{"id":37307,"date":"2020-02-09T01:40:03","date_gmt":"2020-02-09T06:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/?p=37307"},"modified":"2022-02-09T01:40:48","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T06:40:48","slug":"teachings-of-lord-caitanya-chapter-four-the-wise-man-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/teachings-of-lord-caitanya-chapter-four-the-wise-man-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachings of Lord Caitanya: CHAPTER FOUR The Wise Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CHAPTER FOUR<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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The Wise Man<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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Since no one can trace the history of the living entity\u2019s entanglement in material energy, Lord Caitanya said that it is beginningless. By \u201cbeginningless\u201d He meant that conditioned life exists prior to the creation; it simply becomes manifest during and after the creation. Due to forgetfulness of his real nature, the living entity, although spirit, suffers all kinds of miseries in material existence. It should be understood that there are also living entities who are not entangled in this material energy but are situated in the spiritual world. They are called liberated souls and are always engaged in K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness, devotional service.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The activities of those who are conditioned by material nature are taken into account, and in their next life, according to these activities, they are offered different grades of material bodies. Thus in the material world the conditioned spirit soul is subjected to various rewards and punishments. When he is rewarded for his righteous activities, he is elevated to the higher planets, where he becomes one of the many demigods, and when he is punished for his abominable activities, he is thrown into various hellish planets, where he suffers the miseries of material existence more acutely. Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu gives a very nice example of this punishment. Formerly a king used to punish a criminal by having him dunked in a river, raised up again for breath, and then again dunked in the water. Material nature punishes and rewards the individual living entity in just the same way. When he is punished, he is dunked in the water of material miseries, and when he is rewarded, he is taken out of it for some time. Elevation to the higher planets or to a higher status of life on this planet is never permanent. One must again come down to be submerged in the water. All this is constantly going on in this material existence: sometimes one is elevated to higher planetary systems, and sometimes one is thrown into the hellish condition of material life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In this regard Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu recited a nice verse from \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam<\/i> (11.2.37)<\/a> that is part of the instructions of N\u0101rada Muni to Vasudeva, the father of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

bhaya\u1e41 dvit\u012by\u0101bhinive\u015bata\u1e25 sy\u0101d
\n\u2003\u2003<\/span>\u012b\u015b\u0101d apetasya viparyayo \u2019sm\u1e5bti\u1e25
\ntan-m\u0101yay\u0101to budha \u0101bhajet ta\u1e41
\n\u2003\u2003<\/span>bhaktyaikaye\u015ba\u1e41 guru-devat\u0101tm\u0101<\/em><\/div>\n
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In this verse, which N\u0101rada Muni quotes from the instructions that the nine Yogendras imparted to Mah\u0101r\u0101ja Nimi, m\u0101y\u0101<\/i> is defined as \u201cforgetfulness of one\u2019s relationship with K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.\u201d Actually, m\u0101y\u0101<\/i> means \u201cthat which is not.\u201d Thus it is false to think that the living entity has no connection with the Supreme Lord. He may not believe in the existence of God, or he may think he has no relationship with God, but these ideas are all illusions, or m\u0101y\u0101<\/i>. Due to absorption in this false conception of life, a man is always fearful and full of anxieties. In other words, m\u0101y\u0101<\/i> is the godless concept of life. One who is actually learned in the Vedic literature surrenders unto the Supreme Lord with great devotion and accepts Him as the supreme goal. When a living entity forgets the constitutional nature of his relationship with God, he is at once overwhelmed by the external energy. This is the cause of his false ego, his false identification of the body with the self. Indeed, his whole conception of the material universe arises from this false identification with the body, for he becomes attached to the body and its by-products. To escape this entanglement, he has only to perform his duty, namely, to surrender unto the Supreme Lord with intelligence, with devotion and with sincere K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A conditioned soul falsely thinks himself happy in the material world, but if he is favored by an unalloyed devotee \u2013 if he hears the unalloyed devotee\u2019s instructions \u2013 he gives up his desire for material enjoyment and becomes enlightened in K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness. As soon as one enters into K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness, his desire for material enjoyment is at once vanquished, and he gradually becomes free from material entanglement. There is no question of darkness where there is light, and K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness is the light that dispels the darkness of material sense enjoyment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a conscious person is never under the false conception that he is one with God. Knowing that he would not be happy working for himself, he engages all his energies in the service of the Supreme Lord and thereby gains release from the clutches of the illusory material energy. In this connection, Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu quoted a verse from the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101<\/i> (7.14)<\/a>, where Krsna states:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

daiv\u012b hy e\u1e63\u0101 gu\u1e47a-may\u012b
\n\u2003\u2003<\/span>mama m\u0101y\u0101 duratyay\u0101
\nm\u0101m eva ye prapadyante
\n\u2003\u2003<\/span>m\u0101y\u0101m et\u0101\u1e41 taranti te<\/em><\/div>\n
