Chaitanya
Bhagavat
by
Srila Vrindavan das Thakur
Adi Lila
Chapter 2
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Chaitanya
Bhagavat |
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Adi Lila |
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All glories, all glories to the beatific Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is Sri Jagannatha Misra's son and the Supreme Lord of all.
All glories to Lord Chaitanya, the life and soul of Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Gadadhara Pandita. All glories, all glories
to the shelter of Sri Advaita Acharya and the other devotees.
All glories to Lord Sri Gauranga and His associates. One receives loving devotion to the Supreme simply by
hearing transcendental topics about Lord Chaitanya. Again I offer my obeisances at the Lord's lotus feet and at the lotus feet of
all His associates so that the pastimes of the Lord may appear on my tongue. All glories, all glories to Lord Chaitanya, the ocean
of compassion; and all glories, all glories to Lord Nityananda, the embodiment of loving devotional service.
The spiritual identities of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda as brothers and as servitors of the Supreme Lord are unknown,
yet by Their causeless mercy Their absolute identities were revealed. Lord Brahma was enlightened about the Absolute Truth by
Lord Krishna's mercy. ”Srimad Bhagavatam and all Vedic scriptures describe this. May the Lord, Who in the beginning of
creation amplified the potent knowledge of Brahma from within his heart and inspired him with full knowledge of creation and of his
own self, and who appeared to be generated from the mouth of Brahma, be pleased with me.
In the beginning Lord Brahma did not have the power to see anything although he had been born on a lotus from the
Lord's navel. But when he completely surrendered himself to the Supreme Lord, the Lord by His causeless mercy appeared before him.
That same mercy enlightened Lord Brahma with absolute knowledge of the Supreme Lord, the origin of all incarnations.
Thereafter, spontaneous, pure glorification of Him sprang from Brahma's mouth.
Without Lord Krishna's causeless mercy, it is impossible to know the truth about His incarnation. His supramundane
pastimes are inconceivable and inaccessible. Lord Brahma described them in the ”Bhagavata Purana.
O Lord of the Universe, O Supreme Person, O Supreme soul, O Lord of the mystics, how marvelous you are! Who within the
three worlds can know when, where, why and how you expand your internal
spiritual potency "Yogamaya" and perform your transcendental pastimes? Who can fathom the ontological reason for Your
advent in this world? Therefore, I can only submit the conclusions of Bhagavad Gita and
Bhagavata Purana as reasons for Your appearance.
"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendent of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion, at that time I descend myself. In order to deliver
the pious and annihilate the miscreants, as well as to re-establish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium
after millennium."
Whenever religious practice becomes weak, irreligion gradually increases. Therefore, Lord Brahma and others
humbly requested the Lord to appear and protect the pious and destroy the demons. In order to re-establish the religious process
of the age, the Supreme Lord descended on the earth with His eternal associates. The religion for Kali Yuga is
congregational chanting of the Lord's holy name and in order to propagate this
religious process Lord Chaitanya appeared as the son of Mother Saci. It is confirmed in the
Srimad Bhagavatam that the Supreme Absolute Truth, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, incarnated solely
to propagate the congregational chanting of Krishna's holy name.
"O King Nimi, devotees always offer prayers to the Supreme Lord Hari, but now I will explain how the devotees in the
Kali Yuga offer the choicest prayers accompanied by various rituals and regulations for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord.
In this age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, Who is accompanied by
His associates, by performance of sankirtana yajna."
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Chaitanya, propagated the essence of all religion for the age of Kali
congregational chanting of Lord Hari's holy name. Accompanied by His associates, He appeared in Kali Yuga simply to establish
the religious practice of congregational chanting.
According to His desire, His eternal associates appeared before Him, taking birth as humans. Ananta Sesa, Siva,
Brahma, the sages and other associates of the Lord all took birth as highly elevated, pure Vaisnava devotees
- Bhagavatas. Lord Chaitanya, Krishna, knew everyone's position and identity. Most
of them took birth in Navadvipa, yet some were born in Cattogram, Radhadesh or Srihatta (Bengal) and still others in Orissa.
All these associates appeared in different places, but everyone met in Navadvipa.
