Chaitanya Bhagavat
by
Srila Vrindavan das Thakur
Madhya Lila
Chapter 6
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Please study the Predictions from over 20 Vedic Scriptures about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu before proceeding further. This will lead to deeper / proper understanding of the subject matter being presented in this book. Thank you for your kind support.
All glories to the moonlike Sri Krishna Chaitanya, the fully independent Supreme
Person, who is always engaged in eternal transcendental pastimes. He is the
master of the universe, the supreme controller of all controllers, the life and
soul of every living entity, and the direct manifestation of transcendence.
Please mercifully place Your lotus feet in my heart.
All glories to all the intimate servants and dear devotees of Lord
Gauranchandra. All glories to their ecstatic dancing.
All glories to Lord Visvambhar, the supreme benefactor of the universe, the life
of Sri Paramananda Puri, and the dear most object of Svarupa Damodara.
All glories to Sri Krishna Chaitanya, the beloved master of Sri Rupa, Sri
Sanatana, Jagadisa, and Gopinatha. Oh Lord of Darpan Govinda, please bless the
entire universe by Your merciful glance.
Lord Gaurachandra performed His pastimes of congregational chanting with Lord
Nityananda, in this chapter I will describe Advaita Acharya Prabhu's (arrival)
One day Lord Chaitanya, exhibiting the mood of the Supreme Lord, ordered the
younger brother of Srivas Pandit: "Ramai go to Advaita Acharya's house and
inform him of My appearance. Tell him that the person he has worshipped for so
long, the person he wept for, the person he fasted for, that same Lord has now
appeared. He has come to distribute knowledge of loving devotional service to
the Supreme Lord, thus he must come immediately to meet Him. Also tell him about
Lord Nityananda Prabhu's arrival, but do it secretly and explain to him
everything you have seen. Tell him to come immediately, along with his wife, and
bring all the paraphernalia for My worship."
Happy to be entrusted with these orders, Ramai started for Advaita Acharya's
house, absorbed in remembrance of the Supreme Lord. Although he did not know
the way, he felt very joyful, his only treasure was Lord Chaitanya's
instructions. Somehow, by divine guidance, he arrived at Advaita Acharya's
house. Offering his obeisance to Advaita Acharya Prabhu he was overcome with
great joy he could not speak.
Advaita Acharya Prabhu already knew everything that was happening in Navadvip.
He could perceive this because he was on the pure devotional platform. He spoke
to Ramai Pandit sweetly saying, "I know you have instructions to take me to
Navadvip." Ramai Pandit folded his hands in respect and said, "You already know
everything, so please come quickly with me."
Advaita Acharya Prabhu was in a completely blissful state of mind,
transcendental to all his bodily sensations. Who is able to fathom the
transcendental nature of Advaita Acharya Prabhu? He is all important yet he
speaks as if ignorant.
Advaita Acharya Prabhu then questioned Ramai Pandit, "In which scripture is it
mentioned that the Supreme Lord Hari will descend to Navadvip in a human form
for the redemption of the fallen conditioned souls? O Ramai, your elder brother,
Srivas Pandit, knows about my standard of devotion, renunciation and self
realization."
Ramai Pandit was well aware of Advaita Acharya Prabhu's spiritual powers thus he
remained quiet, smiling within. Advaita Acharya Prabhu's transcendental pastimes
are unlimited, they are a source of great joy to the pious, while they remain
incomprehensible to sinful persons.
Again Advaita Acharya Prabhu inquired, "O Ramai, please tell me why you have
come so suddenly?"
When Ramai Pandit felt that Advaita Acharya had calmed down, he began to cry
while delivering Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's message: "That Supreme Personality
for whom you have wept so profusely, for whom you have performed continuous
worship, and for whom you have accepted vows of fasting and austerity, that
Supreme Personality has now appeared to distribute love of Godhead, and He has
instructed you to come to Him immediately. Please bring your wife with you, as
well as all the proper paraphernalia for His worship. Lord Nityananda Prabhu has
also appeared, He is non different from Lord Chaitanya and He is your life and
soul. You already know everything, what more do I need to say. If I am fortunate
enough then I will be able to see all of you together."
