Chaitanya Bhagavat
by
Srila Vrindavan das Thakur
Madhya Lila
Chapter 9
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Chaitanya Bhagavat |
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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.
Lord Sri Gaurachandra is the
Controller of the Universe and He accepted the garb of a sannyasi not for His
own sake but for everyone's benefit. All glory to the son of Jagannath Mishra
and Mother Sachi, and all glory to His sankirtan movement. All glory to Lord
Chaitanya, the very Life of Lord Nityananda and Gadadhara Pandit, and He is the
most beloved by Advaita and Srivas Pandit, Jagadananda Pandit and Haridas Thakur,
Vakreswara Pandit and Pundarika Vidyamidhi, Yasudeva and Srigarbha. Be merciful
O Lord! and look upon every living entity graciously. May the Lord and all His
associates be glorified, for hearing about the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya one
immediately attains the supreme goal of Bhakti, love of God. Please listen
intently to the narration in Madhya Khanda because they depict pastimes of Lord
Chaitanya. Now hear the descriptions of Lord Chaitanya's "Mahaprakasa" lila or
great revealation, for this fulfils the desire of all Vaisnavas. 1-8
The Lord manifested the glorious "Sat Praharia bhava" or Twenty one hour long
devotional emotions. In this pastime He wonderfully revealed His different
incarnations, extraordinary feat at feasting and freely giving away to the
devotees pure love of Godhead. And all the Vaisnavas honored the Lord in a
grand bathing ceremony known as "Raja Rajeswar" fit only for the most powerful
Kings of the Universe. 9-11
One day Lord Gaurasundar came to Srinivasa Pandit's house accompanied by Lord
Nityananda, who was beside Himself with joy. Gradually all the Vaisnavas
assembled there. Lord Gaurasundar, who was then fully engrossed within Himself,
looked about Him as a regal Personality surveys His surroundings with intensely
powerful glances. The devotees could perceive the Lord's mood and immediately
they started loud kirtana. 12-15
On other days the Lord would dance in the ecstasy of a devotee servant of the
Supreme Lord, Then changing that mood momentarily He revealed His identity as
the Omnipotent Supreme Lord, that mood also would quickly change and he would
again revert back to the mood of a devotee. But today, to the good luck of the
assembled devotees, the Lord stood up as if to dance as usual, and instead sat
on the throne of Lord Visnu. On previous occasions the Lord would sit on Lord
Visnu's throne immersed in devotional ecstasy, as if unaware of His own conduct.
No so today; today He did not obfuscate His real identity with the cloak of His
internal energy. But sat on the throne continuously for twenty one hours. The
devotees stood in front of Him with folded hands and hearts effervescent with
joy. It was a wonderful sight the devotees were fully content, they
spontaneously expressed that it felt like they were in Vaikuntha. And so it
was, The Lord also sat amidst all like the Lord of Vaikuntha and everyone
present there became totally free from the influence of the illusory material
potency. 16-22
Lord Chaitanya instructed, "Sing that bathing song". The devotees were very
pleased and they began to sing. The Lord gently swayed His head sideways in time
with the song and showered the devotees with His merciful glances. The devotees
now could survice the Lord's mood and they desired to perform His 'abhisek' or
bathing ceremony. 23-25
The devotees brought water from the Ganga. First they strained the Ganga water.