Srivasa Pandita, Sri Rama Pandita and Sri Candrasekhar are personalities worshipped in all three worlds. Sri Murari
Gupta can cure the disease of material entanglement. Vaisnavas of this caliber appeared in Srihatta. Pundarika Vidyanidhi (the
foremost Vaisnava devotee), Chaitanya Vallabha, (who was very dear to Lord Chaitanya) and Vasudeva Datta all appeared in Cattogram.
Haridas Thakura appeared in Budhan.
The village Ekacakra is in the Radhadesa district of Bengal. The Supreme Lord Nityananda made His appearance there.
Lord Nityananda is factually the Supreme Father of all living entities, but to show mercy on Hadai Pandita, a brahmin and
pure devotee, He took birth as His son. Lord Nityananda is an ocean of mercy, the shelter of all Vaisnava devotees and the giver
of devotion. He appeared in the district of Radhadesa. Expressing their happiness at the appearance of Lord Nityananda,
the demigods made joyous sounds and showered flowers. All this was performed, unseen by ordinary mundane eyes. From the time
of Nityananda's appearance Radhadesa district grew more and more prosperous each day.
Sri Paramananda Puri, who was Lord Chaitanya's close associate in Nilacala, appeared in Trihut, in Mithila, Bihar.
When the land on the banks of Mother Ganga are places of pilgrimage, why did the Vaisnava devotees appear in
impious lands? Chaitanya Himself descended on the banks of Mother Ganga, so why did His eternal associates appear in far away places?
In their travels the Pandavas avoided countries devoid of the sound of the holy name of the Lord and the waters of Mother Ganga.
Lord Krishna Chaitanya, being compassionate on the unfortunate souls born in those lands, arranged for the pure
Vaisnava devotees to appear there. His own appearance was required simply to redeem the material world. In order to accomplish this,
He arranged for His pure devotees to take birth in impious lands and in impious families. Wherever and in whichever family the
pure Vaisnava devotee appeared, he was able to purify everyone in the vacinity by his pure spiritual potency. The birthplace of a
pure Vaisnava becomes a place of pilgrimage. Therefore the Supreme Lord Chaitanya arranged that His associates take birth
in many different places. And although they were all born indifferent places, they met, as if by accident, in Navadvipa.
Lord Chaitanya's birthplace was Navadvipa, hence Navadvipa was the meeting place of all the devotees. The glory
of Navadvipa can not be compared to any other place in the world. Knowing about Lord Chaitanya's descent in Navadvipa,
Providence made it a prosperous and flourishing town to receive the Lord. Who is capable of describing Navadvipa's opulence? Hundreds
of thousands crowded to bathe on the banks of the Ganga. By Goddess Sarasvati's grace residents of Navadvipa of all
different ages were learned exponents of the scriptures. The people were proud of their material knowledge; even young boys argued
logic with senior scholars. Students came from different parts of the country to study in Navadvipa, because there they could get
a taste for scholastics. The number of students in Navadvipa was incalculable, and the exact count of professors was
also undetermined.
The residents were content, favored by the favorable glances of Rama (Laksmi, the Goddess of wealth), but they wasted
their time spending money for sense pleasures and other worldly affairs. As they grew prouder and more
materialistic, people's tastes for devotional service to the Supreme Lord had decreased alarmingly, and the beginning of Kali Yuga
had ushered in immortal activities.
The only religious or devotional activities they knew were invocations to the demigods and demigoddesses - especially
Durga Devi - and prayers for temporary material benedictions.
Some arrogantly worshipped Manasa the Goddess of snakes; others wasted huge amounts of wealth worshipping dolls.
They squandered large sum on the marriages of their sons and daughters, and in this way they wasted their human life.
Even the so called learned high priests - Bhattacharya, Cakravarti and Misra, etc. - did not know the purpose of
the scriptures.
Though they taught the scriptures, their activities were contrary to scriptural injunction, so along with their
students they drowned in the deluge of iniquity.
Nobody was engaged in explaining the imports of congregational chanting of Lord Krishna's holy name - the religion of Kali
Yuga; they spent their time simply finding faults in others.
As for the superstitious so-called renunciates and hermits not a single name of God ever escaped their mouths.
Those considered most pious in society were heard repeating the Lord's name Govinda or Pundarikaksa only once at the time
of daily abduction.
Devotional perspectives were invariably absent in explaining transcendental literatures like
Bhagavat Gita and SrimadBhagavatam.
The Vaisnava devotees of the Lord became distressed seeing them as engrossed in material existence under the external energy
of the Lord.
How can all these living entities be liberated? They are completely mesmerized by the myth of sense pleasures.
Although people were requested to chant God's holy name, they refused and instead they foolishly busied themselves
acquiring fruitless material knowledge.
The elevated Vaisnava devotees continued their devotional activities by worshipping Krishna, taking bath in the Ganga
and discussing Krishna conscious topics. The Vaisnavas became moved to benedict humanity, and
prayed that Lord Krishna would quickly shower His mercy upon them.
Foremost of the great Vaisnavas in Navadvipa was Advaita Acharya who was glorified throughout the world.
The pre-eminent spiritual preceptor was the exponent on knowledge of the absolute science of devotion and
renunciation; His delineation of Krishna conscious topics equaled Lord Siva's.
His explanations on all existing scriptures arrived at the same conclusion - the essence of everything is devotion to
Lord Krishna's lotus feet.
He constantly worshipped Lord Krishna with great devotion, offering Him Tulasi blossoms and Ganga water.
His intense attachment for Lord Krishna made him resound loudly in exaltation and the sound penetrated the coverings of
the material world, passed the abode of Lord Brahma. Happy tumult echoed everywhere. The loud chanting of the
holy name, the blowing of conches, and the sounds of cymbal, gong and drums transformed
Sri Advaita's house into Vaikuntha.
The Lord was very satisfied with all the elaborate arrangements. He went around the house looking at everything.
Couple of rooms were packed with bags of rice. The fire wood was stacked like high mountains. Several rooms were being used
for cooking with innumerable pots strewn everywhere. A few rooms were filled with lentil dahl; about seven rooms were packed
with clothes. Room after room had just flat rice, puffed rice and leaf plated. It was impossible to count the number of
bananas, coconuts, and big lumps of gur, molasses lying around. Then came the many, many rooms filled with an array of all sorts
of vegetables like patal, aubergine, banana tree stem, potatoes, spinaches and so on. Another spectacle that met His eyes was
the rows and rows of large containers filled with milk, yogurt and cream. Piled high were the sugar canes, and next to them
were large vessels of oil, ghee and salt. This miraculous display which appeared as if from nowhere is indescribable in its
variety and volume.
The Lord was filled with wonder for He knew that all this was not humanly possible to accomplish at such short notice
for one person. The Lord said, "Such manifestation of opulence cannot be the work of an ordinary mortal. Sri Advaita must
be Mahesa, Siva, this is what I strongly feel. This miracle is possible only for Mahadeva, Lord Siva. Advaita Acharya must
be the incarnation of Lord Siva." The Lord smiled and kept repeating these words. And in this manner, through
insinuations the Lord revealed the actual spiritual identity of Advaita Acharya. One who is pious will accept these statements of Lord
Chaitanya with great spiritual joy. And those non believers who have no faith in the Lord's words, will be confronted by Advaita
Acharya Himself as a horrendous consuming conflagration.
Sri Jagadisa, Sri Gopinatha, Sriman Sri Murari, Sri Garuda and Sri Gangadasa appeared
before the Lord.
In connection with these various incidents I mention only those personalities known personally to me. Otherwise,
to mention every individual would make this book bulky.
Each one of the magnanimous devotees executed his spiritual duties and was concerned only with devotional services to Krishna.
Each was unaware of the others' spiritual identities (Svarupa) yet they mixed intimately as confidential friends.
Wherever they looked they saw a world devoid of devotion and their hearts were seared with
sorrow.
They found no one with any taste for the nectar of Lord Krsna's pastimes, so they simply glorified the Lord
amongst themselves.
They often spent several hours together in Sri Advaita Acharya's residence discussing topics of Lord Krishna, and in
this manner they dispelled all discontent.
The devotees saw the world burning in the flames of material existence, and they found no occasion to inspire the people to
an awareness of God. This caused them great sorrow.
