, and detachment from whatever does not foster Krsna
consciousness. He has descended because He is an ocean of transcendental
mercy. Let me surrender unto His lotus feet. (Cc. Madhya 6.254)
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