The Glories of Śrī Advaita Ācārya

I offer my respectful obeisances to Śrī Advaita Ācārya, whose activities are all wonderful. By His mercy, even a foolish person can describe His characteristics.

All glories to Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityānanda! All glories to Advaita Ācārya! And all glories to all the devotees of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu!

In five verses I have described the principle of Lord Nityānanda. Then in the following two verses I describe the glories of Śrī Advaita Ācārya.

Lord Advaita Ācārya is the incarnation of Mahā-Viṣṇu, whose main function is to create the cosmic world through the actions of māyā.

Because He is nondifferent from Hari, the Supreme Lord, He is called Advaita, and because He propagates the cult of devotion, He is called Ācārya. He is the Lord and the incarnation of the Lord’s devotee. Therefore I take shelter of Him.

Śrī Advaita Ācārya is indeed directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. His glory is beyond the conception of ordinary living beings.

Mahā-Viṣṇu performs all the functions for the creation of the universes. Śrī Advaita Ācārya is His direct incarnation.

That puruṣa creates and maintains with His external energy. He creates innumerable universes in His pastimes.

By His will He manifests Himself in unlimited forms, in which He enters each and every universe.

Śrī Advaita Ācārya is a plenary part of that puruṣa and so is not different from Him. Indeed, Śrī Advaita Ācārya is not separate but is another form of that puruṣa.

He [Advaita Ācārya] helps in the pastimes of the puruṣa, with whose material energy and by whose will He creates innumerable universes.

Being a reservoir of all auspicious attributes, Śrī Advaita Ācārya is all-auspicious for the world. His characteristics, activities and name are always auspicious.

Mahā-Viṣṇu creates the entire material world with millions of His parts, energies and incarnations.

Just as the external energy consists of two parts — the efficient cause [nimitta] and the material cause [upādāna], māyā being the efficient cause and pradhāna the material cause — so Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, assumes two forms to create the material world with the efficient and material causes.

Lord Viṣṇu Himself is the efficient [nimitta] cause of the material world, and Nārāyaṇa in the form of Śrī Advaita is the material cause [upādāna].

Lord Viṣṇu, in His efficient aspect, glances over the material energy, and Śrī Advaita, as the material cause, creates the material world.

Although the Sāṅkhya philosophy accepts that the material ingredients are the cause, the creation of the world never arises from dead matter.

The Lord infuses the material ingredients with His own creative potency. Then, by the power of the Lord, creation takes place.

In the form of Advaita He infuses the material ingredients with creative energy. Therefore, Advaita is the original cause of creation.

Śrī Advaita Ācārya is the creator of millions and millions of universes, and by His expansions [as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu] He maintains each and every universe.

Śrī Advaita is the principal limb [aṅga] of Nārāyaṇa. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam speaks of “limb” [aṅga] as “a plenary portion” [aṁśa] of the Lord.

“O Lord of lords, You are the seer of all creation. You are indeed everyone’s dearest life. Are You not, therefore, my father, Nārāyaṇa? ‘Nārāyaṇa’ refers to one whose abode is in the water born from Nara [Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu], and that Nārāyaṇa is Your plenary portion. All Your plenary portions are transcendental. They are absolute and are not creations of māyā.”

This verse describes that the limbs and plenary portions of the Lord are all spiritual; They have no relationship with the material energy.

Why has Śrī Advaita been called a limb and not a part? The reason is that “limb” implies greater intimacy.

Śrī Advaita, who is a reservoir of virtues, is the main limb of Mahā-Viṣṇu. His full name is Advaita, for He is identical in all respects with that Lord.

As He had formerly created all the universes, now He descended to introduce the path of bhakti.

He delivered all living beings by offering the gift of kṛṣṇa-bhakti. He explained the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the light of devotional service.

Since He has no other occupation than to teach devotional service, His name is Advaita Ācārya.

