The Greed of the Lord

By Gour Govinda Swami

Bhubaneswar, India, March 17, 1992 – The Appearance Day of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu

WE SHOULD KNOW the cause for the appearance of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, Lord Caitanya. There are two causes: external and internal. The external cause is to teach Kali-yuga dharma, the religion for Kali-yuga, the Age of Quarrel. That religion ishari-sankirtana, the chanting of the holy name.

kali-yuga dharma haya hari-sankirtana

etad arthe avatirna sri sacinandana
 Sacinandana, Lord Caitanya, the father of hari-sankirtana, appears for this purpose to teach the chanting of the holy name. 

ei kaye bhagavate sarva-tattva-sarakirtana-nimitta gauracandra-avatarakali-yuga sarva-dharma hari-sankirtanasarva prakacilena caitanya-narayanakali-yuge sankirtana-dharma palibareavatirna hoila prabhu sarva-parikare
 This is a quotation from Caitanya-Bhagavata. Lord Caitanya comes in Kali-yuga, especially the present Kali-yuga, with His abode and all His associates and paraphernalia. He offers and distributes the chief result of hari-nama-sankirtana Krsna-prema, love of God freely, indiscriminately.

brahmar durlabha prema saba kare yache
patita pamara nahi bache 
Even Brahma cannot easily get such prema, such love for God, but Lord Caitanya gives it to the most degraded, most sinful persons, such as Jagai and Madhai. Therefore He is known as Prema Purusottama, the Personality of Godhead who gives love of Godhead.

Five thousand years ago Krsna came in His own personal form. In His pastimes at Kuruksetra He taught the Bhagavad-gita through Arjuna to all mankind, giving confidential, more confidential, and

most confidential instructions. His most confidential instruction is man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru: “Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, worship Me, and offer your homage unto Me.” The concluding instruction is sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja: “Give up all varieties of dharma and just surrender unto Me.”

Lord Krsna only said this theoretically; He never taught how to surrender practically. But Krsna is suhrdam sarva-bhutanam, the only well-wishing friend of all living entities. Therefore after winding up His pastimes at the end of Dvapara-yuga, the previous age, He thought: “I’ve given confidential, more confidential, and most confidential instruction to Arjuna for all mankind, but after Dvapara-yuga comes Kali-yuga, the most sinful age. In Kali-yuga, as sinful activities increase, the consciousness of the people becomes most polluted. They cannot understand saranagati tattva, complete surrender, because I haven’t demonstrated it practically. Therefore I shall have to come down to earth again.” So He came again as Gauranga Mahaprabhu, Lord Caitanya. This was His mission:

yuga-dharma pravartaimu nama-sankirtana

cari bhava-bhakti diya nacamu bhuvana 

“I shall go spread the holy name and give the four forms of bhakti, devotional service: dasya [servitorship], sakhya [friendship], vatsalya [parenthood], and madhurya [conjugal love].” (Santa, neutrality, is discarded in Mahaprabhu’s line.) The Lord decided: “I shall make the whole world dance with bhava-bhakti, ecstatic love of God.”

apani karimu bhakta-bhava angikare

apani acari’ bhakti sikhaimu sabare 

“I shall accept bhakta-bhava, the mood of a devotee, and I shall teach bhakti, devotion to God. Unless I practice it Myself I cannot teach it.”

apane na kaile dharma sikhana na yaya

ei ta’ siddhanta gita-bhagavate gaya 

This is the external cause (bahiranga karanam) for Lord Caitanya’s advent. He comes for others, for the people of Kali-yuga.

The internal cause (antaranga karanam) is for His own sake. The internal cause is to fulfill three desires:

sri-radhayah pranaya-mahima kidrso va anayaiva-

svadyo yenadbhuta-madhurima kidrso va madiyah

saukhyam casya mad-anubhavatah kidrsam veti lobhat

tad-bhavadhyah samajani saci-garbha-sindhau harinduh

[Cc. Adi 1.6]

Svarupa Damodara Gosvami spoke this verse, and it is quoted by Rupa Gosvami in Lalita-madhava. When Krsna performed His pastimes He still had three desires that remained unfulfilled. First, Krsna wanted to know: What is Radharani’s love? Next He desired to know: What is My rupa-madhuri, My excellent beauty, that Radharani relishes? How can I relish it? Then the third desire: What type of pleasure or happiness does Radharani derive by relishing My beauty, and how can I relish it? These three desires, these three types of greed, developed in the Supreme Lord, Krsna. Therefore, saci-garbha-sindhau harinduh: From the womb of Sacimata He appeared as Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu to fulfill these desires.