Then they added musk, sandal pasted, saffron and camphor into it
proportionately, preparing everything with increasing love of the Lord. They
began the ceremony with jubilant shouts and started chanting appropriate
mantras. 26-28
Lord Nityananda was the first to pour water on the Lord's head, He kept
repeating "Jaya, jaya" as He did so with great pleasure. Other leading devotees
like Adviata Acharya and Srivas Pandit bathed the Lord, chanting the famous "Purasa
Sukta" prayers. The devotees of Lord Gauranga are very well versed in the
science of the scriptures and of chanting Vedic hymns, so they poured water
accompanying it with mantras. 29-31
Mukunda and others were singing sweetly the bathing ceremony song and other
devotees wept or danced with overwhelming happiness. The upright and chaste
wives were ululating with joy. The entire assembly was immersed in an ocean of
bliss. The Lord of Vaikuntha Lord Gauranga remained seated and the devotees one
by one poured water on His head bathing the Lord. Usually on such religious
occasions 108 pots of water were supposed to be required but today it far
exceeded that number. 32-35
Even the demigods came there not wanting to miss the opportunity to make more
spiritual progress, but were disguised so as not to be recognized. 36
Where even a drop of water offered to the Lord's lotus feet, that also in
meditation, is sufficient to ward off punishment given out by the god of death,
What to speak about the good fortune of the people who were able to bathe the
Lord directly, who were present there in person. 37-38
All the servants and maid servants in Srivas Pandit's house were also engaged in
bringing water for the Lord. The wonderful result that one enjoys from serving
the Lord was amply proved by one incident. One of the maid servants, a pious
woman named "Dukkhi" (sad), was one of the water carriers. The Lord saw her
actively engaged and told her, "Bring, bring more," the Lord was so impressed
with her devotional service attitude that He changed her name to 'Sukhi' or
happy, indicating He had taken away her distress. 39-41
Having bathed the Lord, accompanied with the chanting of the Vedic mantras, the
devotees dried the Lord's body. They dressed Him in fresh new clothes and
smeared His transcendental and exquisite body with fragrant sandal wood paste.
They cleaned Lord Visnu's throne and arranged everything properly and the Lord
sat on the throne which was truly His. Lord Nityananda held the umbrella over
the Lord's head, while one of the more fortunate devotees began to whisk the
Lord with the 'chAmAr'. The devotees collected the paraphernalia for offering
worship to the Lord and began to worship Him. 42-46
Their offering tray was packed with charanamrita, fruits, acamani,
incense,
fragrant oil, lamp, new clothes, brahmanas thread etc. As customary they
worshipped Him with sixteen ingredients. Applying sandal wood paste on Tulasi
manjaris they offered it at His lotus feet. The Gopal mantra consisting of ten
syllables was chanted while they offered worship, following strictly the rules
of this particular worship. All the devotees were offering their prayers to Him.
47-50
All the stalwart associates of the Lord, like Advaita Acharya Prabhu fell before
the Lord's feet like rods and offered full obeisances to Him. All the devotees
were experiencing spiritual love for the Supreme Lord and tears cascading down
their cheeks mingled and flowed like a river. They constantly chanted verses
eulogizing the Lord, and the Lord heard everything with great satisfaction. 51-52
They prayed "All glory to the Lord of the Universe, kindly direct Your merciful
glance on this world now ablaze with the three fold suffering. All glory to the
Original cause of everything, the Maintainer of everyone, You have advented to
inaugurate the congregational chanting to the holy name. You establish the
Sanatan Dharma of the Vedas and You are the Protector of the pious, the Original
Soul of all the fourteen worlds. All glory to Lord Chaitanya for He is the
redeemer of the most fallen souls, an ocean of transcendental qualities, the
Supreme Shelter of the meek and poor. All glory to Lord Chaitanya who is
Vrajendra nandana Krishna and who expands as Lord Visnu and lies on the ocean of
milk like Ksirodakasaji Visnu, He appears as an incarnation for the pleasure of
His devotees. All glory to Lord Gauranga who is the Original and Absolute
inconceivable, unperceivable. He is always transcendentally situated, the
compassionate Supreme Person. All glory to Lord Chaitanya. He was born in a
family of Brahmanas as the crest jewel of this class as well as to liberate the
entire brahmana population; He is the origin of the Vedic religion the life and