He is the spiritual master of all devotees and is the most revered personality in the world. By a combination of these two names, His name is Advaita Ācārya.

Since He is a limb or part of the lotus-eyed Supreme Lord, He also bears the name Kamalākṣa.

His associates have the same bodily features as the Lord. They all have four arms and are dressed in yellow garments like Nārāyaṇa.

Śrī Advaita Ācārya is the principal limb of the Supreme Lord. His truths, names and attributes are all wonderful.

He worshiped Kṛṣṇa with tulasī leaves and water of the Ganges and called for Him in a loud voice. Thus Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared on earth, accompanied by His personal associates.

It is through Him [Advaita Ācārya] that Lord Caitanya spread the saṅkīrtana movement and through Him that He delivered the world.

The glory and attributes of Advaita Ācārya are unlimited. How can the insignificant living entities fathom them?

Śrī Advaita Ācārya is a principal limb of Lord Caitanya. Another limb of the Lord is Nityānanda Prabhu.

The devotees headed by Śrīvāsa are His smaller limbs. They are like His hands, face and eyes and His disc and other weapons.

With all of them Lord Caitanya performed His pastimes, and with them He spread His mission.

Thinking “He [Śrī Advaita Ācārya] is a disciple of Śrī Mādhavendra Purī,” Lord Caitanya obeys Him, respecting Him as His spiritual master.

To maintain the proper etiquette for the principles of religion, Lord Caitanya bows down at the lotus feet of Śrī Advaita Ācārya with reverential prayers and devotion.

Śrī Advaita Ācārya, however, considers Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu His master, and He thinks of Himself as a servant of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

He forgets Himself in the joy of that conception and teaches all living entities, “You are servants of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.”

The conception of servitude to Śrī Kṛṣṇa generates such an ocean of joy in the soul that even the joy of oneness with the Absolute, if multiplied ten million times, could not compare to a drop of it.

He says, “Nityānanda and I are servants of Lord Caitanya.” Nowhere else is there such joy as that which is tasted in this emotion of servitude.

The most beloved goddess of fortune resides on the chest of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, yet she too, earnestly praying, begs for the joy of service at His feet.

All the associates of Lord Kṛṣṇa, such as Brahmā, Śiva, Nārada, Śuka and Sanātana Kumāra, are very pleased in the sentiment of servitude.

Śrī Nityānanda, the wandering mendicant, is the foremost of all the associates of Lord Caitanya. He became mad in the ecstasy of service to Lord Caitanya.

Śrīvāsa, Haridāsa, Rāmadāsa, Gadādhara, Murāri, Mukunda, Candraśekhara and Vakreśvara are all glorious and are all learned scholars, but the sentiment of servitude to Lord Caitanya makes them mad in ecstasy.

Thus they dance, sing and laugh like madmen, and they instruct everyone, “Just be loving servants of Lord Caitanya.”

Śrī Advaita Ācārya thinks, “Lord Caitanya considers Me His spiritual master, yet I feel Myself to be only His servant.”

Love for Kṛṣṇa has this one unique effect: it imbues superiors, equals and inferiors with the spirit of service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

For evidence, please listen to the examples described in the revealed scriptures, which are corroborated by the realization of great souls.

Although no one is a more respected elder for Kṛṣṇa than Nanda Mahārāja in Vraja, who in transcendental paternal love has no knowledge that his son is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, still ecstatic love makes him, what to speak of others, feel himself to be a servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

He too prays for attachment and devotion to the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, as the words from his own mouth give evidence.

“My dear Uddhava, please hear me. In truth Kṛṣṇa is my son, but even if you think that He is God, I would still bear toward Him my own feelings for my son. May my mind be attached to your Lord Kṛṣṇa.

“May our minds be attached to the lotus feet of your Lord Kṛṣṇa, may our tongues chant His holy names, and may our bodies lie prostrate before Him.

