A Devotee is Peaceful (Sajjana Śānta)

Only a pure Vaiṣṇava, or a sajjana, is truly peaceful. It is true that no one desires to become asajjana (impious); yet, due to a lack of eligibility, when one commits offences at the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava, one begins to identify such a mundane nature to be one’s own inherent self. Thus, such a jīva who is bound by māyā and filled with false ego becomes known as aśānta (one who is devoid of peace). From prakṛti (material nature) intelligence arises, and from ahaṅkāra–tattva (the principle of false egotism), the false ego itself manifests. Due to offences to the Vaiṣṇavas, the asajjana falls from the plane of the mahat-tattva (principle of material existence). Having turned away from transcendental vision, he becomes agitated in the enjoyment of material form, taste, smell, sound, and touch. Thus, the workings of his false ego become manifest. Being so afflicted by that poison, he becomes restless and, overcome by egotism, even projects the same egoistic faults upon the pure devotee, the sajjana – considering him to be of a nature similar to his own.

If, by giving up his material ego, he can one day achieve the vision to behold the ideal of the peaceful sajjanas, then he will understand that only the sajjanas are truly peaceful – whereas those of narrow, mundane intellect, who crave the designation of ‘Vaiṣṇava’ while being prākṛta-sahajiyās, are the only ones who are not peaceful. Śrīman Mahāprabhu has said (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 139-149):

keśāgra-śateka-bhāga punaḥ śatāṁśa kari
tāra sama sūkṣma jīvera ‘svarūpa’ vicāri

If one were to divide the tip of a hair into one hundred parts, and again divide one of those parts into another hundred, the jīva’s real nature is still more subtle than that.

keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatāṁśa-sadṛśātmakaḥ
jivaḥ sūkṣma-svarūpo ’yaṁ saṅkhyātīto hi cit-kaṇaḥ

The jīva, whose form is subtler than one ten-thousandth part of the tip of a hair, is an atom of pure consciousness, innumerable and beyond all material calculation.

bālāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca
bhāgo jīvaḥ sa vijñeya iti cāha parā śrutiḥ

The śruti declares that the jīva is to be known as one ten-thousandth part of the tip of a hair, divided again a hundred times – exceedingly minute.

sūkṣmāṇām apy ahaṁ jīvaḥ

Of all things that are minute, I am the jīva.

aparimitā dhruvās tanu-bhṛto yadi sarva-gatās
tarhi na śāsyateti niyamo dhruva netarathā
ajani ca yan-mayaṁ tad avimucya niyantṛ bhavet
samam anujānatāṁ yad amataṁ mata-duṣṭatayā

If the embodied beings were infinite and omnipresent like You, then naturally there could be no Supreme Ruler over them – that would logically follow. But, because they are born of You, and exist only within Your energy, they can never be independent of You; You alone remain their eternal Master. Those who think that the individual jīva is equal to You are misguided by defective intelligence.

tāra madhye sthāvara jaṅgama dui bheda
jaṅgame tiryak-jala-sthalacara-vibheda

Among them (the jīvas), there are two divisions – the sthāvara (inanimate) and the jaṅgama (animate). The animate beings are further divided into those that fly, those that dwell in water, and those that live on land.

tāra madhye manuṣya-jāti ati alpatara
tāra madhye mleccha, pulinda, bauddha, śabara

Among all of them, the human species are very few. And among humans, there are the mlecchas, pulindas, Buddhists, and śabaras.

veda-niṣṭha-madhye ardheka veda mukhe māne
veda-niṣiddha pāpa kare, dharma nāhi gaṇe

Among those who claim to follow the Vedas, half of them accept the Vedas by lip-service only. They still engage in sinful acts forbidden by the Vedas and do not truly care for dharma.

dharmācāri-madhye bahuta karma-niṣṭha
koṭi-karma-niṣṭha-madhye eka jñānī śreṣṭha

Among those who follow dharma, many are devoted to karma. Among millions of those who are engaged in karma, a jñānī is supreme.

koṭi-jñāni-madhye haya eka-jana mukta
koṭi-mukta-madhye durlabha eka kṛṣṇa-bhakta

Among millions of jñānīs, only one attains liberation. Among millions of liberated souls, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa is most rare.

kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma, ataeva śānta
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali aśānta

The devotee of Kṛṣṇa, being desireless, is peaceful (śānta). Those who are attached to enjoyment, liberation, or mystic perfections are all restless (aśānta).