Here the word lobha “greed” is significant. The Lord has greed. It is quite natural that we have greed. We are greedy persons, materially greedy. But the greed of the material world is condemned; it is considered one of our enemies. In the Sixteenth Chapter, twenty-first verse, of the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krsna says:

tri-vidham narakasyedam

dvaram nasanam atmanah

kamah krodhas tatha lobhas

tasmad etat trayam tyajet 

“Give up these three kama, krodha, lobha: lust, anger, and greed. If you be-come influenced or affected by them, then you will open your door to hell. So give them up.”

Greed is bad because those who are materially greedy have to suffer. There is a little story to illustrate this point.

A greedy boy saw his mother put some berries into an earthen pot that had a narrow opening. Greedy to get some of those berries, he put his hand into the pot and grasped a handful, but when he tried to get his hand out of the pot, his hand got caught because the opening was too narrow. This caused some pain as he pulled, so he was crying. But though he was suffering, he wouldn’t let go of the berries. This is a simple story showing that the consequence of greed is suffering. Therefore Bhagavan Krsna says in the Gita, “Give up greed.”

But greed can be engaged in Krsna’s service. The word lobha (greed) is an ancient word, not a modern word. The seed of greed exists in both Bhagavan (the Lord) and bhakta (the devotee). So in respect to bhagavat-bhakta, the devotee of the Lord, we say, lobha sadhu-sange hari-katha. How can you use greed? Develop greed to have more and more sadhu-sanga, association with sadhus, devotees, and hear more and more krsna-katha, talks about the Lord. Develop this greed. Such greed is spiritual and beyond the modes of material nature. You should not give it up; you should develop it more and more. The more you develop this greed, the more you get spiritual relish and make spiritual advancement. One who is not greedy in this way cannot spiritually advance. So material greed should be given up, but spiritual greed should be developed.

Again it is said:

krsna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita matih

kriyatam yadi kuto ‘pi labhyate

tatra laulyam api mulyam ekalam

janma-koti-sukrtair na labhyate 

The word laulya means lobha (greed). The purport of this verse is that if you have such spiritual greed you can achieve krsna-bhakti-rasa, the mellow of love for Krsna. Otherwise you can’t have it; you can’t achieve it. Therefore, one should develop the greed to have more and more association with devotees and hear more and more about the Lord. Then you will make advancement in bhajana-sadhana, devotional service. Materialistic people don’t know how to use greed; they abuse it directing it toward material enjoyment, material possessions and suffer. So when we speak about the advent of Lord Caitanya, we’re not speaking of this greed.

In the beginning I explained that Krsna developed three types of greed that could not be fulfilled in His pastimes. Therefore He descended as Lord Caitanya. In Lord Caitanya’s pastimes those three types of greed are fulfilled.

Using the word greed is wonderful. Has anyone used the word this way before? No one. But Svarupa Damodara Gosvami did. He said that because of this greed, Nandanandana (Krsna) became Sacinandana (Lord Caitanya). Purna Brahma, the Complete Whole, who has no deficiency, who wants nothing, still develops greed. Wonderful! He is self-satisfied. He lacks nothing. Then why such greed? You should understand its mystery, the truth behind it. He who is self-satisfied, who is full of eternity, knowledge, and bliss He develops greed. What type of greed and to get what?

In the Supreme Lord the seed of desire gradually develops, and it fructifies in Gauranga-svarupa, the form of Gauranga, Lord Caitanya. Let me explain to you how.

Visnu, the Lord of Vaikuntha, the spiritual world, develops some greed: He wants to fight. Because He is Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord, the six types of opulence are completely manifested in Him. And one of His opulences is bala, or strength. Since He has incomparable strength, it is quite natural that He should desire to fight and fulfill this greed. Whenever Bhagavan wants to fulfill some desire, His internal energy, Yogamaya, creates the proper atmosphere. So when Visnu desired to fight, Yogamaya created the circumstances to fulfill that desire.

In such a fight, the opponent should be equally strong; otherwise one can’t get pleasure in fighting. So with whom will the Lord fight? By the will of the Lord and the arrangement of Yoga-maya, the two strong doorkeepers of the spiritual world, Jaya and Vijaya, were cursed to become demons for three lives. First they became Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu, then Ravana and Kumbha-karna, and finally Sisupala and Dantavakra. In three incarnations Lord Visnu enjoyed fighting with them. This is the greed of Lord Visnu, as described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Then came the greed of Nrsimhadeva. Nrsimhadeva has two types of form ugra (fearsome) and anugra (peaceful). After killing Hiranyakasipu, Nrsimhadeva’s form was fearsome, and He danced like Lord Siva at the time of annihilation. The whole world was trembling to see that angry dancing. All the demigods were offering prayers to pacify Him, but they couldn’t. Then the demigods requested Bhakta Prahlada, “Please go and calm the anger of Lord Nrsimhadeva.” Prahlada Maharaja is a dear devotee of the Lord, so Prahlada went to offer Him prayers, and Lord Nrsimhadeva be-came calm and manifested His peaceful form. Then Nrsimhadeva took His dear devotee Prahlada, like a son, on His lap, and vatsalya-prema, parental love and affection, developed in Nrsimhadeva.