Sri Advaita Acharya joined the community of Vaisnavas in an attempt to make the people conscious of God, but not a
soul understood them. Stricken with grief due to people's suffering, Sri Advaita
Acharya began fasting; all the Vaisnavas sighed deeply at the situation.
Why sing and dance for Krishna? What is the meaning of congregational chanting of the Lord's holy name? Who are the Vaisnavas? Gross materialistic people running after wealth and family
do not comprehend any of these things. Indeed such atheists only taunt and laugh at the Vaisnavas.
As evening descended Srivasa Thakura and His three brothers would vociferously sing the Lord's name in their house. The atheistic neighbors vilified Srivasa Thakura,
pronouncing him mad. They declared that the entire village would be destroyed because of him.
The tyrannical Muslim rulers would tear the village apart if they heard people loudly chanting God's name.
Some envious neighbors said they would break down Srivasa Thakura's house and float it down the river in order to get
rid of him.
"When Srivasa Thakura leaves, then only will the village be peaceful again. Otherwise the Muslim rulers will torture us "
When the saintly Vaisnavas heard such threats from the atheists they simply wept, telling their sorrows to Lord Krishna.
Sri Advaita Acharya burned with rage on hearing this news, and unconcerned with his state of undress he addressed the Vaisnavas.
"Listen Srivasa Thakura, Sri Gangadasa and Suklambara, I shall make Lord Krishna appear before everyone's eyes.
Lord Krishna will come personally and liberate everyone , and along with all you Vaisnavas the Lord will teach the
atheists love of Godhead.
And if I fail to keep my promise, I shall manifest my fourhanded form and take up the disc.
I shall sever the heads of all the atheists. Only then will I accept that Lord Krishna is my Lord and master and I am His
proper servitor".
Sri Advaita Acharya spoke extensively, and then resolving Himself He worshipped the lotus feet of Lord
Krishna.
The collective devotees also worshipped Lord krishna's lotus feet with great attention and continuous tears.
As the devotees went about their duties in Navadvipa
town, nowhere did they find any discussion about God or devotion.
This shocked the devotees with grief; some contemplated leaving their bodies, while others sobbed Krishna's name,
letting out deep long sighs.
So severe was their pain at the sight of the futile endeavors of a godless society that they lost all appetite.
At last they renounced all material comfort whereupon the Supreme Lord made preparations to descend to the material world.
By the Supreme Lord's desire, Lord Nityananda, the origin of Lord Ananta Sesa, descended before Him in the land called Radha.
Lord Nityananda made his appearance in the world of Srimati Padmavati devi on the auspicious thirteenth day of the
waxing moon in a village called Ekacakra.
Although He is the original Supreme Father of everyone, Nityananda allowed Sri Hadai Pandita, a pure and
elevated brahman, to play the role of his father.
The Supreme Lord Sri Balarama is an ocean of mercy and is the giver of pure devotional service to Krishna; He has again
appeared, this time with the name Nityananda.
The denizens of heavenly planets secretly celebrated this occasion, showering flower confetti with tumultuous sounds of
joy and praise.
Lord Nityananda's appearance in the land of Radhadesa gradually increased that district's good fortune in every respect.
The Supreme Personality, who appeared to liberate the fallen souls, took the dress of a mendicant and traveled everywhere.
In this manner Lord Ananta made his advent. Now hear descriptions of Lord Krishna's advent.
Sri Jagannatha Misra, the great transcendental personality, resided in Navadvipa. He was like Vasudeva (Lord
Krishna's father), always engaged in spiritual activities.
He was magnanimous and possessed the best of all brahminical qualities; his qualities had no comparison in this world.
Sri Jagannatha Misra was of the same spiritual category as Kasyapa, Dasaratha, Vasudeva, or Nanda.
His dedicated wife Srimati Sacidevi was the embodiment of devotion to the Supreme Lord. She was the Universal Mother.
All her eight daughters passed away and she was left with one greatly fortunate son, Visvarupa.
Sri Visvarupa was as beautiful and charming as cupid and the source of joy for his parents.
After birth Sri Visvarupa was materially renounced, and as a child he mastered the different scriptures.
The godlessness seen in the beginning of Kali Yuga was indicative of what the future had in store; the whole
society would become bereft of devotional service.