MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR THE Q&A CONFERENCE

[Guest guest]

Q: (unknown)

A: So Brihaspati came as, he wanted to teach Lord Chaitanya. Brihaspati

came down as Sarvabhoma Bhatta Acharya, but then when he came he was with

all the mayavadis in Navadvipa, he came preaching about Mayavada. Then he

went off to Jaganatha Puri, but he never taught Lord Chaitanya when he was a

child, a student in Navadvipa.

Later when Lord Chaitanya took sannayasa, he went to Jaganatha Puri. Then he

had an altercation with Nityananda Prabhu. Nityanada Prabhu broke his danda

in three parts and threw it in the river, at Dandabanga. There are many

esoteric explanations on why he broke the danda. Some we may know and some

we may not know. One of the ideas was that Lord Chaitanya, why he should

have one danda, because one danda is for mayavadis? He should have three

dandi, which is for Vaisnavas. So he broke, danda means a stick, a sannayasi

staff, he broke into three. The other is why should he have a danda at all,

because that is for human beings that have to do tapasya. Being that he is

Supreme Lord he doesn't have to do all these things. So things like that.

So anyway Lord Chaitanya became overtly angry, "Who broke my danda, you have

no right to do this, so I'm not going with you now". He was very angry so he

ran ahead, and they couldn't catch up with him. So he got to the Jaganatha

Puri temple first. When he saw Jaganatha he fainted in the temple, in

ecstasy he went in trance. So the priests thought that maybe he's some crazy

guy, they were going to kick him and beat him. Sarvabhoma Bhatta Acharya

seeing his physical signs could recognize, he was not an ordinary person.

And also saw that he wasn't breathing, nor was he having any heartbeat. It

was quite unusual, so he took him to his house. He tested and found that

Lord Chaitanya was simply breathing very slightly, held a cotton swab by his

nose and saw slightly the fibers were moving. So normally people cannot do

that. Can any of you do that? Then the devotees found Lord Chaitanya, and

they said, "We know how to revive him, he can only be revived by chanting".

So then they begin to chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare

Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Hare Hare. So then Lord Chaitanya revived.

And Sarvabhoma Bhatta Acharya said, "I'd like to teach you, since you're a

Sannayasi in the Shankara line, you took Sannayasa from Kesava Bharti, who

was in the Shankara line. I'd like to teach you Vedanta Sutra". Lord

Chaitanya said, "Alright, I'd be happy to learn Vedanta Sutra from you". For

seven days Sarvabhoma Bhatta Acharya, mind you he is a Brihasapati, he is

teaching Lord Chaitanya the Shankacharya philosophy of Vedanta Sutra. He

reads a Vedanta Sutra sloka, Janma Dasi Atah, which means that everything is

coming from the Absolute Truth. But then he gives his own indirect

interpretation. The direct interpretation is that since everything is coming

from the Absolute Truth, then everything has varieties and qualities,

therefore the Absolute Truth must also have variety and quality. How can

something come from nothing? How can the quality come from non-quality? For

seven days, Lord Chaitanya just listened and he didn't say a word. He didn't

ask a single question. Normally in this heavy weighty discussion, topic, you

ask some questions. But he had no questions. After seven days, Sarvabhoma

Bhatta Acharya said, "how is it that you are just listening and you never

have any questions? Are you able to understand what I'm speaking?". He (Lord

Chaitanya) said, "I can understand the Vedanta Sutra that you speak, but I

don't understand your explanation". So that was like throwing the gong-lid

down, I understand the sastra but your explanation is unintelligible. So

then he said, "so then you can explain". Then Lord Chaitanya took the atma

Rama verse from the Srimad Bhagavatam, atma Rama yamunaya. He explains that

in sixty-four different ways, and gave the essence of the Vedanta Sutra

through this one verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam. It was such an erudite

explanation. Lord Chaitanya explained how the teachings of Shankacarya are

indirect, and the Vedanta Sutra is clearly understandable if you take the

direct meaning. And Srimad Bhagavatam is the natural explanation of the

Vedanta Sutra. In the end Sarvabhoma Bhatta Acharya he had been told by his

brother-in-law, I believe it was his brother-in-law Gopinatha Acharya, that

Lord Chaitanya was the avatara of Krishna come as a bhakta. But he didn't

believe it. Then things started to snap together, and he started to pick up

that Lord Chaitanya was more then what it appeared to be. He asked him to

reveal who he really was. Then Lord Chaitanya revealed his form as Krishna

to Sarvabhoma Bhatta Acharya. Then he also took a six-handed form showing

himself as Krishna, Rama, and Lord Chaitanya combined in one. Then

Sarvabhoma Bhatta Acharya surrendered to him.

After that, he became a very enthusiastic devotee. Before he was a very

stiff upper lip kind of, very impersonalist. You know about the smartas? Is

a kind of brahmana, who are very much conscious about rules and regulations.