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\u201cMy material energy, composed of the three modes of material nature, is very strong. It is very difficult to escape the clutches of the material energy, but one who surrenders unto Me is easily freed from the clutches of m\u0101y\u0101<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu went on to teach that each and every moment the conditioned soul is engaged in some fruitive activity, he forgets his real identity. Sometimes, when he is tired of material activities, he wants liberation and hankers to become one with the Supreme. But at other times he thinks that by working hard to gratify his senses he will be happy. In both cases he is covered by the material energy. For the enlightenment of such bewildered conditioned souls, who are working under a false identification, the Supreme Lord has presented us with voluminous Vedic literature, including the Vedas,<\/i> the Pur\u0101\u1e47as<\/i> and the Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btra<\/i>. These are all intended to guide the human being back to Godhead. Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu further explained that when a conditioned soul is accepted by a spiritual master out of his mercy and is guided by the Supersoul, the soul can take advantage of the various Vedic scriptures, become enlightened and make progress in spiritual realization. It is because Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is always merciful to His devotees that He has presented all this Vedic literature, by which one can understand his relationship with Him and can act on the basis of that relationship. In this way one is gifted with the ultimate goal of life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Actually, every living entity is destined to understand his relationship with the Supreme Lord and ultimately to reach Him. The execution of duties to attain this perfection is known as devotional service, and in maturity such devotional service becomes love of God, the true goal of life for every living being. The living entity should not desire success in religious rituals, economic development or sense enjoyment, or even liberation. One should desire only to achieve the stage of transcendental loving service to the Lord \u2013 pure K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness. The all-attractive features of Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a help one attain this stage of pure devotional service, and one who engages in the preliminary practices of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness can ultimately realize the relationship between himself and K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In this connection Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu related a story from \u015ar\u012bla Madhv\u0101c\u0101rya\u2019s commentary on the Fifth Canto of \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam<\/a><\/i> (5.5.10\u201313).<\/i> This story involves the instructions of an astrologer (sarva-j\u00f1a<\/i>) to a poor man who came to him to have his future told. When the astrologer saw the man\u2019s horoscope, he was astonished that the man was so poor, and he said to him, \u201cWhy are you so unhappy? From your horoscope I can see that you have a hidden treasure left to you by your father. However, the horoscope indicates that your father could not disclose this to you because he died in a foreign place. But now you can search out this treasure and be happy.\u201d This story is cited because the living entity is suffering due to his ignorance of the hidden treasure of his supreme father, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. That treasure is love of Godhead, and in every Vedic scripture the conditioned soul is advised to find it. As stated in the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101<\/a>,<\/i>although the conditioned soul is the son of the wealthiest personality \u2013 the Personality of Godhead \u2013 he does not realize it. Therefore the Vedic literature is given to him to help him search out his father and his paternal property.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The astrologer further advised the poor man: \u201cDon\u2019t dig on the southern side of your house to find the treasure, for if you do so you will be attacked by a poisonous wasp and will be baffled in your efforts to find the treasure. Search on the eastern side, where there is actual light, which is devotional service, or K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness. On the southern side there are Vedic rituals, on the western side there is mental speculation, and on the northern side there is meditational yoga.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The astrologer\u2019s advice should be carefully noted by everyone. If one searches for the ultimate goal by the Vedic ritualistic process, he will surely be baffled. Such a process involves the performance of rituals under the guidance of a priest who takes money in exchange for service. A man may think he will be happy by performing such rituals, but this is not true. Even if he does gain some result from them, it is only temporary. His material distresses will continue. So he will never become truly happy by following the ritualistic process. Instead, his material pangs will increase more and more. The same may be said for digging on the northern side, or searching for the treasure of love of Godhead by means of the meditational yoga process. The perfection of this process is to think oneself one with the Supreme Lord. But this merging into the Supreme is like being swallowed by a large serpent. Sometimes a small serpent is swallowed by a large serpent, and merging into the spiritual existence of the Supreme is analogous. While the small serpent is searching after perfection, he is swallowed. This is spiritual suicide. On the western side there is also an impediment in the form of a yak\u1e63a,<\/i> an evil spirit who protects the treasure. This yak\u1e63a<\/i> is j\u00f1\u0101na<\/i>–yoga,<\/i> the speculative process of self-realization. The idea is that a hidden treasure can never be found by one who asks the favor of a yak\u1e63a<\/i> to attain it. The result is that one will simply be killed. So while the yog\u012b\u2019s<\/i> practicing meditation is like a small serpent\u2019s being swallowed by a large serpent, practicing the speculative process to attain the treasure of love of Godhead is also suicidal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The only possibility, then, is to search for the hidden treasure on the eastern side, which represents the process of devotional service in full K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness. Indeed, the process of devotional service is itself the perpetual hidden treasure, and one who attains to it becomes perpetually rich. One who is poor in devotional service to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is always in need of material gain. Sometimes he suffers the bites of poisonous creatures and is baffled, and sometimes he follows the philosophy of monism and thereby loses his identity and is swallowed by a large serpent. It is only by abandoning all this and becoming fixed in K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness, devotional service to the Lord, that one can actually achieve the perfection of life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 CHAPTER FOUR The Wise Man Since no one can trace the history of the living entity\u2019s entanglement in material energy, Lord Caitanya said that it is beginningless. By \u201cbeginningless\u201d He meant that conditioned life exists … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 20:14:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}