Relying upon mundane analysis, those who consider themselves knowledgeable of the principles of sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana, yet by their natural disposition remain distant from engaging in the service of Hari, never escape committing offences even after countless millions of lifetimes. Such persons remain eternally offensive and restless, and driven by their desire to oppose Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas, they repeatedly take birth again and again.

Some of them accept the Vedas only through lip-service, while others, even though they know that the Vedic injunctions forbid sensual enjoyment, live a life of illicit sexual indulgence and, and with prideful arrogance, establish themselves as preachers or mendicants in an inferior śūdra-like manner. By the desire of Kṛṣṇa, all people generally disregard them. Therefore, being neglected, they become disturbed due to committing offences against the Vaiṣṇavas and gradually sink deeper and deeper into degradation. They cannot comprehend the sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana of the Vedas, and they propagate their tendencies based on asat-śāstras (non-bona fide scriptures) under various pretentious names, thereby accumulating offences at the feet of the Vaiṣṇavas. Accepting the Vedas in word only, such arrogant and inimical jīvas remain averse to hari-bhajana and continue to commit sins forbidden by the Vedas, and in vehement opposition, they criticise the society of devotees. After experiencing no peace for countless lifetimes, such jīvas eventually, upon the exhaustion of their sins, attain pious births in successive lives and become elevated to the position of karmīs (followers of karma-kāṇḍa). Later, transcending such poisonous paths of karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, as well as false bhakti-kāṇḍa, they achieve peace at the pure lotus feet of the sajjanas.

As long as he does not realise the turbulent disposition found within the venomous consequences of those who are opposed to Kṛṣṇa, and while he does not obtain the glories of the pure lotus feet of the sajjanas by gathering sukṛti, the egotistical jīva continues to loudly declare the Vaiṣṇavas to be like himself – restless, proud, and deceitful. The sole dharma of a pure Vaiṣṇava is to ignore all such ignorant, immature, and disturbed jīvas. In the same way, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the virtuous tridaṇḍī devotee, while being oppressed by the restless and egotistical jīvas, disregarded them. That particular section is a subject to be constantly discussed by every Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍī. The Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍīs, or the paramahaṁsas who have given up the daṇḍa, will not deliver these agitated jīvas from their unrest, but will merely disregard them – this indeed is the dharma of the tridaṇḍī, or of those who have given up the daṇḍa.* Śrīman Mahāprabhu has established such tridaṇḍi-dharma alone as the highest discernment of the conditioned jīvas who are attached householders who claim to be servants of gṛhī-gaurāṅga (‘householder Gaurāṅga’).**

* Paramahaṁsas who have given up the daṇḍa refers to the bābājī section of renunciates.

** Some sahajiyās use the excuse of Mahāprabhu being a householder in order to enjoy their household life.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself is the expounder of this tridaṇḍī dharma, and Śrī Gaurasundara Himself accepted sannyāsa, personally establishing it as the very standard for the tridaṇḍī Vaiṣṇavas. If one can grasp the essential meaning of this, the jīva’s restless nature will be eradicated. A bound jīva, abandoning artificial sāttvika–vikāra (so-called ecstatic symptoms) or false identifications such as being ‘the son of Bābā Ṭhākura,’can become a sajjana.*

*This seems to be aimed at Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s brother, Śrī Lalitā Prasāsda, who considered Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura primarily as bābā (father), whereas Sarasvatī Ṭhākura considered him to be the delegation of Rādhā.

Wicked persons showed various forms of hostility toward the Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍī, including contempt, insult, ridicule, physical assault, harassment, and restraint. Sometimes, they showed hatred towards the tridaṇḍī, by spitting on his body, urinating upon him, and causing various disturbances during his worship of Bhagavān. Despite the words of the wicked, the tridaṇḍī personally endured everything without abandoning his firm bhajana. Śrī Bhagavān told Uddhava that such a sādhu who is not angry at the words of a wicked person is rare in this world. The harsh words of the asajjana are unbearable; one can only tolerate them if he has hari-bhakti.

