Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Madhya 7.66

alaukika vākya ceshtā tāńra nā bujhiyā

parihāsa kariyāchi tāńre 'vaishnava' baliyā

SYNONYMS

alaukika — uncommon; vākya — words; ceshtā — endeavor; tāńra — his; nā — without; bujhiyā — understanding; parihāsa — joking; kariyāchi — I have done; tāńre — unto him; vaishnava — a devotee of the Lord; baliyā — as.

TRANSLATION

"I could not realize when I first spoke with Rāmānanda Rāya that his topics and endeavors were all transcendentally uncommon. I made fun of him simply because he was a Vaishnava."

PURPORT

Anyone who is a not a Vaishnava, or an unalloyed devotee of the Supreme Lord, must be a materialist. A Vaishnava living according to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's injunctions is certainly not on the materialistic platform. Caitanya means "spiritual force." All of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's activities were carried out on the platform of spiritual understanding; therefore only those who are on the spiritual platform are able to understand the activities of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Materialistic persons cannot understand these activities and are generally known as karmīs or jñānīs. The jñānīs are mental speculators who simply try to understand what is spirit and what is matter. Their process is neti neti: "This is not spirit, this is not Brahman." The jñānīs are a little more advanced than the dull-headed karmīs, who are simply interested in sense gratification. Before becoming a Vaishnava, Sārvabhauma Bhattācārya was a mental speculator (jñānī), and being such, he always cut jokes with Vaishnavas. A Vaishnava never agrees with the speculative system of the jñānīs. Both the jñānīs and karmīs depend on direct sense perception for their imperfect knowledge. The karmīs never agree to accept anything not directly perceived, and the jñānīs put forth only hypotheses. However, the Vaishnavas, the unalloyed devotees of the Lord, do not follow the process of acquiring knowledge by direct sense perception or mental speculation. Because they are servants of the Supreme Lord, devotees receive knowledge directly from the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He speaks it in the Bhagavad-gītā, or sometimes as He imparts it from within as the caittya-guru. As Lord Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gītā (10.10):

teshām satata-yuktānām bhajatām prīti-pūrvakam

dadāmi buddhi-yogam tam yena mām upayānti te

"To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me."

The Vedas are considered to have been spoken by the Supreme Lord. They were first realized by Brahmā, who is the first created being within the universe (tene brahma hridā ya ādi-kavaye). Our process is to receive knowledge through the paramparā system, from Krishna to Brahmā, to Nārada, Vyāsa, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the six Gosvāmīs. By disciplic succession, Lord Brahmā was enlightened from within by the original person, Krishna. Our knowledge is fully perfect due to being handed from master to disciple. A Vaishnava is always engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, and thus neither karmīs nor jñānīs can understand the activities of a Vaishnava. It is said, vaishnavera kriyā-mudrā vijñeha nā bujhaya: even the most learned man depending on direct perception of knowledge cannot understand the activities of a Vaishnava. After being initiated into Vaishnavism by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Sārvabhauma Bhattācārya realized what a mistake he had made in trying to understand Rāmānanda Rāya, who was very learned and whose endeavors were all directed to rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness