It was at the age of 16 or 17 that he traveled to Gayā with a host of his students and there took his spiritual initiation from Īśvara Purī, a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī and a disciple of the renowned Madhavendra Purī. Upon his return to Nadia, Nimāi Paṇḍita turned religious preacher, and his religious nature became so strongly represented that Advaita Prabhu, Śrīvāsa and others who had before the birth of Caitanya already accepted the Vaiṣṇava faith were astonished at the change of the young man. He was then no more a contending naiyāyika, a wrangling smārta and a criticising rhetorican. He swooned at the name of Kṛṣṇa and behaved as an inspired man under the influence of his religious sentiment. It has been described by Murāri Gupta, an eyewitness, that he shewed his heavenly powers in the house of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita in the presence of hundreds of his followers, who were mostly well-read scholars. It was at this time that he opened a nocturnal school of kīrtana in the compound of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita with his sincere followers.
Heavenly (CC and Other Books)
Expressions researched:
"heavenly"
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
"One should therefore avoid bad company and associate only with devotees. With their realized instructions, such saints can cut the knot connecting one with activities unfavorable to devotional service."
This verse, which appears in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.26.26), was spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava in the text known as the Uddhava-gīta. The discussion relates to the story of Purūravā and the heavenly courtesan Urvaśī. When Urvaśī left Purūravā, he was deeply affected by the separation and had to learn to overcome his grief.
In the Vaikuṇṭhas there are airplanes, but they make no tumultuous sounds. Material airplanes are not at all safe: they can fall down and crash at any time, for matter is imperfect in every respect. In the spiritual sky, however, the airplanes are also spiritual, and they are spiritually brilliant and bright. These airplanes do not fly business executives, politicians or planning commissions as passengers, nor do they carry cargo or postal bags, for these are all unknown there. These planes are for pleasure trips only, and the residents of Vaikuṇṭha fly in them with their heavenly, beautiful, fairylike consorts. Therefore these airplanes, full of residents of Vaikuṇṭha, both male and female, increase the beauty of the spiritual sky.
CC Madhya-lila
Svarūpa Dāmodara was as expert a musician as the Gandharvas, and in scriptural discussion he was just like Bṛhaspati, the priest of the heavenly gods. Therefore it is to be concluded that there was no great personality quite like Svarūpa Dāmodara.
"Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the original Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who regulates the sufferings and enjoyments due to fruitive activity. He does this for everyone—from the heavenly King Indra down to the smallest insect (indra-gopa). That very Personality of Godhead destroys the karmic reactions of one engaged in devotional service."
“With humility caused by great fear, Indra took hold of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa and, in the company of a surabhi cow, performed His coronation festival by bathing Him with the waters of the heavenly Ganges River. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa's kingship over the cows became splendidly manifest. I pray that Govinda-kuṇḍa, the lake created by that ceremonial bath, may eternally appear before my eyes.”
CC Antya-lila
Indra, the King of heaven, being too proud of his heavenly opulences, became like a madman. Thus bereft of his intelligence, he could not restrain himself from speaking nonsensically about Kṛṣṇa.
Raghunātha dāsa, our son, has opulences like Indra, the heavenly King, and his wife is as beautiful as an angel. Yet all this could not tie down his mind.
One who experiences the fragrance of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa does not value even the standard of happiness available in Brahmaloka, the topmost planet. And what to speak of heavenly happiness?
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “These are remnants of food that Kṛṣṇa has eaten and thus turned to nectar with His lips. It surpasses heavenly nectar, and even such demigods as Lord Brahmā find it difficult to obtain.
"O collector of honey, Kṛṣṇa must be very sorry not to see us gopīs. Surely He is afflicted by memories of our pastimes. Therefore He has sent you as a messenger to satisfy us. Do not speak to us! All the women in the three worlds where death is inevitable—the heavenly, middle and lower planets—are very easily available to Kṛṣṇa because His curved eyebrows are so attractive. Moreover, He is always served very faithfully by the goddess of fortune. In comparison with her, we are most insignificant. Indeed, we are nothing. Yet although He is very cunning, Kṛṣṇa is also very charitable. You may inform Him that He is praised for His kindness to unfortunate persons and that He is therefore known as Uttamaśloka, one who is praised by chosen words and verses."
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Nectar of Devotion
In the Tenth Canto, Eighty-first Chapter, verse 19, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is told how Sudāmā, an intimate friend of Kṛṣṇa's, while going to the house of a brāhmaṇa, murmured to himself, "Simply by worshiping Kṛṣṇa one can easily achieve all the results of heavenly opulence, liberation, supremacy over the planetary systems of the universe, all the opulences of this material world, and the mystic power of performing the yoga system.
In the Padma Purāṇa there is a statement: "For any person who is chanting the holy name either softly or loudly, the paths to liberation and even heavenly happiness are at once open."
Perspiration due to anger was exhibited by Garuḍa, the eagle who is the carrier of Viṣṇu. Once the heavenly king, Indra, was sending torrents of rain over Vṛndāvana. Garuḍa was observing the incident from above the clouds, and because of his anger, he began perspiring.
The heavenly King, Indra, upon being defeated in his fight with Kṛṣṇa for possession of the pārijāta flower, became very bashful because of his defeat. He was standing before Kṛṣṇa, bowing down his head, when Kṛṣṇa said, "All right, Indra, you can take this pārijāta flower. Otherwise, you will not be able to show your face before your wife, Śacīdevī." Indra's bashfulness was due to defeat.
In the Mukunda-mālā-stotra, compiled by King Kulaśekhara, one of the prayers says, "My dear Lord, You are the deliverer of living entities from the hellish condition of materialistic life, but that does not matter to me. Whether I am elevated to the heavenly platform or remain on this earthly planet or am dispatched to some hellish planet, that does not matter at all to me. My only prayer is that at the time of my death I may simply remember Your two beautiful feet, which are just like lotus flowers fructifying during the autumn season."
Auspicious persons who are fortunate enough to be engaged in glorifying Your attributes and who actually know what Your transcendental position is do not even care to accept liberation offered by You. Because they are so transcendentally enriched, they do not care to accept even the post of Indra, the heavenly King. They know that the post of the King of heaven is also fearful, whereas for those who are engaged in glorifying Your transcendental qualities there is only joyfulness and freedom from all danger.
The best example of a dharma-vīra is Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. A devotee once told Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, O killer of all demons, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, the eldest son of Mahārāja Pāṇḍu, has performed all kinds of sacrifices just to please You. He has always invited the heavenly King, Indra, to take part in the yajñas (sacrifices). Because King Indra was thus absent so often from Śacīdevī, she had to pass much of her time pining over Indra's absence, with her cheeks upon her hands."
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
After hearing this, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the presence of His father and all the elder cowherd men of Vṛndāvana, spoke in such a way as to make the heavenly king, Indra, very angry. He suggested that they forgo the sacrifice. His reasons for discouraging the sacrifice performed to please Indra were twofold. First, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, there is no need to worship the demigods for any material advancement; all results derived from worshiping the demigods are simply temporary, and only those who are less intelligent are interested in temporary results. Second, whatever temporary result one derives from worshiping the demigods is actually granted by the permission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: mayaiva vihitān hi tān. Whatever benefit is supposed to be derived from the demigods is actually bestowed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Then the surabhi cow bathed Kṛṣṇa with her milk, and Indra bathed Him with the water of the celestial Ganges through the trunk of his carrier elephant. After this, the surabhi cows and all the demigods and their mothers joined the heavenly king, Indra, in worshiping Lord Kṛṣṇa by bathing Him with Ganges water and the milk of the surabhis. Thus Govinda, Lord Kṛṣṇa, was pleased with all of them.
