Panca-Tattva
Lord Krishna enjoys by manifesting Himself as
the Spiritual Masters, the devotees, the diverse energies,
the incarnations and the plenary portions in the form of the
Panca-Tattva. The Panca-Tattva are all six in one. I therefore
worship the lotus feet of these six diversities of the one
truth, the Panca-Tattva, by invoking their benedictions. I
offer my respectful obeisances unto the spiritual masters,
the devotees of the Lord, the Lord’s incarnations, His plenary
portions, His energies and the primeval Lord Himself, Sri
Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
"Sri Krishna Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda,
Sri Advaita, Gadadhara, and Srivas are the Five Truths, or
Pancatattva. Spiritually, there are no differences between
these five tattvas, for on the transcendental platform everything
is absolute. Yet, there are also varieties in the spiritual
world, and in order to taste these spiritual varieties, one
should distinguish between them" (C.C.Adi 7.5)
"Let me offer my obeisances unto Lord Sri Krishna, who
has manifested Himself in five as a devotee (Lord Caitanya),
expansion of a devotee (Lord Nityananda), incarnation of a
devotee (Advaita Acarya), pure devotee (Srivas), and devotional
energy (Gadadhara)" (C.C.Adi 7.6)
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
"The loving affairs of Sri Radha and Krishna are transcendental
manifestations of the Lords internal pleasure-giving
potency. Although Radha and Krishna are one in Their identity,
They separated Themselves eternally. Now these two transcendental
identities have again united, in the form of Sri Krishna Caitanya.
I bow down to Him, who has manifested Himself with the sentiment
and complexion of Srimati Radharani, although He is Krishna
Himself." (C.C.Adi 1.5)
"Desiring to understand the glory of Radharanis
love, the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes
through Her love, and the happiness She feels when She realizes
the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord Hari, richly endowed
with Her emotions, appeared from the womb of Srimati Saci
devi as the moon appeared from the ocean" (C.C.Adi 1.6)
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the source of energy for all
His devotees. He is maha-vadanyavatara, the most magnanimous
incarnation of the Lord, for He does not consider the offenses
of the fallen souls. In order to take full benefit of the
Hare Krishna Mahamantra, we must first take shelter of Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Sri Nityananda Prabhu
"May Sri Nityananda Rama be the object of my constant
remembrance. Sankarsana, Sesa Naga and the Visnus who lie
on the Karana Ocean, Garbha Ocean and Ocean of Milk are His
plenary portions and the portions of His plenary portions."
(C.C.Adi 1.7)
"I surrender unto the lotus feet of Sri Nityananda Rama,
who is known as Sankarsana in the midst of the catur-vyuha
[consisting of Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha].
He possesses full opulences and resides in Vaikunthaloka,
far beyond the material creation." (C.C.Adi 1.8)
"I offer my full obeisances unto the feet of Sri Nityananda
Rama, whose partial representation called Karanadakasayi Visnu,
lying on the Karana Ocean, is the original Purusa, the master
of the illusory energy, and the shelter of all the universes."
(C.C.Adi 1.9)
"I offer my full obeisances unto the feet of Sri Nityananda
Rama, a partial part of whom is Garbhodakasayi Visnu. From
the navel of Garbhodakasayi Visnu sprouts the lotus that is
the birthplace of Brahma, the engineer of the universe. The
stem of that lotus is the resting place of the multitude of
planets." (C.C.Adi 1.10)
"I offer my respectful obeisances unto the feet of Sri
Nityananda Rama, whose secondary part is the Visnu lying in
the Ocean of Milk. That Ksirodakasayi Visnu is the Supersoul
of all living entities and the maintainer of all the universes.
Sesa Naga is His further subpart" (C.C.Adi 1.11)
Devotees understand that Lord Nityananda is Balarama Himself
the first expansion of Krishna.
Vrindavan das Thakur, author of Caitanya Bhagavat prays,
"I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
and Sri Nityananda Prabhu, whose long arms extend to Their
knees. They have splendid golden complexions, and They inaugurated
the congregational chanting of The Holy Names of the Lord.
Their eyes resemble the petals of lotus flowers. They are
the maintainers of all the worlds, the best of the brahmanas,
the protectors of religious principles for this age. They
bring happiness to the people of the world, and are the most
merciful incarnations."
Lord Nityananda is even more merciful than Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
because after Nitai was struck on the head with an earthen
pot by the sinful Jagai and Madhai, He stopped Lord Caitanya
from killing the two criminals. He begged the Lord to spare
their lives because after all, their mood was to make devotees
by killing the demoniac tendencies within, not by slaying
wrong-doers. The Lord agreed to do this if the demoniac brothers
would give up their sinful activities and change their bad
habits into Krishna Conscious ones. By His request Mahaprabhu
spared the brothers. By this mercy, the brothers fell at the
feet of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and immediately surrendered their
lives in devotion to Lord Caitanya.
