Srimad Bhagavatam – 11.5.35 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | 14 March 2025 | Australia
ŚB 11.5.35
एवं युगानुरूपाभ्यां भगवान् युगवर्तिभि: ।
मनुजैरिज्यते राजन् श्रेयसामीश्वरोहरि: ॥ ३५ ॥
evaṁ yugānurūpābhyāṁ
bhagavān yuga-vartibhiḥ
manujair ijyate rājan
śreyasām īśvaro hariḥ
Translation
Thus, O King, the Supreme Lord Hari is the giver of all desirable benefits of life. Intelligent human beings worship the particular forms and names that the Lord manifests in different ages.
Purport
The word yugānurūpābhyām is significant here. Anurūpa means “suitable” or “appropriate.” The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, anxiously desires that all conditioned living entities come back home, back to Godhead, for an eternal life of bliss and knowledge. Thus, the Lord reveals Himself in each of the four ages — Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali — in a form appropriate for worship by the human beings of that age. In his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Pūrva-khaṇḍa 1.25), Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī states:
kathyate varṇa-nāmābhyāṁ
śuklaḥ satya-yuge hariḥ
raktaḥ śyāmaḥ kramāt kṛṣṇas
tretāyāṁ dvāpare kalua
“The Supreme Lord Hari is described in terms of His color and names as śukla [white, or the most pure] in Satya-yuga, and as red, dark blue and black respectively in Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali.” Thus, although in each age various names suitable for glorifying the Lord are given, such as Haṁsa and Suparṇa in Satya-yuga, Viṣṇu and Yajña in Tretā-yuga, and Vāsudeva and Saṅkarṣaṇa in Dvāpara-yuga, similar names are not given for Kali-yuga, although such names exist, in order to avoid disclosing cheaply the truth of the incarnation of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
In Kali-yuga human society is infested with hypocrisy and superficiality. There is a strong tendency toward imitation and fraud in this age. Therefore the incarnation of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is revealed in Vedic literature in a confidential, discrete way, so that it will be known to the authorized persons who can then propagate the mission of the Lord on the earth. We actually see in this modern age that many foolish and ordinary persons claim to be God or incarnations, avatāras, etc. There are many cheap philosophies and academies that promise, for a moderate fee, to make one God in a short time. In America one famous religious group promises its followers that they will all become the Supreme Lord in heaven. Such bogus preaching goes on in the name of Christianity. Thus, were Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s name widely spoken of in Vedic literature, there would soon be a veritable plague of imitation Caitanya Mahāprabhus infesting the world.
Therefore, to prevent this pandemonium, discretion is exercised in the Vedic literatures in Kali-yuga, and in a sober, concealed way the actual followers of Vedic culture are informed through the Vedic mantras of the descent of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This discrete system, selected by the Lord Himself for His appearance in Kali-yuga, is proving to be greatly successful on the earth planet. And throughout the world millions of people are chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa without the unbearable harassment of hundreds and thousands of imitation Caitanya Mahāprabhus. Those who seriously desire to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead can easily understand the Lord’s mission, whereas cynical materialistic rascals, puffed up by false prestige and madly considering their insignificant intelligence to be greater than the intelligence of Lord Kṛṣṇa, cannot understand the beautiful arrangements made by the Lord for His graceful descent into the material world. Thus, although Kṛṣṇa is śreyasām īśvaraḥ, or the Lord of all benedictions, such foolish persons turn away from the Lord’s mission and in this way deprive themselves of their own true benefit in life.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So these verses have been describing the incarnation in Kali-yuga in answer to the questions that were asked about the incarnations of the various yugas. So there are various incarnations of the Lord with specific or say general purposes. So we have puruṣa avatāras, guṇa avatāras, līlā avatāras, manvantara avatāras, shakti-aveśa avatāras, and we have yuga avatāras.
So the yuga avatāras are particularly meant for spreading the yuga dharma. As Varāha appears, but he’s not giving yuga dharma as such, he’s displaying his pastimes of lifting up the earth, etc. So that’s līlā avatār. So the form of the Lord is described for each of the yugas. As it is said here in the Purport, it says ‘varṇa-nāmābhyām’. So in the scriptures we have a description of the ‘varṇa’, or the colour, and the name. So the Lord is given name and he’s given his colour. As well as that, we usually have his activity, what is the particular yuga dharma that he’s going to spread. So in this way, the different verses were describing the various avatāras in the different yugas.
So this identifies those forms as previously in Canto 1 and Canto 2, lists of līlā avatāras were given with their particular names and colours and activities. All of this is done in order to identify who is the particular form of the Lord that’s appearing in different times and places. And the advantage of that is that we can discard those who claim to be avatāra but are actually not [Laughs]. So that’s why the specific names and colours, etc. are given. So we can distinguish that person from others who may claim to be avatāras.
As the Purport mentions, in Kali Yuga particularly, people claim to be avatār. It may not be usual or whatever in many countries, but of course we find it quite common in India [Laughs]. Different people always, every few years, find someone claiming to be an avatar of the Lord. But even in other countries we do find, let’s say, irregular groups pop up and they say, I am an incarnation of Christ or something like that. So it’s some common human tendency to identify yourself from some great person in the past, fool people by that. So that tendency is there in human beings to imitate. And to try to prevent that, we do have the various statements of scripture to identify the real forms of the Lord.
But as was mentioned here, the form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is somewhat hidden. Of course one reason is that the Kali Yuga avatar itself is somewhat hidden. Because we have Tri Yuga, not Chatur Yuga. The Lord appears in three Yugas. So the form in Kali Yuga is somewhat hidden. And of course the explanation given by Rupa Goswami is that in Kali Yuga, the form is not even Supreme Lord, it is Shakti-avesha avatar. So he is kind of the Lord, but at the same time he is not the Lord [Laughs]. So that’s the usual form in Kali Yuga of any avatar that appears.
Additionally, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is also described as the covered avatar. Because of another reason, and that is he is playing the role of a devotee rather than a Supreme Lord. Of course we find forms like Rama and Krishna who have human-like forms. And Krishna in Vrindavan of course somewhat hides his powers and just acts like a cowherd boy. But later on we see Krishna also displays his powers explicitly. And Ramachandra, though he is human in form, from the very beginning, he displays his extraordinary powers as Supreme Lord. So there’s nothing really too much hidden there [Laughs]. So Krishna of course is somewhat hidden, in Vrindavan particularly. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu – more covered over. Because he is purposely playing a human-like role in order to experience the mood of Radha.
So in Caitanya Caritamrta, it is explicitly stated that there is an esoteric reason for the Lord’s appearance. The external reason is that Yuga avatar should appear and spread Nama sankirtan. That’s one reason. But Krishna himself has another reason for appearing. And that is Krishna is curious about Radha, her identity and her experience. So it’s explained there that Krishna wonders, What is the sweetness of her love? What is the greatness of her love? How intense is that love? And what does she see in Krishna that is so attractive? So when he is Krishna he cannot really understand that. Because he is separate. Of course, we say Radha and Krishna are one. But in terms of pastimes they do separate and they have separate identities. So in that identity then Krishna wonders what is this experience of Radha. And of course that is there to understand her great position. So he cannot do that directly by playing the role of Krishna. He can do that by taking the role of the devotee. And of course if he takes the role of the mood of Radha then he can more likely experience the same experiences of Radha. So when he does that, he becomes Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
So actually he is Krishna internally but he takes the mood of Radha. And that is reflected in the complexion of Caitanya Mahaprabhu which is golden like Radha’s colour. So that’s the esoteric or internal reason for Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance. To experience the love of Radha and understand what it is. And thus appreciate her qualities even more. So in that sense Caitanya Mahaprabhu also is hidden because he is taking that role not of the Supreme Lord but of the devotee of the Lord.
We have the Panchatatva Mantra. ‘Pancha tatvakam Krishna bhakta rupa sarupakam’. So ‘Bhakta rupa’ means form of the devotee that refers to Caitanya Mahaprabhu [Laughs]. He takes the form of a devotee and of course all of his associates take the form of devotees. So Advaita Acharya is also avatar that is Purusha avatar, Mahavishnu but he takes the role of ‘bhakta avatar’. He also becomes a devotee of the Lord. So all these personalities there in the Panchatatva take the form of the devotees even though they are very exalted. So they all become hidden in that sense. So thus the Lord Caitanya is hidden in this way also.
So in the purport it mentioning how it is hidden, there is another explanation and that is that the scripture itself kind of hides the identity of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We’ll find if we look at the previous descriptions for each avatar it describes also other names of the Lord. So in Satya Yuga he is Sukla, but he is also called Hamsa and gives names like that. But that’s omitted here in this case [Laughs]. It just gives these two verses and then makes a general statement here. So in this way, it doesn’t say directly Caitanya Mahaprabhu or anything like that whereas others gives all sorts of names of the Lord. So in that sense also the identity of the Yuga avatar is somewhat hidden. So who is it? So our Acharyas of course point out it is Caitanya Mahaprabhu because he is the one that fits this description given previously of the person who is ‘Krishna varnam tvisha akrishnam’ etc.
But as I said, it’s not directly stated Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Kali Yuga and whatever like that. So in that sense indirect again. And the reason given here is that, to avoid advertising Caitanya Mahaprabhu as avatar to the faithless people who will cheat. And then take advantage of that to also claim I am also the Supreme Lord or whatever. Take up the name and imitate the activities. So in this way there is somewhat hidden the actual meaning.
And thus, if the people who are not followers of Lord Caitanya read this they do not identify Lord Caitanya [Laughs]. So the Vallabhas don’t take it as Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They call their Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhu or whatever. But they don’t take this verse to identify Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the Yuga avatar. And if we have people from Madhva or Sri Sampradaya also they will not take this verse as Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So avatar is there. I don’t know what they claim. Who is that avatar? Maybe he hasn’t come yet or whatever. So they are waiting for him. But the followers of Lord Caitanya and all our commentators when they take these verses they identify these verses to refer to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So in this way through the Bhagavatam, we do get the prediction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance. So it’s not completely unscriptural. We have scriptural evidence here.
And of course this is supported by verses from Vishnu sahashra naam and a few other scriptures also indicate things. So it is more or less specific to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So in that way, we come to this conclusion. So the importance of this is ultimately identifying Caitanya Mahaprabhu is that we can then chant the name, carry out the Yuga dharma of Nama Sankirtan. That’s one thing. But then we do it with the proper knowledge.
So Lord Caitanya also gives the knowledge and that’s presented in Caitanya Caritamrta. Who is the Lord? Who is the Jiva? What is material energy? How do they relate to each other? So all these things are presented along with the holy name so that we can chant the holy name properly. So that combination is very important.
So other people could claim to be Supreme Lord. I’m a new avatar or whatever. I’m also chanting the holy name so I’m an avatar. But we have to see what the teaching is [Laughs]. So they may talk about chanting, talk about prema etc. But we have to see what is the teaching? What is that prema? How do we attain that prema? So we have the complete teachings with Caitanya Mahaprabhu and his followers. So that makes this movement very, very significant. It’s that combination of the teaching with the chanting of the name that we will get this ultimate goal which is Krishna prema.
Okay. Any questions?
Q & A
1) Hare Krsna Maharaj, why do other sampardayas don’t accept Caitanya Mahaprabhu as avatar, though there are scriptural evidences?
Well, as I said here, it’s somewhat hidden. And as I mentioned yesterday, things are subject to interpretation. And of course, Krishna himself says, I prefer Paroksavad [Laughs] – indirect statements rather than direct statements. So that envious people cannot misuse those statements. So therefore, not just Lord Caitanya, but we can say many things will have this little bit of ambiguity about them. And you could take the statements one way or the other. So not just Lord Caitanya, but so many other things. And thus, when different commentators, not in our Sampradaya, will comment on Bhagavatam or Bhagavad Gita, they make them up with somewhat different meanings even [Laughs].
If they’re Vaishnavas, of course, they’re not completely discardable or whatever. They’re acceptable, but somewhat different. And of course, even within our own Sampradaya, we have Jiva Goswami writing commentary, Sanatana Goswami writing commentary, Vishwanath Chakravarthy writing commentary, Baladeva writing commentary. And they say something slightly different also [Laughs]. In other words, they’re writing a commentary because it’s going to be different from someone else, even if they are an Acharya in our Sampradaya. Somewhat different. They have some slightly different ideas. So those, we could say, interpretations of the words can be taken, because that’s the nature of scripture. We can take the words one way or the other. And that’s not only for Bhagavatam and Vedic scriptures or whatever. We can find that in any literature around the world. We can interpret it one way or the other.
So we take Shakespeare, and one scholar will interpret it this way, another this way, another this way. Even the same words [Laughs]. So that’s the nature of literature in general. And some of it may be a little bit off. Some may be within the boundaries of authority. So we accept those.
We accept those things written by the Vaishnava Sampradayas. But particularly we’ll take our Sampradaya, because it will give a meaning which glorifies Krishna and Radha and Caitanya Mahaprabhu in a more way conducive to our type of worship. And therefore we’ll take these meanings over other meanings. So there is flexibility in understanding scripture [Laughs].
2) Maharaj, a follow up on that. Generally we say that scriptures are absolute, but if they have this kind of flexibility, will they become relative in that case ?
So yes, we have scripture, shruti, authority. And those who at least accept the authority of Vedas, they are called astikas [Laughs]. And those who don’t are called nastikas. So the Buddhists and the Jains and the Christians and whatever are called nastikas [Laughs]. We sometimes say atheists. They’re not all atheistic, but they’re definitely not following Vedas. So they’re called nastikas. So those who accept the Vedas are astikas, so they get some credit.
But some people who accept the Vedas come up with completely opposite conclusions. So you could have an atheistic conclusion as Karma Mimamsa philosophy with Jaimini is atheistic. They don’t believe in a supreme God at all. Sankhya philosophy has no God. And they’re all claiming to be following shruti. So therefore, even if you do follow shruti, you can come up with opposite interpretations, which get rejected again [Laughs].
So just as the traditionalists will reject all of these philosophies and religions that don’t accept the Vedas, we also have to reject all those who reject God [Laughs], even if they do accept shruti. So we don’t accept Kapila’s atheistic Sankhya or Karma Mimamsa philosophy with Jaimini as absolute. So yes, scripture is absolute, but then you can take scripture and do anything with it, and it’s no longer absolute [Laughs] in that sense. If you get the wrong meaning, we have to reject it.
So scripture is absolute, definitely. And of course, the reason for this is wrong method of coming out with the meaning. In other words, you can get any meaning you want out of anything by distorting it this way and that way [Laughs], until it’s completely opposite meaning. And this is what Tarka can do. By logic, we can get opposite meanings [Laughs] and justify it somehow or other. But some of the logic is faulty. Some of the premarks are faulty.
So there are rules of interpretation of scripture, also given by Jaimini [Laughs]. And those are generally followed by even our Acharyas. They’ll follow those rules as much as possible. And they’ll also use those rules to defeat Shankaracharya’s interpretation. You break in the rule here, this is Jaimini’s rule, you’re not following it, and therefore you’re coming to the wrong conclusion [Laughs] based on this rule or whatever [Laughs]. So in general, we do follow sets of rules for giving the interpretation of a scripture. And of course, broadly, as I said, for us, we take generally the direct meaning over the indirect meaning, if possible.
Where there is contradiction, yes, we have to take Lakshana or indirect meaning and interpret to some degree. And even there, we have to be very careful and take it according to the context. The result should be a meaning in which all of the seeming contradictions of the scripture are resolved. So that’s basically what Acharyas do when they write commentaries on Bhagavatam. They’ll take all those verses and those things that look a little peculiar, maybe it looks like impersonal or whatever, they will explain them so that they will fit into the main theme, which is “Krishnastu Bhagavan Swayam” [Laughs]. So that’s the main theme. Everything should agree with that statement somehow or other, so they’ll take all the statements and make everything agree, using logic, using the principles of interpretation and according to context.
3) Maharaj, we say that in our scriptures the appearance of the Lord mentioned about – what time, where and which yuga and all the details are mentioned. Do the other religions also have similar things?
There is no avatars [Laughs]. There’s only one Supreme Lord. That’s it [Laughs]. So this is kind of a unique feature in the Vedic literature. We have many appearances of the Lord. Of course, most religions don’t even give a form to the Lord. So how could He appear? And how could we see Him? It would be a false form if we saw Him.
So the idea of avatar, Lord coming into the material world, not one time, but many times, this is quite foreign to most religions because they don’t accept a form of the Lord, at least in the present day, as religions have evolved like that. So therefore, they don’t have that idea in most cases. The best they can do is have the Son of God coming [Laughs], who has a form. But He only appears once in the whole of the universe. And that’s it.
4) Regarding Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in taking the combined form of Radha and Krishna, you feel the love of Radha and Krishna. Now, in terms of our sadhana and the final goal of achieving prema, we also know that in Goloka Vrindavan, half path is Navadvip, half is Golola Vrindavan. And so in the parampara, we understand that even spiritually we would be in two places simultaneously participating. My question is, in terms of sadhana itself, then do we need to practise both aspects, like worshipping Radha and Krishna, and you know, like in Rupanuga mood, and that, you know, like in a particular thing and the same, do we also have to aspire for something in Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Leela, or how does that happen, that you participate once you achieve perfection, both in Radha, Krishna Leela and in Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Leela. So do we need to practise it within one or the other?