The citizens of Mathurā spoke among themselves: "Śaṅkhacūḍa, Keśī, Dhenukāsura and many other demons were killed by Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma in Vṛndāvana. Kṛṣṇa also saved all the cowherd men of Vṛndāvana from a devastating fire. He chastised the Kāliya snake in the water of the Yamunā, and He curbed the false pride of the heavenly king, Indra. Kṛṣṇa held up the great Govardhana Hill in one hand for seven continuous days and saved all the people of Gokula from incessant rain, hurricane and hailstorm."
Generally, the demons are always against the demigods. This demon, Bhaumāsura, having become very powerful, took by force the umbrella from the throne of the demigod Varuṇa. He also took the earrings of Aditi, the mother of the demigods. He conquered a portion of heavenly Mount Meru and occupied the portion known as Maṇi-parvata.
While the men were meeting in that way, the women also met one another in the same manner. They embraced one another in great friendship, smiling very mildly, and looked at one another with much affection. When they were embracing one another in their arms, the saffron and kuṅkuma spread on their breasts was exchanged from one person to another, and they all felt heavenly ecstasy. Due to such heart-to-heart embracing, torrents of tears glided down their cheeks. The juniors were offering obeisances to the elders, and the elders were offering their blessings to the juniors. They thus welcomed one another and asked after one another's welfare. Ultimately, however, all their talk was only of Kṛṣṇa. All the neighbors and relatives were connected with Lord Kṛṣṇa's pastimes in this world, and as such Kṛṣṇa was the center of all their activities. Whatever activities they performed—social, political, religious or conventional—were transcendental.
My dear Queen, our only qualification was that we were always thinking of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which is the way to release oneself from the bondage of repeated birth and death. My dear Queen Draupadī, please take it from us that we are not after any opulence such as a kingdom, an empire or a position of heavenly enjoyment. We do not want to enjoy such material opulences, nor do we desire to achieve the yogic perfections, nor the exalted post of Lord Brahmā. Nor do we want any of the different kinds of liberation—sārūpya, sālokya, sārṣṭi, sāmīpya or sāyujya. We are not at all attracted by any of these opulences. Our only ambition is to bear on our heads life after life the dust particles attached to the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
In a festive mood, the wives of the Lord would sometimes sprinkle water on the His body with a syringelike instrument, and the Lord would similarly wet the bodies of the queens. When Kṛṣṇa and the queens engaged themselves in these pastimes, it seemed as if the heavenly king, Yakṣarāja, were engaged in pastimes with his many wives.
Renunciation Through Wisdom
From the foregoing one can understand that this massive cosmic creation, with its innumerable planetary systems and heavenly bodies, has come about only through the interference of some superior and powerful consciousness. It is beyond doubt that matter is inert, incapable of voluntary action, and that consciousness has activated the twenty-four material ingredients so as to exhibit variegatedness in material nature. All this goes to prove the inherent insufficiency and imperfections in material nature. Thus transcendental happiness is possible only in spiritual variegatedness.
Message of Godhead
But those who are legitimate or law-abiding persons may be divided into three transcendental divisions: namely, the lawful workers, the empiric philosophers, and the transcendental devotees. The lawful workers are again divided into two sections: namely, the workers with a desire to enjoy the fruits of their work; and the transcendental workers, without any such desire. The worker with a desire to enjoy the fruits of his work is hankering after transient material happiness, and such a worker is rewarded with worldly or heavenly happiness within the material worlds. But it must be known that all these forms of happiness are temporary. Thus, the worker cannot attain to real happiness, which is permanent and transcendental.
Sri Isopanisad
But the veda-vāda-rata people, instead of realizing that the purpose of the Vedas is to revive the forgetful soul's lost relationship with the Personality of Godhead, take it for granted that such side issues as the attainment of heavenly pleasure for sense gratification—the lust for which causes their material bondage in the first place—are the ultimate end of the Vedas. Such people misguide others by misinterpreting the Vedic literature. Sometimes they even condemn the Purāṇas, which are authentic Vedic explanations for laymen.
| Page Title: | Heavenly (CC and Other Books) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, ChandrasekharaAcarya |
| Created: | 21 of Feb, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=10, OB=19, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 29 |