Bhakti Srila - The golden volcano of divine love : the life and precepts of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu

The Golden Volcano
of Divine Love

His Divine Grace

Swm B. R. rdhar

r Chaitanya Sraswat Mah

1996 Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math

All rights reserved by the Successor President-Acharya

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Kolerganj,
P. O. Box Nabadwip, Dist. Nadia,
W. Bengal Pin 741302, India

1984 Edition Acknowledgements

Editor in Chief: Bhakti Sudhir Goswami
Editor: Swami B. V. Mahayogi
Transcription: Prabala Dasi, Kamala Dasi
Typography: Swami B. V. Mahayogi
Proofreading: Alwarnath Das, Vamshi Vadanananda Das
Graphic Design: Bhakti Sudhir Goswami
Layout: Lalita Chara Prabhu
Photography: Vidagdha Madhava Das, Preraka Prabhu
Sripping: Nabadwip Prabhu
Recordings: Badri Naraya Prabhu
Consultants: Swami B. K. Giri, Sarvabhavana Prabhu
Contributors: Yudhamanyu Prabhu, Bhakta Das, Swami B. K. Bhagawat, Brahma Das, Brishakapi Prabhu, Rishabdev Das, Markendeya Das, Premananda Prabhu, Ramananda Prabhu, Uddhava Prabhu, Deva Naraya Prabhu, Bhaktapriya Dasi, Prabala Dasi, Anaga Majari Dasi, Kamala Dasi, Suchitra Dasi, Jivana Dasi, Dikavati Dasi

Special thanks to the following devotees for their help with this current edition:

Swami B. P. Janardan, rutarava Prabhu, Nabadwip Prabhu, Sarvabhavana Das, Ananta Ka Prabhu, Shobana Ka Prabhu, Jatindra Mohan Prabhu, Jagabandhu Prabhu, Tilak Dasi, Sri Govinda Prabhu, Mahashraya Prabhu

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Introduction

r Chaitanya Mahprabhu preached the full-fledged theistic conception given in rmad Bhgavatam . rmad Bhgavatam mainly deals with the comparative study of theism and the ontology of Ka consciousness. It surpasses all other Vedic literature, even the Puras. The Brahma-vaivarta-pura and Padma-pura represent the importance of devotion to Ka through narration and history to some extent, but fall short of the philosophical and ontological standard set by the Mahpura, rmad Bhgavatam . rmad Bhgavatam can satisfy all Vedntic scholars, for it represents Ka consciousness in its fullest dignity. rmad Bhgavatam expounds as the highest attainment of theism not consciousness, intelligence, or ontology, but ecstasy, beauty, and harmonyrasa. In rmad Bhgavatam , rasa is all-important. It is a unique treatise, for it takes theism from the plane of intellectual jugglery to the domain of rasa.

I once began writing a book which was to be a summary study of the eighteen thousand verse rmad Bhgavatam . Bhakti Vinod hkur condensed the whole Bhgavat principle into one thousand verses in his Bhgavatrka-marchi-ml . I had a mind to consolidate it even more, to represent it within three hundred verses. I began that book, but could not finish it.

rmad Bhgavatam is a vast treatise in the Sanskrit language, filled with essential information, historical reference, and expositions on the major schools of philosophy. In rmad Bhgavatam , many minor points of history and geography are also mentioned which, although nonessential, support its conclusions. Whatever is unnecessary in rmad Bhgavatam is eliminated when its meaning reaches its purest and most intensified glory in the teachings of r Chaitanya Mahprabhu. So, if we are to consider the very gist of rmad Bhgavatam , we must study the life and precepts of r Chaitanya Mahprabhu. Just as the teachings of the great author of rmad Bhgavatam , rla Vysadev, were percolated by the realisations of ukadev Goswm, the essence of rmad Bhgavatam has been percolated by the life and precepts of r Chaitanya Mahprabhu.