“Wherever we wander in the material universe under the influence of karma by the will of the Lord, may our auspicious activities cause our attraction to Lord Kṛṣṇa to increase.”

Lord Kṛṣṇa’s friends in Vṛndāvana, headed by Śrīdāmā, have pure fraternal affection for Lord Kṛṣṇa and have no idea of His opulences.

Although they fight with Him and climb upon His shoulders, they worship His lotus feet in a spirit of servitude.

“Some of the friends of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, massaged His feet, and others whose sinful reactions had been destroyed fanned Him with hand-held fans.”

Even the beloved girlfriends of Lord Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana, the gopīs, the dust of whose feet was desired by Śrī Uddhava and who are more dear to Kṛṣṇa than anyone else, regard themselves as Kṛṣṇa’s maidservants.

“O Lord, remover of the afflictions of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana! O hero of all women! O Lord who destroy the pride of Your devotees by Your sweet, gentle smile! O friend! We are Your maidservants. Please fulfill our desires and show us Your attractive lotus face.”

“O Uddhava! It is indeed regrettable that Kṛṣṇa resides in Mathurā. Does He remember His father’s household affairs and His friends, the cowherd boys? O great soul! Does He ever talk about us, His maidservants? When will He lay on our heads His aguru-scented hand?”

What to speak of the other gopīs, even Śrī Rādhikā, who in every respect is the most elevated of them all and who has bound Śrī Kṛṣṇa forever by Her loving attributes, serves His feet as His maidservant.

“O My Lord, O My husband, O most dearly beloved! O mighty-armed Lord! Where are You? Where are You? O My friend, reveal Yourself to Your maidservant, who is very much aggrieved by Your absence.”

In Dvārakā-dhāma, all the queens, headed by Rukmiṇī, also consider themselves maidservants of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

“When Jarāsandha and other kings, bows and arrows upraised, stood ready to deliver me in charity to Śiśupāla, He forcibly took me from their midst, as a lion takes its share of goats and sheep. The dust of His lotus feet is therefore the crown of unconquerable soldiers. May those lotus feet, which are the shelter of the goddess of fortune, be the object of my worship.”

“Knowing me to be performing austerities with the desire to touch His feet, He came with His friend Arjuna and accepted my hand. Yet I am but a maidservant engaged in sweeping the floor of the house of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.”

“Through austerity and through renunciation of all attachments, we have become maidservants in the home of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is satisfied in Himself.”

What to speak of others, even Lord Baladeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is full of emotions like pure friendship and paternal love.

He also considers Himself a servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Indeed, who is there who does not have this conception of being a servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa?

He who is Śeṣa, Saṅkarṣaṇa, with His thousands of mouths, serves Śrī Kṛṣṇa by assuming ten forms.

Rudra, who is an expansion of Sadāśiva and who appears in unlimited universes, is also a guṇāvatāra [qualitative incarnation] and is the ornament of all the demigods in the endless universes.

He also desires only to be a servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Sadāśiva always says, “I am a servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa.”

Intoxicated by ecstatic love for Lord Kṛṣṇa, he becomes overwhelmed and incessantly dances without clothing and sings about Lord Kṛṣṇa’s qualities and pastimes.

All the emotions, whether those of father, mother, teacher or friend, are full of sentiments of servitude. That is the nature of love of Kṛṣṇa.

Lord Kṛṣṇa, the one master and the Lord of the universe, is worthy of being served by everyone. Indeed, everyone is but a servant of His servants.

That same Lord Kṛṣṇa has descended as Lord Caitanya, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everyone, therefore, is His servant.

Some accept Him whereas others do not, yet everyone is His servant. One who does not accept Him, however, will be ruined by his sinful activities.

“I am a servant of Lord Caitanya, a servant of Lord Caitanya. I am a servant of Lord Caitanya, and a servant of His servants.”

Saying this, Advaita Prabhu dances and loudly sings. Then at the next moment He quietly sits down.