When Ramai Pandit delivered this message, Advaita Acharya Prabhu swooned in
ecstasy, lifting his hands he began to cry. Suddenly, to everyone's amazement,
he fell unconscious. Shortly after he regained his external consciousness,
roaring loudly he repeated, "I have brought, I have brought my Lord. The Lord
has left His supreme abode in the Vaikuntha planets and appeared here in answer
to my prayers." Saying this he fell to the ground weeping.
Hearing the news of the Lord's advent the chaste wife of Advaita Acharya Prabhu,
Sri Sita devi [ACBSPN Note: In the year 2001, her auspicious appearance day
falls on the 23rd of August], who is respected as the mother of the entire universe, began to
weep joyfully. Although Advaita Acharya's son, Acyutananda, was only a young boy
he also cried incessantly. Advaita Acharya's house was transformed into an abode
of love of Krishna as mother and son, surrounded by their friends and relatives,
wept together joyfully.
Engrossed in thoughts of the Supreme Lord Advaita Acharya Prabhu tried to
control himself but he was unable to remain still, his body swayed in slow
motion, and he inquired from Ramai, "What did the Lord say to me?" Ramai
replied, "To come immediately." Advaita Acharya said, "Listen Ramai Pandit, if
He is actually my worshipable Supreme Lord then let Him appear before me to
speak the truth. If He can exhibit His supreme opulence and place His lotus feet
on my head then I will know that He is the Lord of my heart."
Ramai Pandit replied, "O Lord, what power do I posses to speak, if I am blessed
then I can see with these eyes the Supreme Lord's pastimes, the Lord's desire is
your desire and He has incarnated because of you."
Satisfied with Ramai's reply Advaita Acharya began preparing for the journey.
"Get ready immediately", he told his wife, "Collect the different paraphernalia
for worship and let us proceed."
Sitadevi was a chaste and dedicated woman, she had full knowledge of the truth
about Lord Chaitanya's pastimes and appearance. She collected incense, garlands,
scented oils, cloves, sweet condensed milk, yogurt, cream, butter, camphor,
betel leaf and betel nut for worship.
Advaita Acharya then left with his wife and Ramai Pandit. He reminded Ramai
Pandit, "Do not tell the Lord that I have come, I want to find out what the Lord
replies. I will hide in Nanda Acharya Prabhu's house."
Lord Visvambhar is the Supersoul residing in everyone's heart, thus He
immediately knew Advaita Acharya's plans. Understanding that Advaita Acharya
Prabhu had arrived in Navadvip, He proceeded to Srivas Pandit's house. By the
arrangement of the Lord all of the devotees met there.
Seeing that the Lord was in a contemplative mood the devotees remained quiet and
apprehensive. The Lord suddenly rose up roaring like a lion He went to sit on
the seat of Lord Visnu which was placed on the altar. He began shouting, "Nera
has come, Nera has come. I know Nera wants to test whether I am the actual
Supreme Lord, the Supersoul within everyone's heart."
Nityananda Prabhu understood all of Lord Chaitanya's moods,therefore He picked
up the umbrella and held it over the Lord's head. Gadadhara Pandit, who was also
perceptive to the Lord's moods, offered Him camphor and pan leaf. All of the
devotees followed and worshipped the Lord with various ingredients. Some offered
prayers to the Lord, while others rendered different services.
Amidst all these activities Ramai Pandit returned. Before Ramai could speak the
Lord said, "Nera has sent you to test Me." The Lord shook His head gently and
said, "Nera has come, although Nera knows Me well he always tries to test Me. He
is here in Navadvip at Nanda Acharya's house and he has sent you here to test
Me. Go quickly and bring him here immediately."
Ramai happily went back to Advaita Acharya Prabhu and narrated everything in
detail to him. Advaita Acharya felt extremely blissful hearing the incidents
that took place and he came to Srivas Pandit's house considering his plans to be
successful. Advaita Acharya wanted the whole earth to know that Lord Chaitanya
was the Supersoul and the all potent Supreme Personality of Godhead, now the
Lord Himself had propagated this Supremacy.