soul of every living entity. All glory to Lord Chaitanya who saved Arjuna from
an inglorious death and He gave liberation to the demoness Putana. All glory to
Lord Chaitanya who never sees the faults of living entities, He is the husband
of the Goddess of fortune." With such chosen words the devotees praised the
Lord. 53-61
The Lord's servitors were drowning in an ocean of bliss seeing Lord Chaitanya
manifest this extraordinary mood. The Lord mercifully removed the veil of maya
from everyone's heart and offered His lotus feet to be worshipped by His devoted
servitors. Some devotees brought sweetly perfumed oil and smeared it on the
Lord's lotus feet, others worshipped Him with an offering of tender tulasi
leaves. Again more came offering precious gems, gold and silver ornaments and
paid obeisances at His feet. Many valuable gifts were offered to the Lord,
white, blue and bright yellow silken clothes, a variety of precious metal
containers were placed in offering at the lotus feet of the Lord, the gifts were
countless. 62-67
All the household servants in Srivas Pandit's house by dint of serving a pure
Vaisnava now could directly serve Lord Gaurachandra's lotus feet, Whose lotus
feet are desired by all, even Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and Laksmi devi aspire for
that mere opportunity. 68-69
They offered many items of worship to the Lord without fear or hesitation, the
Lord having removed His reverential mood. They brought unhusked rice, tulasi,
durba grass, musk, saffron, camphor and varieties of fruits, fragrant blossoms,
sandal wood and placed them at His lotus feet. Each one worshipped according to
his heart's inclination following different rules of worship.70-74
Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Lord of Vaikuntha, exhibited another of
His extra ordinary pastimes. He said to the devotees, "Get Me something I want
to eat" and held out His hand. Whatever the devotees offered He ate it. 75-76
The different Vaisnavas brought a variety of foodstuff to eat, banana, mung dal,
yoghurt, sweet condensed milk, butter, milk. They gave it in the Lord's hands
and He undisturbed ate everything. Some of the devotees hurried to the market
and rushed back with the choicest articles. They offered the Lord coconuts, a
variety of milk sweets, in huge quantities, black berries, green melons, sugarcane. Some even brought water from the Ganga; The Lord ate everything. Seeing
the Lord was happily eating everything they offered, they brought generous helpings of
more delicacies many times over. Hundreds of devotees gave gallons of Ganges
water and the Lord, Who is the Greatest of the Mystics drank all. 77-84
Hundreds of barrels of yoghurt, sweet condensed milk, milk, hundreds of bunches
of bananas; huge amounts of 'mung dal'; mountains of milk sweet preparations,
camphor, betel, fruits and nuts were instantly consumed by the Lord in front of
the amazed and gaping devotees. 85-87
The Lord contentedly ate everything offered to Him and in turn He revealed all
the details of the devotees past life. When the devotees heard their individual
stories they remembered their earlier days and fell to the ground in ecstasy. 88-89
The Lord addressed Srivas Panidta, "Do you remember, you use to hear lectures on
the Srimad Bhagavata at Devananda Pandit's house. Every line of the Bhagavatam
is saturated with the nectar of divine love of Godhead, and so your heart melted
on hearing those recitations of Bhagavatam. You had cried loudly and had fallen
unconscious to the ground. The neophyte and ignorant students there, not
knowledgeable in the matters of "Bhakti yoga", could not understand the reason
for your extraordinary behavior. You were engrossed within Yourself in the
ecstasy of love of Krishna oblivious of the external world and so did not know
as they had carried you out of their door outside. Devananda Pandit, their
teacher, witnessed the entire happening without dissuading his students. Since
he himself was inexperienced in the science of Krishna consciousness, it is
expected that his students will also be like him. On waking and finding yourself
outside on the street you picked yourself up and returned home feeling sad. Your
sadness persisted and so you preferred to be alone; you desired to read the
Bhagavatam again. Seeing your sorrowful state I descended from Vaikuntha into
your heart and made you weep with the ecstatic emotions of your love for Me. You
experienced happiness again reading the Bhagavatam and submerged with your tears
the place you were sitting in". 90-100
When Srivas Pandit heard this he was overcome with emotions and he fell to the
ground crying and rolling breathing fast and heavily. In this way the Lord spoke
to Advaita Acharya Prabhu and different devotees and brought back to them
recollection of their earlier days. He submerged the devotees in an ocean of
bliss while He sat on His throne chewing betel leaf. The devotees danced and
performed kirtana singing, "Jaya Sachinananda" all glory to the son of Mother
Sachi. 101-104
If perchance a devotee is absent immediately the Lord had him brought before
Him. He put His hand out and would say to him, "Give Me something to eat", And
whatever was offered to Him by them He ate it all. Then the Lord would say, "Do
you remember that night I came to you as a doctor sat next to your bed, I had
cured your fever". On hearing this from the Lord the devotees would fall down
overwhelmed by uncontrolled spiritual emotions. 105-108
Seeing Gangadas the Lord said, "Can your mind recall. That night you were
escaping from the Muslim king fearing capture? Your whole family was
accompanying you and what you arrived at the ferry stand there were no boats,
you were in a great dilemma. The night was turning to dawn and still no boats
were in sight you began weeping in anxiety. You shuddered at the thought that
the Muslims might molest your family in your presence and so it was better to
drown in the Ganges, you thought. At that moment I appeared as a boat man rowing
a boat towards you. Your spirits lifted seeing the approaching boat. You spoke
to Me, the boatman with affection saying, "My dear brother, please take me
across, I surrender my body, wealth, life, everything to you I solely depend
upon you, here is a couple of rupees for your endeavor, take me and my family
to safety. Then I ferried you and your family across and returned to My eternal
Vaikuntha abode.109-117
Gangadas was carried on the waves of blissful ecstasy from hearing the Lord,
such are the wonderful pastimes of Lord Gaurasundar. the Lord continued, "Do you
recall that incident, you were so worried you were so worried, and I came to
your rescue and brought you across". Gangadasa unable to contain himself further
fell to the ground rolling in ecstasy. 118-120
Lord Chaitanya, the Lord of Vaikuntha is sitting on His throne, His body covered
with sandal wood paste and nicely decorated with fragrant flower garlands. One
of His dear servants is fanning Him, another is arranging His hair, some other
is preparing betel and offering it to Him, many of them were dancing in ecstasy
around Him. 121-123
How the entire day passed and how the darkness of night stole in went unnoticed.
Realizing that it was night the devotees got busy lighting up the lamps and they
offered the lamps in worship at the Lord's lotus feet. They began to perform
kirtana playing kartal, gongo, conch shell, mridanga drum and string
instruments. The Lord continued sitting in a benevolent mood but remained
silent, in spite of the devotees various activities.124-127
Devotees offered different kinds of flowers at His lotus feet and prostrated
themselves before Him saying, 'O Lord protect me'. Some devotees prayed to the
Lord with great humility others were singing loudly in praise of the Lord; the
sound of jubilant crying was the only thing one could hear. Everyone present
experienced such an indescribable and wonderful elated feeling right at this
moment that everyone joining the assembly felt like immediately being
transformed to the Vaikunthas. In this way the Lord exhibited a mood of Supreme
opulence while all the devotees stood circling the Lord with folded hands in
reverence. 128-131
Lord Gaurasundar behaved in a casual manner with His disciple placing His lotus
feet on them and in this manner He performed His transcendental pastimes. Lord
Gaurasundar was in His munificent mood ready to disburse boons to His devotees,
and the devotees remained surrounding Him with folded hands. The Lord showered
His causeless mercy on everyone as He performed the pastime of twenty one hour
ecstasy. 132-134
The Lord then ordered, "Go and bring Sridhar, immediately, let him see My
opulence. He is constantly thinking about Me in separation. I want him to come
right away. Go to the outskirts of the town and sit there waiting for anyone that
calls for Me and bring them here to Me." The Vaisnavas rushed to fulfill the
Lord's order and went in the direction of Sridhar's residence. 135-138
Now hear some stories about Sridhar, how he made a living from selling "khola" (or the trunk of the banana tree). He buys the
khola joint and then cutting it
into short pieces he sells them. Whatever in a day half of it he spend in buying
offering for mother Ganga. With the other half he uses to maintain himself. This
is the test of a true devotee of the Supreme Lord. 139-142
Sridhar is a very honest and truthful person, like Yudhisthira Maharaj, he
always quotes the correct price of his ware and never once vacillates from it.
Those who know this fact buys from him at the price he quotes. In this humble
way this great soul lives in Navadvip, known to people only as the 'khola
seller'; his real self was unknown to all. He would spend the entire night
engrossed in chanting the holy name of Krishna, forgetting everything including
sleep. 143-146
The atheistic neighbors protested saying, "we cannot sleep in the night,
Sridhar's screaming shatters the eardrums. That poor vagabond cannot fill his
body and so now in the night he is kept awake by the pangs of hunger." 147-148
The atheistic neighbors invited sure doom for themselves in speaking in
this manner, but Sridhar continued his spiritual activities unperturbed and
remained always joyful. He loudly chanted the holy name all night long with
overflowing love for Krishna. 149-150
The devotees who had gone to find Sridhar had covered only half of the way to
his house, and could already hear his loud chanting. Following the voice they
came to Sridhar's house. They said to him, "Please come with us O holy one and
meet Lord Chaitanya, we are greatly blessed being in your august presence."151-153
When Sridhar heard the mention of Lord Chaitanya he became overwhelmed with
ecstatic feelings and fell unconscious to the ground. Quickly the devotees
picked him up, and they very slowly and gently led him to the Lord. 154-155
Lord Chaitanya was extremely happy to see Sridhar and called out loud and warm
invitations to him saying, "Come, come, You have amply worshipped Me, many
lifetimes you spent in My devotional service. In this life you have rendered
abundant devotional service, I have tasted your 'khola' countless of times.
Many
times I took different things from your hands, you have forgotten the verbal
exchanges we had." 156-159
When Lord Chaitanya was manifesting His pastimes as a scholar, He acted bold and
insolent. During this time hiding His real identity the Lord would daily enjoy
Sridhar's company under the pretext of bargaining with him. He would go to his
shop and purchase banana, khola etc. Daily they argued about the price for
several hours and finally the Lord returned with His purchases bought at half
the actual price. The truthful Sridhar always quoted the correct price but Lord
picked the goods Himself and paid only half price. Then this would excite
Sridhar, he would jump up and try to take the goods back from the Lord.160-165
The Lord would then say, "Why my dear brother Sridhar! You are a renounced
person, I think you are very rich. Then why do you try to snatch away these
things from My hand. I am also surprised that in all this time you do not know
who I am." 166-168
The Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Chaitanya saw there was no trace of
anger on Sridhar's face and so He snatched away the articles. 169
Lord Gaurasundar was looking so beautiful that He could captivate even Cupid's
mind. His fine forehead was decorated with radiant urdhapurdra tilaka marks. He
wore the dhoti in a most attractive manner tucking it in three different places,
His earrings were nicely designed and slightly slanting. The Lord's
temperamental and eyes were both extremely agile and restless. The shining white
brahmin thread goes elegantly around His shoulder; Lord Ananta Sesa has accepted
this very thin form of a brahmin thread to decorate the Lord. He smiled at
Sridhar with cherry lips reddened from chewing betel and again picked up the
articles. 170-172
Sridhar said to the Lord, "Listen O Brahmana, please forgive me this time. I am
just Your dog". The Lord replied, "I know you, you are very cunning. You have
saved much money selling these banana spathes". Then Sridhar spoke, "Are there
not any other shops besides mine, please purchase from there at a cheaper rate."