If you desire to participate in both, then in your sadhana, you have to equally worship both [Laughs]. Of course, in one sense, we do worship both, because even if we prefer Radha and Krishna, we have to get to Radha Krishna through Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So there has to be some worship there, somewhere along the line.
At the same time, we also say, you can’t just worship Lord Caitanya and not give any regard for Radha Krishna, it doesn’t have any meaning. So technically we do have to worship, but usually there would probably be a prominence of one or the other, but if we have equal, then that’s where you would end up with two forms and two different pastimes.
5) Hare Krsna Maharaj, Dandavat Pranams. So we have discussed different stages of bhakti, starting from Shraddha and then Sadhu Sangha. Sometimes it seems it’s a very long way to go to Prema, and it is. My question is, I always have this question, is it practically possible for a common householder to reach Prema Bhakti in one lifetime?
Of course, Prabhupad I think.. when somebody asked that question. He said, “why ask such a question? You can get it in instant” [Laughs] like that.
So it’s possible, of course, but we see in most cases it may take some time, and in fact it’s usually hinted that it may take several lifetimes. So we see Bharat got Bhava, but only two lifetimes later he got Prema. So that’s for Bharat, who was actually in the line from Manu, so a very special person, but even he took from Bhava, he took another two lifetimes after that to get Prema. So, if that’s his case, what about us [Laughs] in Kali Yuga? Maybe more.
But, in any case, we should not look at the time scale so seriously, because we been in the material world for anadi [Laughs]. Not only this universe, and now it’s like year 51 of Brahma and his cycle of 1000 Yuga cycles, but there was a previous cycle, previous Brahmas, etc., and we’re all taking birth. Throughout that, we can’t even count the number of births and all the different species of life that we had.
So if it takes us 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20, it doesn’t really, it’s not really significant. It’s all, you know, even if it’s 20 lifetimes, or 30 lifetimes, it’s going to happen even within this particular Manvantara period. Of which is like 71 Yuga cycles, we’re now in 28th, 29th cycle I guess we are now, out of 71 of Vaivaswatha Manvantara. And each cycle has 4 million years, so how many lifetimes we can born [Laughs]. So, if it takes some time, it’s not a real problem.
And the devotee doesn’t also worry about that. As long as he can continue his service to the Lord, then he doesn’t matter, he doesn’t care how long it’s going to take to get the perfection out of that. Because he knows that by the mercy of the Lord, he will continue to advance and he continues to get the Lord’s mercy.
6) Maharaj, in terms of you are talking about Vallabhacharya, you put this verse differently. In Caitanya Caritamrta, we see that Vallabhacharya himself came to take the mercy of Mahaprabhu. He accepted Mahaprabhu, so why is that that the Sampradaya, is that they don’t have this interaction with them? I always thought Vallabhacharya to be a part of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s line.
Oh ! I see [Laughs]. Well, he also belongs to a different Sampradaya. So we have the, what is it, Rudra. So he coming in that line itself. How he ended up there, I don’t know. But, of course he was, their family seems to be quite related to Lord Caitanya because I think in Allahabad, Prayag also, Vallabhacharya’s place is there and I think Lord Caitanya went there as well. And, we know that in Govardhan, that the deity was taken care of, the Gopal deity was taken care of by the sons of Vallabhacharya.
So, that was from Lord Caitanya’s time because he was also there. He came at that time and the Goswamis were there. So, they seemed to be at the same time and favourable type of relationship between the groups. But, somehow he belonged to that particular Sampradaya. They must trace out their lineage somehow. Guru’s back to Shiva [Laughs].
7) Please enlighten us. Is it mentioned in scriptures about whether Caitanya Mahaprabhu was able to experience Radha Bhava fully when he was in this world?
Well, as I mentioned yesterday, Lord Caitanya had extreme symptoms which are not exhibited by anybody else at any other time, such as the blood oozing out instead of perspiration, the tears coming out like from a water gun or whatever, his body joints separating and his body shrinking or whatever, his limbs shrinking into the body. So, these were never seen before and have never seen afterwards [Laughs]. So, extreme symptoms of ecstasy. So, in that sense, we can say that his ecstasy was similar to that of Radha.
Devotees: HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !!