The Great Apostle of ‘love of God’. By Daiva Simha Das From a multi-billionaire to pauper in the street, everyone is seeking the wealth of love. The gaudy gizmos, exotic holidays, luxury cars, sports bikes, late night dance parties, Valentine ‘s day, thousands of friend lists on Facebook, millions of followers on Twitter and 70 mm celluloid screens, may titillate or stimulate the senses and mind, but in the real reel of our life it cannot quench the thirst of love in our heart. This thirst can be better apprehended by the analog of the gardener. As when the gardener waters the root of the tree, then as the natural by-product twigs, branches are nourished and ultimately we get the reward of fruit. Similarly only when we being part and parcel (soul) of Supreme God(Supersoul), offer our loving propensity in our primary and original relationship with Krishna (Supreme God) with all our heart, then as the natural by-product, we love our brother, neighbor, spouse, boss, country, humanity, dog, cat and so on . As a matter of fact, the test of any faith or religion –whether Hinduism, Muslim, Christian, Sikhism, Judaism or any other is that how much the follower has developed the ‘love of God’ And conversely, any religion or faith in spite of many elaborate details or popularity, if fails to develop the quintessential ‘love of God’ then it is merely show-bottle or cheating religion. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, properly known as the “Avatari” or Source of all incarnations of God is the combined form of Radha & Krishna.The unique credit of this most munificent Avtari is that he is freely distributing this highest sublime gift of ‘love of God’ to the most unqualified people of this unfortunate age of quarrel & hypocrisy. Accompanied by his weapon of naam sankirtana & his eternal associates, the great Apostle of ‘love of God’ advented to kill the demonic mentality of ill-fated people of this Kali-yuga or Dark Age. The unsurpassed mercy of Lord Chaitanya made even beasts forget their natural animosity to the extent that tiger embracing deer in the jungles of Jharkhand. Lord Chaitanya advented Himself at Çrédhäma Mäyäpura, a quarter in the city of Navadvépa in Bengal, on the Phälguné Pürëimä evening in the year 1407 Çakäbda (corresponding to February 1486 by the Christian calendar). Being the youngest son of His father, Çré Jagannätha Miçra(a learned brähmaëa) and mother Çrématé Çacédevé, he became the object of their paternal affection. After performing his notorious childhood pastimes as Vishwamber and his scholastic pastimes as famous Nimai Pandita, Lord inaugurated the non-sectarian sankirtan movement. Later Lord accepted renounced order of life and was named as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. For six years then he toured continuously all over India beginning from Cape Comorin and extending through Bengal to Våindavan distributing love of Kåiñhëa by chanting, dancing and feasting (honoring prasadam). HDG AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the foremost saint and scholarly exponent in Chaitanya’s line of disciplic succession expounded that“Religion without philosophy is sentiment, or sometimes fanaticism, while philosophy without religion is mental speculation.”(BG 3.3 Purport). The real religion of simple process of chanting, dancing, feasting as originated by Lord Chaitanya is based on the most authentic scholastic timeless precepts of Srimad Bhagavatam, Brahma Samhita, and many other rich transcendental scriptures. Thus naturally Chaitanya’s sankirtan movement drowned people from all masses and classes including Buddhists monks, Mohammedans like Haridasa Thakur, Chand Kazi, smarta –hindu Brahmanas , erudite Maya Vadis Guru like Prakasananda Sarasvati, tattva-vadis ,atheists,pathans ,influential governors and ministers ,multi-billionaire zamindars ,into ecstasy of ‘love of God’. Lord Chaitanya, through his flawless example of a perfect devotee, taught us to pray to Krishna, Supreme God for the wealth of love: “Prema-dhana vinä vyartha daridra jévana ‘däsa’ kari’ vetana more deha prema-dhana” “Without love of Godhead, My life is useless. Therefore I pray that you accept me as your servant and give me the salary of ecstatic love of God.”(CC Antya 20.37). The formalities of cheating religion, the greed of economic development, glamor of sense gratification and relief of merging into supreme, all seem insignificant like a fig in front of this most precious gem in the treasury of Lord. Anyone who has sufficient intelligence can worship the great Apostle of ‘ love of god’ by chanting the mantra for deliverance culminating in attaining this priceless gem of love. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare