Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Vaesnava Dharma

There are mainly 2 types of mentality at work behind an inclination towards spirituality:

1. The selfish mentality, or átmá-sukha tattva [theory of selfish pleasure]
2. Sama-samája tattva [the theory of social equality].

When utter self-centredness manifests in people they think: “I shall eat and dress well, ride luxury cars and fulfil all my desires.”

• This is the dualistic or selfish mentality.
• It takes shelter in a dogma and exploits others.

Most of the religions of the world are based on this selfish mentality which is at work behind people’s worship of different non-scriptural gods and goddesses.

People pray with folded hands to Lakśmii, the goddess of wealth, saying:

People

Come, Mother Lakśmii, please be seated, Mother Lakśmii, stay in my house, Mother Lakśmii.

In a hot, humid country, snakes pose a nuisance.

So people introduced the worship of Manasá Devii, the goddess of snakes, for the purpose of propitiating her.

Smallpox also breaks out in hot countries. Hence people started worshipping Shiitalá Devii in order to ward off that disease.

Thus people set about worshipping various gods and goddesses with their own self-interest in view.

Religions all promise self-centred gain either in the future.

They send an extremely harmful signal that sometimes prompts people to forget their rationality.

• It creates in them an inability to tolerate other faiths.

Instead of love for mankind, imaginary selfish pleasure or heavenly pleasure becomes the goal of life.

The Márkańd́eya Puráńa, or Cańd́ii [mythological goddess in the Puráńa], says:

Rúpaḿ dehi, jayaḿ dehi, yasho dehi, dviśo jahi [“Give me beauty, give me victory, give me fame, and vanquish my enemy”].

Márkańd́eya Puráńa

This is also sullied with the same defect of átma-sukha tattva.

Vidyá dadáti vinayaḿ vinayát yáti pátratám; Pátratát dhanamápnoti dhanáddharma tato sukham. [Knowledge leads to humility, and humility makes one a fit receptacle to become prosperous. Prosperity leads to happiness.]

This shloka [couplet] shows that people have accepted religion only in hopes of getting wealth and pleasure.

Actual dharma is only in sama-samája tattva [unity].

True dharma is that which establishes human beings in both spheres of life, that is, the objective world and the noumenal world.

People will take with them everything that exists in the objective world.

• They will then proceed towards the noumenal world in a way that all the expressions of objective life will merge into one with that eternally-flowing noumenal entity.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born long after the birth of Jainism.

Two things made him a “Maháprabhu” [a great master]:

1. His birthplace was the confluence of Ráŕh and Bagri.

He was born during a transitional period in the social life of Ráŕh and Bengal.

The philosophy of life [based partly on Jainism] which then prevailed in Ráŕh diminished human beings.

• It totally devalued humanity.
• It was opposed to the práńa dharma of Ráŕh, causing the life of Bengal to dry up and turn into a desert.

Endowed with a lofty mind and a deep sensitive heart, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was unable to bear this state of affairs.

2. Supra-sensory “madness” among the Bauls of Ráŕh.

In a bid to redress this unnatural situation in social life, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu propounded Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava Dharma.

This was a balm for the stinking wounds of the then society.

Ramananda, Ramanuja and Ballabhacharya created sama-samája tattva [spirit of society] which made impact in the Vaeśńava society.

• Yet the system of caste discrimination was very strong.

But Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava philosophy was free from this evil influence.

Thanks to the pervasive influence of Shaeva Dharma in Ráŕh, there was also some influence of sama-samája tattva.

The Vaeśńava Dharma of Ráŕh was based on Shaeva Dharma.

• And so sama-samája tattva found a place in Ráŕh also.

But the Vaeśńava Dharma of other parts of India was based on prapattiváda.(1)

The soil of Ráŕh was very hard.

• And so Shaeva Dharma here formed a base that was also as hard as a diamond.

A revolutionary attitude is the fundamental spirit of Tantra.

The Baul doctrine and the influence of Jain Tantra and Shaeva Tantra all combinedly gave birth to an introversive, synthetic philosophy of life in Ráŕh.

In that environment emerged Chandidas, Dina Chandidas, Barhu Chandidas, Jaydev, Govindadas Thakur, Gyanadas Thakur, Lochandas Thakur, Naraharidas Thakur, etc.

• Their influence on the minds of the people of Ráŕh has been pervasive and profound.(2)

1981, Kolkata

Footnotes

(1) The idea that everything is being done by Paramátman, by the Divine Entity. This idea was sometimes taken to an extreme or misinterpreted. –Trans.

(2) In the original Bengali book, the number 9 as a chapter number was inadvertently skipped, so the chapters were numbered 1-8 and 10-32. In this book they have been numbered 1-31. –Trans.