Therefore, because the teachings of rman Mahprabhu represent the gist of rmad Bhgavatam , I would like to include here one of the verses I originally composed to introduce my summary study. It glorifies the position of Gaddhar Pait, the most intimate associate of r Chaitanya Mahprabhu. Gaddhar Pait used to read rmad Bhgavatam in Jagannth Pur, at the o Gopnth Temple. He would read, and rman Mahprabhu and the great devotees like Svarp Dmodar and Rmnanda Ry were his audience:

nlmbhodhi-tae sad sva-virah-kepanvita bndhava
rmad-bhgavat kath madiray sajvayan bhti ya
rmad-bhgavata sad sva-nayanru-pyanai pjayan
gosvmi-prabaro gaddhara-vibhr-bhyt mad-ek-gati

On the shore of the broad blue ocean, Gaddhar Pait used to read rmad Bhgavatam to r Chaitanya Mahprabhu, who was suffering from the great internal pain of separation from Himself (Ka). Gaddhar Pait supplied the wine of Ka-ll to intoxicate his afflicted friend and give Him relief. As he read, tears would fall from his eyes like flower offerings onto the pages of rmad Bhgavatam . May the pleasure of that brilliant personality, Gaddhar Pait, the best of the Goswms, be my only object in writing this book.

The title of this book is The Golden Volcano of Divine Love. r Chaitanya Mahprabhu felt a great pain of separation from Ka which burned like fire and was expressed as the ikakam . This is explained in Prema-dhma-deva-stotram (54):

r-svarpa-rya-saga-gambhirntya-llana
dvdabda-vahni-garbha-vipralambha-lanam
rdhikdhirha-bhva-knti-ka-kujara
prema-dhma-devam eva naumi gaura-sundaram

Diving deep into the reality of His own beauty and sweetness, Ka stole the mood of Rdhr and, garbing Himself in Her brilliant lustre, appeared as r Chaitanya Mahprabhu. For the last twelve years of His manifest Pastimes, He was deeply absorbed in the mood of union and separation, and shared His hearts inner feelings with His most confidential devotees. In the agony of separation from Ka, volcanic eruptions of ecstasy flowed from His heart, and His teachings, known as ikakam , appeared from His lips like streams of golden lava. I fall at the feet of r Chaitanya Mahprabhu, the golden volcano of divine love.

He was vomiting the fire of painful separation from Ka in the form of the ikakam . Therefore, r Chaitanya Mahprabhu is compared to a golden volcano and the ikakam is compared to divine lava.

r Chaitanya Mahprabhu has taught us that separation is the highest principle in divinity. Just as the most intense conception of ecstasy is association with Ka, the most intense conception of pain is separation from Ka. Yet the pain felt from Kas separation is far more intense than the ecstasy felt from His association. rman Mahprabhu says, Cant you understand the painful situation you are in? Your senses must have all been destroyed. Otherwise you would have died from the pain of separation from Ka. It is inconceivable. We belong to Him wholesale. He is all-in-all to us, but we cant see Him. We are forcibly separated from Him. How can we tolerate this? And Bhakti Vinod hkur once said, I cant tolerate separation from Ka any longer. I can go on for only three or four more days, and then I shall have to leave this body.

To love Ka means that we shall have to die to live. In the beginning divine love seems like lava, death, but really it is nectar, life. Many persons in this ordinary world are also frustrated in love. They sometimes go mad and commit suicide because they cant tolerate the pain. But the pain which comes with separation from Ka, although compared with lava, is not injurious like lava. Kavirj Goswm explains:

bhye via-jvl haya, bhitare nanda-maya,
ka-premra adbhuta charita

The wonderful characteristic of divine love of Ka is that although externally, it works like fiery lava, internally it is like sweet nectar that fills the heart with the greatest joy.

Although He felt the greatest pain of separation from Ka, still, within His heart, r Chaitanya Mahprabhu experienced the deepest ecstatic joy. The ecstatic symptoms manifested by r Chaitanya Mahprabhu have never been found in the history of the world or even expressed in any scripture. In Him, we find the highest conception of the ultimate reality. This is explained in my Prema-dhma-deva-stotram (66):