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Pitcher

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 12.207, Translation and Purport:

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to visit the temple, Kāśīśvara walked in front, checking the crowds of people, and Govinda walked in the rear, bringing the sannyāsī’s pitcher filled with water.

The karaṅga is a kind of waterpot especially carried by Māyāvādī sannyāsīs and generally carried by all other sannyāsīs.

CC Madhya 14.130, Translation:

The maidservants were carrying water pitchers, cāmara whisks and boxes for betel nuts. There were hundreds of maidservants, all attractively dressed and wearing valuable necklaces.

CC Madhya 15.220, Translation:

On two sides of the stack of food were pitchers filled with scented cold water. The flowers of the tulasī tree were placed atop the mound of rice.

CC Madhya 25.193, Translation:

This became a perplexing problem for him because his wife kept requesting him to kill Subuddhi Rāya. Finally the Nawab sprinkled a little water on Subuddhi Rāya's head from a pitcher that had been used by a Muslim.

CC Madhya 25.193, Purport:

Five hundred years ago in India, the Hindus were so rigid and strict that if a Muslim would sprinkle a little water from his pitcher upon a Hindu, the Hindu would be immediately ostracized. Recently, in 1947, during the partition days, there was a big riot between Hindus and Muslims, especially in Bengal. The Hindus were forcibly made to eat cow's flesh, and consequently they began crying, thinking that they had become Muslims. Actually the Muslims in India did not come from the country of the Muslims, but Hindus instituted the custom that somehow or other if one contacted a Muslim, he became a Muslim. Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī were born in a high brāhmaṇa family, but because they accepted employment under a Muslim government, they were considered Muslims. Subuddhi Rāya was sprinkled with water from the pitcher of a Muslim, and consequently he was condemned to have become a Muslim. Later, Aurangzeb, the Muslim emperor, introduced a tax especially meant for Hindus. Being oppressed in the Hindu community, many low-caste Hindus preferred to become Muslims. In this way the Muslim population increased.

CC Madhya 25.194, Purport:

It appears that Subuddhi Rāya was a big landholder and a responsible, respectable gentleman. He could not, however, avoid the social misconception that one becomes a Muslim when water is sprinkled on one's face from a Muslim's pitcher. Actually he was planning to give up his material life and leave his family. Hindu culture recommends four divisions—brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. Subuddhi Rāya was thinking of taking sannyāsa, and by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, he received this opportunity. He therefore left his family and went to Vārāṇasī. The system of varṇāśrama-dharma is very scientific. If one is directed by the varṇāśrama institution, he will naturally think of retiring from family life at the end of his life. Therefore sannyāsa is compulsory at the age of fifty.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 20.88, Translation:

The ocean of nectarean pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is like the ocean of milk. According to his thirst, Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura filled his pitcher and drank from that ocean.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 69:
Nāradajī knew everything about the pastimes of the Lord, so without further discussion he simply left the palace silently, in great astonishment over the Lord's activities. He then entered another palace. This time Nāradajī saw that Lord Kṛṣṇa was engaged as an affectionate father petting His small children. From there he entered another palace and saw Lord Kṛṣṇa preparing to take His bath. In this way, Saint Nārada entered each and every one of the sixteen thousand residential palaces of the queens of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and in each of them he found Kṛṣṇa engaged in different ways. In one palace he found Kṛṣṇa offering oblations to the sacrificial fire and performing the ritualistic ceremonies of the Vedas as enjoined for householders. In another palace he found Kṛṣṇa performing the pañca-yajña sacrifice, which is compulsory for a householder. This yajña is also known as pañca-sūnā. Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone, especially the householder, commits five kinds of sinful activities. When we receive water from a water pitcher, we kill many germs that are in it. Similarly, when we use a grinding machine or eat food, we kill many germs. When sweeping a floor or igniting a fire we kill many germs, and when we walk on the street we kill many ants and other insects. Consciously or unconsciously, in all our different activities, we are killing. Therefore, it is incumbent upon every householder to perform the pañca-sūnā sacrifice to rid himself of the reactions to such sinful activities.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.8-12 -- Los Angeles, November 27, 1968:

Now, the Māyāvādī says that this individuality is māyā. So their conception is that spirit, the whole spirit is a lump. Their theory is ghaṭākāśa poṭākāśa. Ghaṭākāśa poṭākāśa means... Just like sky. The sky is an expansion, impersonal expansion. So in a pot, in a waterpot, in a pitcher that is closed... Now, within the pitcher, there is also sky, a small sky. Now as soon as the pitcher is broken, the outside, the bigger sky, and the small sky within the pitcher mixes. That is Māyāvāda theory. But this analogy cannot be applied. Analogy means points of similarity. That is the law of analogy. The sky cannot be compared... The small sky within the pitcher cannot be compared with the living entity. It is material, matter. Sky is matter, and individual living entity is spirit. So how you can say? Just like a small ant, it is spirit soul. It has got its individuality. But a big dead stone, hill or mountain, it has no individuality. So matter has no individuality. Spirit has individuality. So if the points of similarity differ, then there is no analogy. That is the law of analogy.

Lecture on BG 2.8-12 -- Los Angeles, November 27, 1968:

How this Māyāvāda theory can be supported, that due to māyā, being covered by māyā, they are now appearing individual, separate, but when the covering of māyā will be taken away, they will mix up just like the small sky within the pitcher and the big sky outside mixes? So this analogy is fallacious from logical point of view, as well as from authentic Vedic point of view. They are eternally fragments. There are many other evidences from Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā says that spirit cannot be fragmented. So if you say that by covering of māyā the spirit has become fragment, that is not possible. It cannot be cut.

Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968:

So far the constitution of the spirit is concerned, it is eternal. That is accepted by all philosophers, personalists and impersonalists. The only difference is that the impersonalist says that after liberation, after getting freed from this bodily contamination, the spirit soul mixes with the Supreme Soul, all-pervading, without any individual existence. Just like the same example, that the small sky within the pitcher. When the pitcher is broken, the small sky within the pitcher mixes with the big sky. The Vaiṣṇava philosopher says that the small sky is individual. It mixes with the big sky, but it keeps its individuality. The example is given in this connection: just like a green bird entering a green tree. So when the bird enters the tree, nobody can find out where is the bird because the leaves of the tree are green and the bird is also green. Nobody can trace out. But that does not mean the bird has lost its individuality. The individuality is there.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.5.22 -- Vrndavana, August 3, 1974:

So we should not take anything neglectfully. Neither we should be careless to take care of Kṛṣṇa's property, Kṛṣṇa's living being, Kṛṣṇa's house, Kṛṣṇa's temple, Kṛṣṇa's business, Kṛṣṇa's... Everything Kṛṣṇa's. Kṛṣṇa. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat (ISO 1). If we think like that, then that is perfect Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ (BG 9.34). We may think, see varieties of things. It doesn't matter. But if we know that the original cause of this thing is Kṛṣṇa, that is perfection. We are seeing this table. It is wood. But if we know... It is a fact. You know or not know, that doesn't matter. The original cause is Kṛṣṇa. The microphone, the original cause is Kṛṣṇa. These karatālas, the original cause is Kṛṣṇa. This pitcher, original cause is Kṛṣṇa. Everything. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And it is fact. Not that we are imagining.

Lecture on SB 3.25.19 -- Bombay, November 19, 1974:

So the Buddhist theory is to dismantle this construction, and then there is no more sense of pains and... The Māyāvādī theory also like that, that "Activities, because they are material activities, therefore there are sufferings. So the material activities, they are false. You simply understand yourself, that you are Brahman, and no more activities, stop all activities, Brahman realization..." Their example is given that if you take an empty pitcher and you put into the water, so long it is not filled up, there will be some sound: "bud-bud-bud-bud-bud-bud." And as soon as the pitcher is fully filled up, there is no, no more sound. So all these Vedic mantras and other..., they're only means. So when one is completely Brahman realized, then there is no more chanting, hearing or Vedic hymns. Everything stop. The same theory. Buddhist theory and Māyāvāda theory is almost practically the same. They are saying, "Make it zero," and they are saying, "It is mithyā, false. Stop it." Brahma satyam, brahma satyaṁ jagan... Brahma satya means Brahman realization, "I am Brahman. I am the same Supreme... So 'ham." But that will not help you. That is simply theoretical. Practical is bhaktyā bhagavaty akhilātmani.

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- New York, July 28, 1971:

Nīcād apy uttamāṁ strī-ratnaṁ duṣkulād api. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that you have to catch up the right thing from any source. It doesn't matter. He gives example: viṣād api amṛtaṁ grāhyam. If there is a pitcher of poison, but if there is some nectarine over the pitcher, you catch it, take it out. Don't take the poison, but take the nectarine. Amedhyād api kāñcana. If you find that in a filthy place there is some gold, take it out. You are not to take the filthy stool, but you take the gold. Nīcād apy uttamāṁ vidyām. Nīcā. According to Vedic system, education has to be taken from high class, intellectual person like the brāhmaṇas. But if you find that a person who is not a brāhmaṇa—he's less than a brāhmaṇa, or even lower caste—but if he has got some nice education, just accept him as your teacher and learn. Not that "Because he's lowborn or not brāhmaṇa, I shall not take the education from him." The point is that you have to take the education. And strī-ratnaṁ duṣkulād api.

Correspondence

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 12 February, 1969:

The Deities should be decorated with sufficient flowers and nice gorgeous dresses and ornaments. Beforehand, you should polish the Bodies with a mixture of tamorind pulp and fullers earth. Apply the pulp on the Bodies, then rub it and then polish nicely with tissue paper. This will gave a very good shine. Then bath the Deities with milk, and dress very nicely with ornaments, and place Them on the throne with flowers, candles, etc. The throne, if possible, should be coated with silver sheets, and the canopy should be red velvet with gold embroidered work. Before the Deities, on the staircase, there may be some silver polished cups, pitchers, etc. I think the Deities have already helmets and peacock feathers and hair to be dressed with. If not, make arrangements for this also. I do not know how big is the throne, but if it is very big, then within the throne there may be a raised seat to accommodate the Deities. On the whole, everything should be very gorgeous; then it will be successful.

Page Title:Pitcher
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Serene
Created:07 of Dec, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=7, OB=1, Lec=6, Con=0, Let=1
No. of Quotes:15