In the province of Avantī, a wealthy brāhmaṇa accumulated money in various ways and gained fame in society. Due to his miserly nature and greed, the villagers, the Devas, and many others became opposed to him. As a result of this unfavourable treatment, he withdrew from all material pursuits and achieved true renunciation. As soon as renunciation arose in him, he realised that the unalloyed mercy of Bhagavān had manifested towards him. He recognised himself as an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa and directly took up the tridaṇḍa, kamaṇḍalu, and other practices of the renunciate āśrama himself, because artificially, such practices cannot be imparted by one person to another, and no one can accept counterfeit renunciation from another. At the time of taking sannyāsa, Śrīman Mahāprabhu and a few others showed respect towards the formal priesthood. However, such sajjanas do not say that it is appropriate to adopt artificial renunciation from a guru in imitation of such an ideal. In vivitsā or vaidha sannyāsa,* formal ritualistic priestly officiation is accepted.

*This means Vedic sannyāsa.

When the noble renunciate of Avantī, having abandoned all worldly possessions, household duties, and all hopes and reliance on domestic yajñas, went out for the purpose of hari-bhajana in order to exhibit proper conduct by accepting the tridaṇḍa, the agitated yajñika priests who were attached to their households, mocked and obstructed him, and grabbed his tridaṇḍa. The old men, the youth, and the children tried to snatch away his water-pot, blanket, sacred thread, and beads; the asajjanas spat and urinated on the alms he had received. They slapped him on the head to insult him, and they began to say: “This tridaṇḍī is a thief, unable to protect his possessions, incapable of enjoying – that is why he has become a tridaṇḍī!”

In order to gain recognition among the people, by using various tricks, they tied up the tridaṇḍī, plotted together to kill him, seized the insignia of his sannyāsa, and, being deceitful religious pretenders, maintained silence or spoke many malicious words like cunning cranes.* Such ill-treatment constantly befell the Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍī.

* The crane is given as an example of duplicity because it stands in the water meditating upon the fish or long periods before snatching them. Similarly, the bogus sādhu may perform so-called austerities, but the result he craves is mundane.

The tridaṇḍī did not feel aggrieved by these unbearable words, or by the cruel behaviour of the wicked, but maintained steadfast, sattvika tolerance. He thought, “All these ignorant, foolish materialists, who have become intoxicated with sense-pleasure and who regard Bhagavān as a mere illusory avatāra are not Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍīs. I do not seek any worldly peace by changing their nature, temperament, and conduct. The day they obtain the good fortune to become Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍīs, those kinds of bad habits will cease by themselves. Why should I become an obstacle to their intense attachment to sense pleasure? Since a jīva is naturally kṛṣṇa-dāsa by constitution, their intense hostile mischief will cease sooner or later. At present, why should I abandon my bhajana and go about instructing the wicked – either in response to their provocations, or to satisfy their inquisitive curiosity? They are devoid of faith; in their present intoxicated state, they cannot accept any words of mine. I am a tridaṇḍī servant of Bhagavān, therefore, I do not wish to cause them any anxiety by word, mind, or body. Following the path of the pure mahājanas, I will not wander on the path of the fourfold desires, or the threefold path of karma, and jñāna of these wicked people.* Just as the peaceful sajjanas, taking shelter solely at the feet of Kṛṣṇa, have abandoned all worldly misdeeds and engage in hari-bhajana, I will do likewise. I will not cause an increase in the unrest of wicked people by becoming fuel for the fire of their hostility.”

*The fourfold desires are dharma, kāma, artha and mokṣa. The threefold path is dharma, kāma, and artha.

By singing these verses and personally demonstrating to the Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍīs the path of śrī-hari-bhajana, Śrī Gaurasundara established that the ancient veśa-paddhatis (manuals for accepting sannyāsa) have recorded the procedure for accepting the tridaṇḍa. All the words of an attached yajñika brāhmaṇa householder who claims to be a servant of gṛhī-gaurāṅga will never penetrate hearts absorbed in sense-enjoyment. Taking shelter of contaminated māyāvāda, they become both lawful and unlawful prākṛta-sahajiyās,* and declare material enjoyment itself to be prema. But the peaceful devotees, rejecting with heart and soul, the doctrine of both the lawful and unlawful prākṛta-sahajiyās, will advance along the specific path of śrī-rūpānuga-bhajana- established by the Gosvāmīs residing in Vraja. In every way, they completely disregard the loud and intense protests of the sahajiyās, which are full of violent sense-indulgence.

* Lawful (vaidha) means those sahajiyās who give lip-service to the śāstras, and unlawful (avaidha) refers to sahajiyās who do not follow any śāstrika injunctions whatsoever.

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