Nama-sankirtana preached by Maha Visnu or Lord Caitanya Himself?

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> Could anybody of the respected Vaisnavas give any sastric reference

> supporting, clarifying or refuting the following statement:

>

> "Mahaprabhu established the yuga-dharma through nama-sankirtana. He did it

> throught the medium of Mahavisnu, Narayana, Nrsimhadeva and other

> avataras, all of whom were contained within Himself."

 

This is very dangerous speculation which has to be refuted otherwise it

undermines the the mission of our Hare Krishna movement & Srila Prabhupada.

It is a very subtle argument and to counteract it one has to study the Cc

Adi-lila Chapter 4 thoroughly.

 

THE FIRST THING ONE MAY ASK WHERE IS THE SASTRIC PROOF FOR THIS STATEMENT,

WORD TO WORD? In continuation of such a statement, one may come to an

offensive conclusion (which someone has really come to) that Prabhupada is a

servant of Mahavisnu and not Lord Caitanya because he preached

nama-sankirtana & not raganuga bhakti to the general people.

 

Prabhupada says that Lord Caitanya PERSONALLY inaugurates the Yuga Dharma.

 

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.

 

We simply accept Prabhupada because Prabhupada accepts Lord Caitanya

literally without interpretation, as it is.

 

Let us study the origin of this statement, then we can see where the subtle

speculation has come in. This statement has been basically derived from Cc

Adi-lila 4th Chapter Verses 5-17 & 36-38. I am going to list these verses

because they are very important for our discussion.

 

--

 

TEXT 5

 

caturtha slokera artha ei kaila sara

prema-nama pracarite ei avatara

 

I have given the essential meaning of the fourth verse: this incarnation

[sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu] descends to propagate the chanting of the holy

name and spread love of God.

 

TEXT 6

 

satya ei hetu, kintu eho bahiranga

ara eka hetu, suna, ache antaranga

 

Although this is true, this is but the external reason for the Lord's

incarnation. Please hear one other reason-the confidential reason-for the

Lord's appearance.

 

TEXT 7

 

purve yena prthivira bhara haribare

krsna avatirna haila sastrete pracare

 

The scriptures proclaim that Lord Krsna previously descended to take away

the burden of the earth.

 

TEXT 8

 

svayam-bhagavanera karma nahe bhara-harana

sthiti-karta visnu karena jagat-palana

 

To take away this burden, however, is not the work of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead. The maintainer, Lord Visnu, is the one who protects

the universe.

 

TEXT 9

 

kintu krsnera yei haya avatara-kala

bhara-harana-kala tate ha-ila misala

 

But the time to lift the burden of the world mixed with the time for Lord

Krsna's incarnation.

 

TEXT 10

 

purna bhagavan avatare yei kale

ara saba avatara tante asi' mile

 

When the complete Supreme Personality of Godhead descends, all other

incarnations of the Lord meet together within Him.

 

TEXTS 11-12

 

narayana, catur-vyuha, matsyady-avatara

yuga-manvantaravatara, yata ache ara

sabe asi' krsna-ange haya avatirna

aiche avatare krsna bhagavan purna

 

Lord Narayana, the four primary expansions [Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna

and Aniruddha], Matsya and the other lila incarnations, the yuga-avataras,

the manv-antara incarnations and as many other incarnations as there are-all

descend in the body of Lord Krsna. In this way the complete Supreme Godhead,

Lord Krsna Himself, appears.

 

TEXT 13

 

ataeva visnu takhana krsnera sarire

visnu-dvare kare krsna asura-samhare

 

At that time, therefore, Lord Visnu is present in the body of Lord Krsna,

and Lord Krsna kills the demons through Him.

 

TEXT 14

 

anusanga-karma ei asura-marana

ye lagi' avatara, kahi se mula karana

 

Thus the killing of the demons is but secondary work. I shall now speak of

the main reason for the Lord's incarnation.

 

TEXTS 15-16

 

prema-rasa-niryasa karite asvadana

raga-marga bhakti loke karite pracarana

rasika-sekhara krsna parama-karuna

ei dui hetu haite icchara udgama

 

The Lord's desire to appear was born from two reasons: the Lord wanted to

taste the sweet essence of the mellows of love of God, and He wanted to

propagate devotional service in the world on the platform of spontaneous

attraction. Thus He is known as supremely jubilant and as the most merciful

of all.

 

Cc Adi

 

TEXT 36-37

 

ei vancha yaiche krsna-prakatya-karana

asura-samhara--anusanga prayojana

ei mata caitanya-krsna purna bhagavan

yuga-dharma-pravartana nahe tanra kama

 

Just as these desires are the fundamental reason for Krsna's appearance

whereas destroying the demons is only an incidental necessity, so for Sri

Krsna Caitanya, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, promulgating the dharma

of the age is incidental.

 

TEXT 38

 

kona karane yabe haila avatare mana

yuga-dharma-kala haila se kale milana

 

When the Lord desired to appear for another reason, the time for

promulgating the religion of the age also arose.

 

TEXT 39

 

dui hetu avatari' lana bhakta-gana

apane asvade prema-nama-sankirtana

 

Thus with two intentions the Lord appeared with His devotees and tasted the

nectar of prema with the congregational chanting of the holy name.