Sri Advaita Acarya
"Advaita means non-dual because He is non-different
than the Supreme Lord. Acarya means He is disseminating Krishna
Consciousness. Advaita is Mahavisnu, whose main function is
to create the cosmic world through the actions of Maya"
(C.C.Adi 1.13)
"Because He is nondifferent from Hari, the Supreme Lord,
He is called Advaita, and because He propagates Krishna Consciousness,
He is called Acarya. He is the Lord and the incarnation of
the Lords devotee. Therefore I take shelter of Him"
(C.C.Adi 1.14)
Advaita Acarya is in the Visnu tattva with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,
and Sri Nityananda prabhu. These are the three masters, but
Nityananda and Advaita are servants of Mahaprabhu. It was
Advaita Gosai who prayed to the Lord by offering water and
Tulasi leaves to His Salagram Sila Krishna Deity by loudly
roaring his request for the Lord to appear.
Sri Gadadhara Pandita
"Gadadhara Goswami is a representative of a perfect
brahmana spiritual master He is the Pleasure Potency of Sri
Krishna (Srimati Radharani) He is a learned scholar and Gadadhara
Pandit is simultaneously an incarnation of Srimati Radharani
and Lalita-sakhi" (C.C.Adi 10.15 purport)
Gadadhara is the incarnation of devotional energy and of
the internal potency who is sakti tattva, the confidential
worshipper of the Visnu tattva. In this incarnation, Radharani
was able to spend time with Her Lord as an intimate associate
who helped spread the pastimes and glories of Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu.
Sri Srivasa Thakura
"Srivasa Thakura is the incarnation of the pure devotee
of the Lord. He is jiva-tattva, the leader of all pure unalloyed
devotees. All glories to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord
Nityananda! All glories to Advaita Prabhu, and all glories
to the devotees of Lord Caitanya, headed by Srivasa!"
(C.C.Adi 10.2)
"These two captains, with Their soldiers, such as Srivasa
Thakura, travel everywhere, chanting the holy name of the
Lord" (C.C.Adi 3.76)
"The devotees headed by Srivasa are His smaller limbs.
They are like His hands, face and eyes and His disc and other
weapons" (C.C.Adi 6.39)
"Srivasa, Haridasa, Ramadasa, Gadadhara, Murari, Mukunda,
Candrasekhara and Vakresvara are all glorious and are all
learned scholars, but the sentiment of servitude to Lord Caitanya
makes them mad in ecstasy (C.C.Adi 6.51). The Lords
marginal energy is Srivas Thakur. There are innumerable pure
devotees of the Lord, headed by Srivasa Thakura, who are known
as unalloyed devotees" (C.C.Adi 7.17)
Even cats and dogs in the household of Srivasa Thakura were
also liberated. Cats and dogs and other animals are not expected
to become devotees, but, in the association of a pure devotee,
they are also delivered.
"In the Gaura-ganodesa dipika (90), Srivasa Pandita
is described as an incarnation of Narada Muni, and Sri Rama
Pandita, his younger brother, is said to be an incarnation
of Parvata Muni, a great friend of Naradas" (C.C.Adi
10.8)
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The supreme energetic, the Personality of Godhead, manifesting in order to enjoy five kinds of pastimes, appears as the members of the Panca-tattva. Actually there is no difference between them because they are situated on the absolute platform, but they manifest different spiritual varieties as a challenge to the impersonalists to taste different kinds of spiritual humors (rasas). In the Vedas it is said, parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate: [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport] "The varieties of energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are differently known." From this statement of the Vedas one can understand that there are eternal varieties of humors, or tastes, in the spiritual world. Sri Gauranga, Sri Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Sri Gadadhara and Srivasa Thakura are all on the same platform, but in spiritually distinguishing between them one should understand that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the form of a devotee, Nityananda Prabhu appears in the form of a devotee's spiritual master, Advaita Prabhu is the form of a bhakta (devotee) incarnation, Gadadhara Prabhu is the energy of a bhakta, and Srivasa Thakura is a pure devotee. Thus there are spiritual distinctions between them. The bhakta-rupa (Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu), the bhakta-svarupa (Sri Nityananda Prabhu) and the bhakta-avatara (Sri Advaita Prabhu) are described as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, His immediate manifestation and His plenary expansion, and They all belong to the Visnu category. Although the spiritual and marginal energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are nondifferent from the Supreme Personality of Godhead Vishnu, they are predominated subjects, whereas Lord Vishnu is the predominator. As such, although they are on the same platform, they have appeared differently in order to facilitate tasting of transcendental mellows. Actually, however, there is no possibility of one being different from the other, for the worshiper and the worshipable cannot be separated at any stage. On the absolute platform, one cannot be understood without the other. (Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita Adi-lila 7.6)
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