The source of the sentiment of servitude is indeed Lord Balarāma. The plenary expansions who follow Him are all influenced by that ecstasy.

Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is one of His incarnations, always considers Himself a devotee.

Another of His incarnations, Lakṣmaṇa, who is very beautiful and opulent, always serves Lord Rāma.

The Viṣṇu who lies on the Causal Ocean is an incarnation of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa, and, accordingly, the emotion of being a devotee is always present in His heart.

Advaita Ācārya is a separate expansion of Him. He always engages in devotional service with His thoughts, words and actions.

By His words He declares, “I am a servant of Lord Caitanya.” Thus with His mind He always thinks, “I am His devotee.”

With His body He worshiped the Lord by offering Ganges water and tulasī leaves, and by preaching devotional service He delivered the entire universe.

Śeṣa Saṅkarṣaṇa, who holds all the planets on His heads, expands Himself in different bodies to render service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

These are all incarnations of Lord Kṛṣṇa, yet we always find that they act as devotees.

The scriptures call them incarnations as devotees [bhakta-avatāra]. The position of being such an incarnation is above all others.

Lord Kṛṣṇa is the source of all incarnations, and all others are His parts or partial incarnations. We find that the whole and the part behave as superior and inferior.

The source of all incarnations has the emotions of a superior when He considers Himself the master, and He has the emotions of an inferior when He considers Himself a devotee.

The position of being a devotee is higher than that of equality with Lord Kṛṣṇa, for the devotees are dearer to Lord Kṛṣṇa than His own self.

Lord Kṛṣṇa considers His devotees greater than Himself. In this connection the scriptures provide an abundance of evidence.

“O Uddhava! Neither Brahmā, nor Śaṅkara, nor Saṅkarṣaṇa, nor Lakṣmī, nor even My own self is as dear to Me as you.”

The sweetness of Lord Kṛṣṇa is not to be tasted by those who consider themselves equal to Kṛṣṇa. It is to be tasted only through the sentiment of servitude.

This conclusion of the revealed scriptures is also the realization of experienced devotees. Fools and rascals, however, cannot understand the opulences of devotional emotions.

Baladeva, Lakṣmaṇa, Advaita Ācārya, Lord Nityānanda, Lord Śeṣa and Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa taste the nectarean mellows of the transcendental bliss of Lord Kṛṣṇa by recognizing Themselves as being His devotees and servants. They are all mad with that happiness, and they know nothing else.

What to speak of others, even Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself becomes thirsty to taste His own sweetness.

He tries to taste His own sweetness, but He cannot do so without accepting the emotions of a devotee.

Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa accepted the position of a devotee and descended in the form of Lord Caitanya, who is complete in every respect.

He tastes His own sweetness through the various emotions of a devotee. I have formerly explained this conclusion.

All the incarnations are entitled to the emotions of devotees. There is no higher bliss than this.

The original bhakta-avatāra is Saṅkarṣaṇa. Śrī Advaita is counted among such incarnations.

The glories of Śrī Advaita Ācārya are boundless, for His sincere vibrations brought about Lord Caitanya’s descent upon this earth.

He liberated the universe by preaching saṅkīrtana. Thus the people of the world received the treasure of love of Godhead through the mercy of Śrī Advaita.

Who can describe the unlimited glories of Advaita Ācārya? I write here as much as I have known from great authorities.

I offer my obeisances ten million times to the lotus feet of Śrī Advaita Ācārya. Please do not take offense at this.

Your glories are as fathomless as millions of oceans and seas. Speaking of its measure is a great offense indeed.

All glories, all glories to Śrī Advaita Ācārya! All glories to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the superior Lord Nityānanda!

Thus in two verses I have described the truth concerning Advaita Ācārya. Now, O devotees, please hear about the five truths [pañca-tattva].

Praying at the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha, always desiring their mercy, I, Kṛṣṇadāsa, narrate Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, following in their footsteps.