Both father and son relish this rasa, mellow. As the son sits on the father’s lap, the father relishes, and the son also relishes. The relishing is reciprocal. But the son relishes more than the father. So Nrsimhadeva developed a type of greed: “How can I sit on the lap of My father and relish that rasa?” From then on, after Nrsimhadeva, all the incarnations of the Lord accept a father and mother to fulfill that greed.

Lord Rama also developed greed. Vibhisana and Sugriva are Lord Rama’s friends. This means there is sakhya-rasa, friendly affection, in the pastimes of Lord Rama. But there are two types of sakhya-rasa sambhrama (friendship with awe and reverence) and visrambha (friendship as equals, without awe and reverence). In the pastimes of Lord Rama there is no question of equality. His friends Sugriva and Vibhisana cannot climb onto His shoulders or snatch food from His mouth. They are even afraid their leg may touch Lord Rama’s body, because they think that this would be offensive. Their friendship is sambhrama sakhya, friendship with awe and reverence.

But visrambha sakhya is different. In visrambha sakhya there is such love and affection that the friends think themselves equal with the Lord. There is no question of awe and reverence. In the pastimes of Krsna you will find this visrambha sakhya. The cowherd boys climb onto Krsna’s shoulders and snatch the food from His mouth, and Krsna snatches the food from their mouths. The legs of the cowherd boys touch Krsna’s body, and Krsna is not disturbed, because it is as if those were His own legs. If your own leg touches your own body, does that disturb you? There is no problem at all, because it’s your own leg and not someone else’s. So these cowherd boys are very dear to Krsna. Therefore there is equality and abhinnam (nondifference).

But in the pastimes of Lord Rama this type of sakhya-rasa is not relished. Therefore Lord Rama developed greed for it: “How can I relish it?” That de-sire was fulfilled in His avatara as Krsna.

There is also another relationship the conjugal mellow, madhurya rasa. In Rama-avatara, Lord Rama is maryada-purusottama; that is, He strictly follows Vedic rules and regulations and never transgresses them. Eka-patni-dhara: He accepts only one wife. Therefore, although His pastimes include madhurya-rasa, the conjugal mellow, it is not relished fully. The essence of the mellow is not relished. That conjugal rasa is relished to the highest degree when there is union (milana) and separation (viraha) between lover and beloved. In Rama-lila, Ravana kidnapped Sita, and Lord Rama banished Sita to give pleasure to His citizens. So Rama and Sita are united and separated. But there is no variegatedness in this type of separation. It is not natural; it is forced. So there is no question of relishing the essence of the conjugal mellow.

Rupa Gosvami has mentioned different types of viraha (separation) in his book Ujjvala-nilamani purva raga viraha, mana viraha, prema vaicitya viraha. In the pastimes of Lord Rama there are no such varieties, but in Krsna’s pastimes there are. Therefore Lord Rama developed the greed to relish them. In Krsna avatara this greed is fulfilled.

The viraha, separation, between lover and beloved is the highest platform of prema. On that platform both the nayaka and nayika, lover and beloved, relish that mellow in their own heart. Therefore in the pastimes of Krsna, Krsna is Radha-kanta (the husband of Radharani) and Gopi-kanta (the husband of the gopis). But although Radha and the gopis are His own wives, He made them the wives of others to relish parakiya-rasa, paramour love.

In Rama-lila only svakiya rasa is relished love with one’s own wife not parakiya rasa. Lord Rama, therefore, developed greed for the parakiya rasa. So to relish parakiya-rasa, Krsna made His own wives the wives of others. Therefore that greed which remained unfulfilled in the pastimes of Rama is fulfilled in the pastimes of Krsna.

In this way, greed caused one incarnation of the Lord after another to descend.

Still, in Krsna-lila there are those three types of greed that I mentioned previously:

sri radhayah pranaya-mahima kidrso vanayaiva-

svadyo yenadbhuta-madhurima kidrso va madiyah

saukhyam casya mad-anubhavatah kidrsam veti lobhat

tad-bhavadhyah samajani saci-garbha-sindhau harinduh 

The first greed is this: What is the love of Radharani and how can I relish it? The second greed: What is My excellent all-attractive beauty? I can’t relish Myself. So how can I have it? And the third greed: What happiness does Radharani get by relishing My all-attractive excellent beauty? How can I have it? The desire to fulfill these three types of greeds remains unfulfilled in the pastimes of Krsna. Therefore the Lord appeared again as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The fulfillment of these types of desires isantaranga karanam, the internal cause, for Lord Caitanya’s descent.