Advaita Acharya and his wife approached the Lord offering repeated obeisances
from a great distance while chanting hymns in praise of the Lord. Advaita
Acharya Prabhu was now fully convinced that he was seeing the fearless
lotus feet of his beloved Lord, the most beautiful Personality in the entire
creation. The beauty of millions upon millions of cupids seemed pale and
ordinary next to the beauty of the Lord. His golden complexion was effulgent
and His blissful face was beaming like millions of glowing full moons. The Lord
looked down upon Advaita Acharya with great affection. Golden pillars were no
match against the graceful and powerful arms of the Lord and the ornaments that
decorated His arms paled any gems. His breast was marked with the Srivatsa mark
and the great koustubha jewel hung loosely from His neck. From His ears
dangled fish shaped earrings and around His neck swung the vaijanti garland. His
unlimited mighty power and brilliance outshone a million suns. Rama, the goddess
of fortune, always serves His lotus feet, and Ananta Sesa holds the umbrella
over His head. One is put to quandary to discern which are the Lord's nails and
which are brilliant gems. He played the flute in a most exquisite position, bent
in three places and a charming smile played on His lips.
Advaita Acharya Prabhu saw everything shining all around the Lord, the Lord, His
devotees and the beautiful ornaments that decorated the Lord's transcendental
form shone brilliantly. He also saw the four headed Lord Brahma, the five headed
Lord Siva and the six headed Lord Kartikaya offering Him obeisances, while
Narada Muni and Sukdeva Gosvami recited prayers reverently. An extremely
beautiful lady, who looked like mother Ganga, was offering the Lord obeisances
seated on a chariot. All around the demigods were offering eulogies and prayers
to the Lord. Turning around he saw that hundreds and hundreds of demigods were
flat on the ground offering their obeisances and repeating Lord Krishna's name.
Seeing these wonderful sights Advaita Acharya Prabhu lifted himself up from his
prostrated position, overcome with awe and reverence. Huge many hooded serpents
stood with their hoods raised high offering hymns and prayers to the Lord. In
another direction he saw many chariots, horses, elephants and swans, the
carriers of the demigods. Innumerable wives of the demigods stood around with
tears in their eyes offering praise to the Lord and chanting Lord Krishna's
name. There was not an empty space left either in the sky or on land. In another
direction all the great sages offered chaste prayers to the Lord. Totally
overwhelmed, Advaita Acharya and his wife stood there speechless.
Lord Visvambhar, the all merciful Supreme Godhead, looked at Advaita Acharya
Prabhu and said, "I have descended to this earth because of your vow and your
repeated devotional service and worship. I was resting on the ocean of milk and
your roaring woke Me up. You are so merciful that you couldn't bear the sufferings
of humanity, and so you have brought Me here to alleviate their sufferings. All
these demigods, sages, devotees and associates that surround Me have appeared in
answer to your prayers. You have arranged for all living entities to see those
great devotees whom even Lord Brahma is constantly thinking about."
Hearing these wonderful words from the Lord's mouth Advaita Acharya lifted his
hands and wept along with his wife. "Today my life has become successful," he
said, "All my dreams and desires have been fulfilled. Seeing Your lotus feet, my
birth and all my activities have gained meaning. It is by unlimited good fortune
that I am able to see, in person, that Personality whom even the Vedic
literature has never seen, yet describes Him with mere words. O Lord I am
incapable of anything, everything is made up of Your mercy, who else but You can
liberate the living entities?" Tears rolled down Advaita Acaray's face as he
spoke.
"Now perform My worship," the Lord said. Having received the this instruction
Advaita Acharya Prabhu began to worship the Lord's lotus feet with great
ecstasy. First he washed His feet with scented waters and then covered Them with
highly scented oil. He dipped the tulsi manjari into the sandalwood paste and
placed it on the Lord's lotus feet. Then he began to offer worship with flowers,
scents, incense, frankinscense and lamps, as tears of love flowed unrestricted
from his eyes. He then offered the lamp with five flames while chanting prayers,
after which everyone jubilantly glorified the Lord. He continued to worship the
Lord strictly according to the injunctions of the scriptures, offering sixteen
types of paraphernalia, as well as flower garlands, clothes and ornaments. He
then glorified the Lord with the verse: "O my Lord, You are the well wisher of
the cows and the brahmanas and You are the well wisher of the entire human
society and world."
Advaita Acharya Prabhu offered his worship with this verse and then began to
recite verses from the scriptures in praise of the Supreme Lord: "All glories,
all glories to the Lord of everyone's heart Lord Visvambhar, all glories to Lord
Gaurachandra, the ocean of mercy. All glories to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the
source of all incarnations. He comes to prove that His devotees are always
right. All glories to Him who feels great joy beholding the exquisite beauty of
Laksmi devi. All glories to the Lord who is decorated with the mark of Srivatsa
and is decorated with the kaustuba gem. All glories to Lord Visvambhar
who has propagated the chanting of the maha mantra, Hare Krishna. All glories to
Him, for He manifests the pastimes of a pure devotee just to teach the living
entities the process of devotional service and surrender unto Him. All glories
to Lord Mahaprabhu who lies on the bed of Ananta Sesa. All glories, all glories
to the only Supreme shelter of all living entities. O my Lord, You are Lord
Visnu, You are Krishna and You are Narayana. You are eternal. and You appeared
as Matsya, Kurma, Varaha and Vamana. In every millennium You protect and
maintain the Vedic principles. You are Lord Ramchandra, the life of Mother
Janaki, and the destroyer of all the demons. You gave a boon to the Chandala
Guhuk. You appeared as Lord Nrsimhadev just to
protect Your beloved devotee Prahlad Maharaj, and in that incarnation You slew
his father Hiranyakasipu. You are the most precious jewel of the Vedas, and the
best of the brahmanas. You appeared in Nilacala (Jagannath Puri) in Your deity form to receive
the worship of the living entities. The four Vedas search after You, but You
have mercifully appeared here and hid Yourself from the Vedas. O Lord, You
are most expert in hiding Yourself, but Your pure devotees are as expert in
finding You out and exposing You. You have advented to propagate the
congregational chanting of the holy name of God, this is unprecedented in the
entire creation, there is no parallel to You. The nectar from Your two lotus
feet satiates and intoxicates Lord Siva and Paravati. Rama, the goddess of
Fortune, constantly serves Your lotus feet with great attention,
and great sages sing incessantly in praise of Your lotus feet. Lord Brahma
worships You with great awe and reverence, and all the Sruti, Smrti and Puranic
shastras glorify Your lotus feet. As Lord Vamana You covered the entire universe
up to Satyaloka with Your lotus feet, and Bali Maharaj surrendered His life and
soul, laying his head at Your feet. The holy Ganga emanates from Your lotus
feet, and Lord Siva feels greatly fortunate to hold her waters on His head."
Advaita Acharya's intelligence was a million times greater than Brhaspati's,
thus he was fully aware of the absolute and transcendental position of Lord
Chaitanya. Drenched in his own tears, Advaita Acharya Prabhu glorified the Lord
and fell prostrate before Him seeking shelter under His lotus feet.
Lord Gauranga is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul residing in
every living entities heart. He lifted His lotus feet and placed Them on Advaita
Acharya Prabhu's head, seeing this all the devotees began to glorify the Lord
with jubilant sounds of victory, they swooned with joy and filled the air with
sounds of the Lord's holy name, "Hari, Hari". The devotees lost control of
themselves, some of them rolled on the ground, many of them slapped each other
boisterously, while others embraced, and some just cried out loudly. Advaita
Acharya and his wife felt that all their desires were fulfilled because Lord
Chaitanya had placed his lotus feet on his head.
Lord Chaitanya instructed to Advaita Acharya Prabhu, "O Nera! See My glories and
dance." Advaita Acharya Prabhu happily began dancing with great devotion.
Someone started a sweet, melodious kirtan and Advaita Acharya Prabhu continued
dancing ecstatically in front of Lord Chaitanya. At times his dancing became
spirited and at other times he danced gracefully with delicate movements. At
times he felt very humble and moved about holding a straw in his teeth.
Sometimes he spun around jumping in the air and then falling to the ground he
rolled back and forth. At other times he would breath deeply and quickly and
fall unconscious with ecstasy. A variety of devotional moods overtook him as he
danced ecstatically, spontaneously reciprocating with the mood of the kirtan.
Finally he came and sat down quietly like a servile servitor of the Lord. It
is impossible to communicate this inconceivable and transcendental pastime.
Advaita Acharya Prabhu ran to Lord Chaitanya's side, seeing Lord Nityananda he
buckled his eyebrows, and Nityananda Prabhu began to laugh. Advaita Acharya
Prabhu replied laughing, "It is wonderful that You are here Nitai for a long
time I have had no trace of You, now if You want to go anywhere then I will tie
You up."
Lord Nityananda laughed at Advaita Acharya Prabhu's demeanor. Though now They
appeared in two different forms, in the pastimes of Lord Krishna They are the
same Personality. I have already discussed previously how Nityananda Prabhu
served Lord Chaitanya in various ways, with great pleasure. For this purpose He
expanded Himself in many forms. In some forms He described the glories of the
Lord, in other forms He meditated within his heart on the Lord, sometimes He
manifested Himself as the Lord's umbrella and bed, while in in another form He
would sweetly sing the holy name of the Lord. Only the most fortunate can
understand that in this incarnation Lord Nityananda Prabhu and Lord Advaita
Acharya Prabhu are non different. In the course of their pastimes whatever
arguments or differences they had between them are all the inconceivable and
transcendental behavior of the Supreme Lord. The manner in which they served
Lord Chaitanya with great ecstasy is similar to the mood of service of Lord
Ananta Sesa and Lord Siva. Those ignorant persons who do not understand the
purport of their quarrels and take sides, criticizing one and praising the
other, are destined to perish.
The dancing of Advaita Acharya Prabhu mesmerized all the devotees and filled
their hearts with ecstatic joy. when Lord Chaitanya instructed Advaita Acharya
Prabhu to stop dancing he immediately sat down accepting the Lord's instructions
with utmost respect. Lord Chaitanya then garlanded Advaita Acharya Prabhu with a
garland from His own neck, smiling He said, "Ask for a boon Advaita Acharya."
Advaita Acharya Prabhu remained quiet, yet Lord Visvambhar insisted on his
asking for a boon. Advaita Acharya replied, What more of a boon can I ask for?
What I wanted I already have received. Because You personally watched my dancing
my hearts desire has been fulfilled. What more could I ask for, my Lord? I have
seen You in person, that is all that matters. You know everything, You have seen
everything. You know what I want and what
I do not want."
Inclining his head to one side Lord Visvambhar said, "I have appeared because of
you, I will propagate the chanting of the holy name in every home so that the
entire universe may dance, singing My glories. I promise that I will distribute
love of Godhead to everyone. That devotional service which is worshipped and
meditated upon by Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and by Me will now be given freely."
Advaita Acharya Prabhu said, "If You distribute love of Godhead, then give it
also to the women, the sudras, the fallen and the ignorant people. And those
sinful persons who have become intoxicated with material learning, wealth,
family, etc., and subsequently do not respect Your devotees, or the process of
devotional service to You, let them burn in the fire of hell. Let everyone else,
including the chandalas, dance in ecstasy, chanting Your holy name."
Appreciating the words of Advaita Acharya the Lord roared loudly, "Everything
you have said is true, let the entire world bear witness your mercy upon the
ignorant and fallen conditioned souls."
While the low class chandalas danced in ecstasy, chanting the Lord's name, the
brahmana scholars like Bhatta Mishra Chakravarti and others could only criticize
Lord Chaitanya. These atheistic scholars vigilantly studied the scriptures and
felt very proud, thinking that they had mastered them, which actually destroyed
their proper intelligence and understanding of the Vedas. These people
criticized Lord Nityananda without understanding His transcendental pastimes,
thus inviting their own doom.
I have described in this chapter how the entire universe received love of
Godhead by the mercy of Sri Advaita Acharya Prabhu. The esoteric discussions
between Lord Chaitanya, Lord Nityananda and Advaita Acharya Prabhu are all known
to Sarasvati, the Goddess of learning. She appears in the mouth of all the pure
devotees of the Lord and sings the unlimited glories and pastimes of the Lord.
I offer my obeisances at the lotus feet of all the Vaisnavas so that I may be
cleansed of all sins and offenses. Sri Krishna Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda are
my life and soul, I Vrindavan Das humbly offer this song at their lotus feet.
ACBSPN Note: Please click
here for predictions from over 20 Vedic Scriptures about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's advent.