Chant and be Happy

By Amar Krish Paul

With the explosive expansion of science and technology, there is a great need to include spiritual knowledge and values for a balanced and holistic growth in human life.... there is no conflict between science and religion to the Vedantist. A brilliant scientist can also be a devout religious person like Pasteur or Planck.”

This broad view was vouched by Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja (Dr. T.D. Singh), one of the leading spiritual masters of Intertiol Society for Krish Consciousness (ISKCON). Once he was a noted scientist of Physical Organic Chemistry in California University, USA.  Later, he became an ISKCON Spiritual Master of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sect, one of the four authorised Vaishvite traditions in India.

In fact, the entire world is currently passing through a bad phase of quarrel and hypocrisy. Almost all people are unhappy. They are despaerately looking for some altertive means and method to be happy. Sad to say, they fail to get a pecea to cure themselves from a perenial disease. This main disease is the cycle of repeated birth, old-age, disease and virtual death. To get relief from this disease, one has to chant the holy me of the Lord and be happy, according Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya Lila chapter 6 and verse 242 depicts, “In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy mes of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.”

Notwithstandingly, people of this age can chant the Hare Krish maha-mantra and purify themselves. Thus, they can get rid themselves of the bodily conception of life and become eligible to engage in the Lord’s devotiol service. One cannot engage in the devotiol service of the Lord without being purified of contamition. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (7.28): “Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the dualities of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determition.”

In this Age of Kali, ‘Hari-kirta’ is very, very important. The importance of chanting the holy me of the Lord is stated in the following verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.3.51–52): “The most important factor in this Age of Kali, which is an ocean of faults, is that one can be free from all contamition and become eligible to enter the kingdom of God simply by chanting the Hare Krish mantra. The self-realization that was achieved in the Satya millennium by meditation, in the Treta millennium by the performance of different sacrifices, and in the Dvapara millennium by worship of Lord Krish can be achieved in the Age of Kali simply by chanting the holy mes, Hare Krish.”

According to scriptural injunctions, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is none other than Supreme Lord Sri Krish. He appeared in this Kali-yuga to iugurate the yuga dharma for this age – Sankirta, the congregatiol chanting of the holy mes of the Lord.

Once Lord Krish thought that he should persolly iugurate the religion of the age ‘ma-Sankirta’, the congregatiol chanting of the holy me of the Lord in the form of Lord Gauranga. By accepting the role of a devotee, He should make the whole world dance in ecstasy, and thus realise the four mellows of loving devotiol service. In this way, He should teach devotiol service to others by persolly practicing it, for whatever a great persolity does, common people will follow. Of course, His plery portions can establish the religious principles for each age, but only He can bestow the kind of loving devotiol service which is performed by the residents of Vrindavan dham of India.  The very me ‘Chaitanya’ means ‘consciousness’. Every person has ‘consciousness’. From this point of view, all living entities are the children of one supreme consciousness or Krish. That is, our common father is Krish or the Supreme Persolity of Godhead.

Historically, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared at Sridhama Mayapura, in the city of vadvipa in Bengal, on the Phalguni Purnima evening in the year 1486 AD. His father, Sri Jagantha Mishra, a learned Brahma from the district of Sylhet, came to vadvipa as a student. He lived on the banks of the Ganges with his wife Srimati Sachidevi, the daughter of Srila Nilambara Chakravarty, a great learned scholar of vadvipa. Their youngest son, who was med Vishvambhara, later became known as Nimai Pandita and then, after accepting the renounced order of life, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The wonderful pastimes performed by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the city of vadvipa and in Jaganth Puri are recorded by His biographers. The early life of the Lord is most fascitingly expressed by the author of Chaitanya-Bhagavata (Sri Vrindava Dasa Thakura), and as far as the teachings are concerned, they are more vividly explained in the Chaitanya-Charitamrita (by Sri Krish Dasa Kaviraja Gosvami). Now they are available to the English-speaking public.

He preached the Srimad-Bhagavatam and propagated the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita in the most practical way. The essence of His teachings is recorded in Chaitanya Manjusha as follows:

(i) Lord Sri Krish, who appeared as the son of the King of Vraja (nda Maharaja), is the Supreme Persolity of Godhead and is worshipable by all. (ii) Vrindava-dhama is non-different from the Lord and hence is as worshipable as the Lord. (iii) The highest form of transcendental worship of the Lord was exhibited by the damsels of Vrajabhumi. (iv) The Srimad-Bhagavata Pura is the spotless literature for understanding the Lord. (v) The ultimate goal of human life is to attain the stage of prema, or love of God. (vi)  His instructions to Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila Sata Gosvami, His discussions with Ramanda Raya, the debate with the Mayavadi sannyasi Prakashanda Sarasvati and the Vedanta Sutra, the discussion between Him and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya are excellent sources through which we understand His teachings in detail.

The Lord left only eight slokas of His instructions in writing, and they are known as the ‘Siksastaka’. All other literatures based on His teachings were extensively written by the Lord’s principal followers, the six Gosvamis of Vrindava, and their followers.

That is, His mission was to preach the importance of chanting the holy mes of the Lord in this age of Kali (quarrel). In this present age, quarrels take place even over trifles. Therefore, the Vedic literatures have recommended for this age a common platform for realization, mely chanting the holy mes of the Lord. People can hold meetings to glorify the Lord in their respective languages and with melodious songs, and if such performances are executed in an offenseless manner, it is certain that the participants will gradually attain spiritual perfection without having to undergo more rigorous methods. At such meetings everyone, the learned and the foolish, the rich and the poor, the Hindus and the Muslims, the Englishmen and the Indians, and the chandalas and the brahmas, can all hear the transcendental sounds and thus cleanse the dust of material association from the mirror of the heart. To confirm the Lord’s mission, all the people of the world will accept the holy me of the Lord as the common platform for the universal religion of mankind.

(Amar Krish Paul is the Principal, Creative Academy, Guwahati)

(Published on the occasion of 531st Gaur Purnima Festival on March 12, 2017; Feedback: neintrospection@gmail.com)