View source for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said to Raghunatha Bhatta, "When you return home, serve your aged father and mother, who are devotees, and try to study Srimad-Bhagavatam from a pure Vaisnava who has realized God"

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{{terms|"Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said to Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, “When you return home, serve your aged father and mother, who are devotees, and try to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a pure Vaiṣṇava who has realized God"}}
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[[Category:Caitanya Says]]
[[Category:Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami]]
[[Category:When]]
[[Category:Return Home]]
[[Category:Serve]]
[[Category:Age - period of human life]]
[[Category:Father And Mother]]
[[Category:Who Are]]
[[Category:Caitanya's Devotees]]
[[Category:Try To]]
[[Category:Study]]
[[Category:Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana)]]
[[Category:From]]
[[Category:Pure Vaisnava]]
[[Category:Who]]
[[Category:God Realization]]
[[Category:Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila Chapter 13 - Pastimes with Jagadananda Pandita and Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami]]
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<h2>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta</h2>
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<h3>CC Antya-lila</h3>
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Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said to Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, “When you return home, serve your aged father and mother, who are devotees, and try to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a pure Vaiṣṇava who has realized God.”.
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[[Vanisource:CC Antya 13.113|CC Antya 13.113, Translation and Purport]]
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Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said to Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, “When you return home, serve your aged father and mother, who are devotees, and try to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a pure Vaiṣṇava who has realized God.”
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One should note how Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, advised Raghunātha Bhaṭṭācārya to learn Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He advised him to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam not from professional men but from a real bhāgavata, a devotee. He also advised Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa to serve his mother and father because they were both Lord Caitanya’s devotees. Anyone who wishes to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness must try to serve the devotees of Kṛṣṇa. As Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra peyeche kebā: “Without serving a self-realized Vaiṣṇava, no one has ever been released from the materialistic way of life.” Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would have never advised Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa to serve ordinary parents, but since his parents were Vaiṣṇavas, the Lord advised him to serve them.

One might ask, “Why shouldn’t ordinary parents be served?” As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ([[Vanisource:SB 5.5.18|SB 5.5.18]]):

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:gurur na sa syāt sva-jano na sa syāt</dd><dd>pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt</dd><dd>daivaṁ na tat syāt na patiś ca sa syān</dd><dd>na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum
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“One who cannot deliver his dependent from the path of birth and death should never become a spiritual master, a relative, a father or mother, or a worshipable demigod, nor should such a person become a husband.” Everyone naturally gets a father and mother at the time of birth, but the real father and mother are those who can release their offspring from the clutches of imminent death. This is possible only for parents advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore any parents who cannot enlighten their offspring in Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be accepted as a real father and mother.
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