173-175
Lord Chaitanya said, "I do not want to so easily abandon a steady supplier like
you, give me these spathes and take the money for it." Sridhar was helpless
against Visvambhar's charm and so he smiled at Him captivated by His
extraordinary beauty, while Visvambhar continued His harangue being very pleased
with His external associate and devotee Sridhar. 176-177
Lord Chaitanya said, "Every day you buy offerings for Mother Ganga, then why can
you not sell me your things at a discount? I am the father of Mother Ganga you
worship daily, this truth I am revealing to you." 178-179
Sridhar shocked at hearing this covered his ears with his palms and repeated
Lord Visnu's name, and seeing that Visvambhar was in an insolent mood gave Him
the bananna spathes. In this way the Lord bargained and fought with Sridhar
everyday; Sridhar thought of the boy as a very restless young brahmana boy.180-181
Sridhar finally agreed, "I give in to you, I will give you something free of
cost, but then please leave me alone. What will I lose if I give away a piece of
banana spathe, a banana flower and a slice of banana root?182-183
Lord Chaitanya replied, "Good, good that is enough, do not give anymore," the
Lord daily ate dishes prepared with Sridhar's gifts. The Lord loves to receive
gifts from His devotees. He would never ask for anything from a non devotee.184-185
The Lord desired to perform this pastime and so by His arrangement he had
Sridhar sell 'khola' who can understand these transcendental exchanges between
the Supreme Lord and His devotee. No one can perceive these super mundane
activities without the blessings of the Lord, this fact is being reminded by
the Lord.186-188
Then Lord Chaitanya said, "O Sridhar, behold My beauty, today I will bestow you
with eight mystic perfections".189
The great devotee Sridhar lifted up his head and saw that Lord Visvambhar had
changed His complexion and become as dark as the bark of the Tamal tree, He was
holding a flute in His hands and on His right stood Lord Balaram and the entire
scene was engulfed in a glowing radiance.190-191
He saw Lord Brahma and Lord Siva approach their Lordships and offering lotus and
betel they began reciting verses in praise of the Supreme Lord. Lord Ananta Sesa
standing behind the Lord His hood above the Lord's head like an umbrella, and
saintly personalities like Sanaka, Narada and Sukadeva Gosvami offered prayers
to the Lord. All around the beautiful heavenly damsels sang glorifying the Lord
with folded hands.192-194
Sridhar seeing this wonder of wonders was so astounded that in the next moment
he slumped to the ground. The Lord called out Sridhar's name asking him to
rise, Sridhar on hearing the Lord's command awoke from his swoon and stood
up.195-196
Lord Chaitanya instructed Sridhar, "Sridhar, say something glorifying Me".
Sridhar replied, "Dear Lord I am an illiterate and foolish, what intelligence
do I possess to glorify Your Lordship". But the Lord said, "Anything you speak
is always glorifying Me."197-198
By the Lord's order Mother Saraswati the Goddess of learning, now presided over
Sridhar's power of speech, and Sridhar began to glorify the Lord.199
"All glory, all glory to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, all glory to Lord Visvambhar,
the Lord of Navadvip. All glory to the Lord of the entire cosmic manifestation,
all glory to the son of Mother Sachi, Visvambhar. All glory to Lord Chaitanya
whose incarnation and activities are a mystery even in the Vedas, he has
appeared as the best of the brahmanas, He appears in every millennium to uphold
religious principles taking different forms. Secretly you went about the town
managing and maintaining everything, Your real identity unknown to all, and it is
impossible for anyone to know Your real self without Your mercy."
200-203
"O Lord You are the religious Principles, the prescribed duties, the devotional
service, knowledge, scriptures, the Vedas and the object of all meditation. You
are the mystic perfections, the ever increasing opulence, the enjoying spirit,
the path of mystic yoga. You are the faith in man, benevolence, illusion, and
greed. You are Indra, the king of heaven, the moon, fire, water. You are the
sun, the air, wealth and strength, devotion, liberation; You are Lord Brahma and
Lord Siva. O Lord, You are not in need of anything because 'everything' belongs to
You."204-207
You had told me earlier that mother Ganga I worship has emanated from Your lotus
feet and yet due to my sinful heart I would not recognize You, I had no
realization of Your Supreme position. You are the same Supreme Personality who
had preciously blessed Gokula with Your appearance and now have again incarnated
as the sweet Lord of Navadvip.208-210
You are the embodiment of the highest esoteric process, that same devotional
science You have propagated all over Navadvip.211
Bhisma defeated You (making You break Your promise) in battle because of his
devotional service, and for the same reason Mother Yasoda bound You.212
Satyabhama devi could once sell You her husband Lord Krishna, because of her
desire and love for You; captivated by the love of Your devotees You carried
the young cowherd boys on Your shoulders.213
The entire living creation carries and cherishes Your thoughts in their hearts,
yet You carried Sridham on Your shoulders. It is a great secret and mystery how
You are defeated by Your devotees.214
ACBSPN Note: Please click
here for predictions from over 20 Vedic Scriptures about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's advent.