 

-----------------------

 

Now it is clear that KKG in verse 36-37 equates the secondary activity of

Krsna killing the demons with the activity of promulgating of the Yuga

Dharma in the case of Lord Caitanya. And he explains in verses 10-13 that

killing of the demons was done by Visnu in the body of Krsna and not by

Krsna Himself. So if one tries to combine these two statements, then he

comes to the conclusion that Visnu or the Narayana expansions in the body of

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu promulgated the Yuga Dharma.

 

But there is a big hitch here. KKG has compared these two to give us a clear

idea of the external & internal reasons of the appearance of Lord Krsna &

Lord Caitanya. But just because the external purpose (killing the demons) of

the mission of Lord Krsna was performed by Visnu in the body of Krsna does

not necessarily mean that the external purpose (propogation of the Yuga

Dharma) of the mission of Lord Caitanya was performed by Visnu in the body

of Lord Caitanya. One cannot conclude like this unless there is a clear

statement in this regard about Lord Caitanya in the sastras like the

statement of KKG in verse 13 about Lord Krsna.

 

Why one cannot conclude like this? It is because of the following reason

(apart from the reasons that Prabhupada said that Lord Caitanya personally

preached the Yuga Dharma and that it is not clearly mentioned anywhere in

the sastra):

 

(1) KKG explains in texts 15-16 that the Lord's desire to appear was born

from two reasons: the Lord wanted to taste the sweet essence of the mellows

of love of God, and He wanted to propagate devotional service in the world

on the platform of spontaneous attraction (raga-marga). This was His

internal purpose. But how did He achieve this purpose? The answer is given

in test 39 and in other parts of Cc that with two intentions the Lord

appeared with His devotees and tasted the nectar of prema with the

congregational chanting of the holy name.

 

The conclusion is that the Lord fulfilled His internal purpose by

nama-sankirtana which was incidentally the external purpose also. So now we

can raise the following question. How could Lord Caitanya fulfil His

internal purpose with the help of hari-nama sankirtana if He did not

actually propagate hari-nama-sankirtana and it was done by Maha Visnu,

Nrsimha etc. in the body of Lord Caitanya? THIS IS THE POINT.

 

SO ACTUALLY LORD CAITANYA HIMSELF PROPAGATED THE HOLY NAMES AND DID NOT

LEAVE IT TO MAHA VIHNU ETC. BECAUSE THROUGH THE CONGREGATIONAL CHANTING

ALONE HE COULD FULFIL HIS INTERNAL PURPOSE THAT IS RAGA BHAKTI & TO

UNDERSTAND & RELISH THE MOOD OF RADHARANI.

 

This is confirmed by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in different parts of Cc and by

Bhaktivinode Thakura in Hari Naam Cintamani and one of his songs that by

ofenseless chanting one automatically achieves the stage of raga marga.

Srila Gaura Kishore Dasa Babaji Maharaja used to say that chanting the Holy

Name alone will reveal the 11 characteristics of our spiritual form and

bring us to the platform of ragabhakti or spontaneous devotion.

 

This statement also implies that those great associates of Lord Caitanya who

engaged in nama-sankirtana are not on the raga platform or not able to

understand the internal purpose of Lord Caitanya. Thet are merely serving

Maha Visnu, Nrsimha etc. What can be more offensive can this? If

nama-sankirtana is external what are the six Goswamis, the greatest raga

bhaktas engaged in it with fixed vows?

 

Infact Rupa Goswami says that raga bhakti is not to be directly preached to

the people in general. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu being very merciful to

the common people gave the same realizations of raga bhakti in the

congregational chanting of the Holy Names.

 

Thus the above seems to be a subtle but highly dangerous, deviant &

offensive speculation because of the dangerous conclusions which can be

drawn from it. It is duty of the real Gaudiya Vaisnavas to reject & refute

such statements what to talk of propogating such statements.

 

I would like to end with a few verses:

 

Cc Adi 3.40

 

kali-yuge yuga-dharma--namera pracara

tathi lagi' pita-varna caitanyavatara

 

The religious practice for the Age of Kali is to broadcast the glories of

the holy name. Only for this purpose has the Lord, in a yellow color,

descended as Lord Caitanya.

 

NAAM SANKIRTAN- THE MEANS & END

 

Antya 20.13

 

sankirtana haite papa-samsara-nasana

citta-suddhi, sarva-bhakti-sadhana-udgama

 

"By performing congregational chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra, one can

destroy the sinful condition of material existence, purify the unclean heart

and awaken all varieties of devotional service.

 

TEXT 14

 

krsna-premodgama, premamrta-asvadana

krsna-prapti, sevamrta-samudre majjana

 

"The result of chanting is that one awakens his love for Krsna and tastes

transcendental bliss. Ultimately, one attains the association of Krsna and

engages in His devotional service, as if immersing himself in a great ocean

of love."

 

TEXT 9

 

sankirtana-yajne kalau krsna-aradhana

sei ta' sumedha paya krsnera carana

 

"In this Age of Kali, the process of worshiping Krsna is to perform

sacrifice by chanting the holy name of the Lord. One who does so is

certainly very intelligent, and he attains shelter at the lotus feet of

Krsna.

 

TEXT 11

 

nama-sankirtana haite sarvanartha-nasa

sarva-subhodaya, krsna-premera ullasa

 

"Simply by chanting the holy name of Lord Krsna, one can be freed from all

undesirable habits. This is the means of awakening all good fortune and

initiating the flow of waves of love for Krsna.

 

Your servant,

Nayana-ranjana Dasa