He was in that line. One day Lord Chaitanya just to test him, he was late

for mongal arotik, so don't feel bad it happens to everyone, so Lord

Chaitanya came from the mongal arotik right into the bedroom of Sarvabhoma

Bhatta Acharya. Good Morning! Sunshine, Hare Krishna. How would you like

Lord Chaitanya to come after you missed mongal arotik? Next day you'd be on

time, right? Lord Chaitanya said, "look it we got maha-prasada and cashews

from the mongal arotik offering, here is some prasadam". He is still sitting

on his bed, he hadn't brushed his teeth, he hasn't done his morning duties -

taken his bath and all the things you normally do. So a smarta would not eat

food without having brushed the teeth, and all these things. Lord Chaitanya

gave him prasada, he had no chance of doing any of these things. Then he

immediately ate the prasada. Lord Chaitanya said, "how is it being a

brahmana you are eating without having bathed". Then he quoted a sloka

saying, that whenever we get prasadam there are no rules and regulations.

Prasadam is Krishna and we should immediately accept. How many of you can

follow that principle? (the devotees present raise their hands) So you are

very advanced. But Balabhadra Prabhu you could not follow this afternoon.

(Balabhadra Prabhu laughs) After they feed so much prasadam, they offered

more and he said no. So like that there are a lot of pastimes of Sarvabhoma

Bhatta Acharya, he is the avatara of Brihasapati. He was made into a

completely pure devotee by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's pastime.

 

Q: What is the difference between a brahmana and a vaisnava?

A: Once Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura was invited to speak in

front of a big assembly of brahmanas. He gave a big lecture on all the

twelve qualities of a brahmana: tama, dama, tatticshava, being equal, being

controlled, being patient, being clean, religious, practicing religiosity,

knowing religiosity, so on and so forth. He gave all the twelve qualities of

a brahmana. Then all the brahmanas became very satisfied with this

explanation. Then he says that the Vaisnava includes all these, but also the

quality of pure devotion to Krishna. Brahmana means, who knows Brahman.

Brahman is the impersonal aspect of the Absolute Truth. That means that the

brahmana should know what is the spiritual reality and what is the material

reality. Side by side, we should know both. But the Vaisnava knows Krishna,

which is more. Vaisnava knows the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Brahmanas

may not know fully about Krishna.

 

Q: Why do we worship deities?

A: Anybody can say why we worship deities? We cannot see his

sat-cit-ananda form, so we worship his deity form made in his image. He

gives us an opportunity to perform various personal services to the Lord,

and thus further develop our personal relationship. Krishna comes, and His

deity is an avatara - archa avatara. By serving the Lord in His archa

avatara form, then we are able to come closer to him and develop our Krishna

Consciousness. It is one of the nine processes of devotional service -

archana.

 

Q: Even though he will be in another form, will we know it's Prabhupada when

we finally get back to Godhead?

A: The things people worry about. (Laughter) He'll be wearing a

nametag. Yes, you will be able to recognize him.

 

Q: Forgive the question, how did you attain the state that you are in now?

How can I possibly reach the state of being very close to God?

A: Whatever state I'm in? Georgia. It's by the mercy of Srila

Prabhupada. You can become close to God by getting the mercy of Guru and

Krishna.

 

Q: What is the difference between material and spiritual humility and

tolerance?

A: Why do you want to know the difference between material and

spiritual? Isn't it enough to know what is spiritual humility and tolerance?

What is material and what is spiritual? What makes an activity spiritual or

material? The purpose for which it is done. The purpose for which the

activity is done, is what makes it. Things are done for a material purpose,

they are material. If somebody is humble to please Krishna, then its

spiritual humility. If they are tolerant to do their service for Krishna. If

somebody is very tolerant, so that no matter how many times the temple

president asks them to do something they tolerate it, they never do

anything. (laughter) They never get upset, never do anything. Is that

spiritual tolerance? Tolerance means that just like the scientists they work

very hard. They tolerate so many difficulties to make their discoveries.

Mahaguna works so hard to go to school. So many people go to school here,

there are so many universities. If things are done for some material

purpose, it's material. And if it's done for some spiritual purpose, it's

like, the devotees they are told that you are very great, but they always

think no this is just the mercy of Guru and Krishna. They always say

personally that I have no personal qualification. No matter how many times

we ask Prabhupada what's your secret for success, he would say I simple

tried to carry out the instructions of my spiritual master.

 

Q: What is the relationship between Krishna and the Devas.

A: Krishna is the original form of Vishnu, and Vishnu is the source of

all the Devas. So all the Devas are servitors of Krishna. So their

relationship is one of master and servant. When the Devas get in trouble,

they pray to Krishna for protection. He bails them out. Many times it

happens.