Meanwhile, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī reached Bengal, after returning from Vṛndāvana. Although he could not follow the Bengali devotees, after some time he also came to Jagannātha Purī, where he stayed with Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī composed an important verse beginning with the words priyaḥ so ‘yam, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu relished it very much. One day Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Rāmānanda Rāya, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and others went to the place of Haridāsa Ṭhākura and heard some of the verses Rūpa Gosvāmī had composed for his books Lalita-mādhava and Vidagdha-mādhava. After examining the manuscripts of these two books, Rāmānanda Rāya approved and appreciated them very much. After the period of Cāturmāsya, all the devotees who had come from Bengal returned to their homes. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, however, remained at Jagannātha Purī for some time.
Bengal (CC Antya-lila)
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Antya-lila
When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu returned to Jagannātha Purī from Vṛndāvana, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosāñi immediately sent news of the Lord's arrival to the devotees in Bengal.
In this way the two brothers Rūpa and Anupama reached Bengal, but when they arrived there Anupama died.
There was some delay because of the death of Anupama, and therefore when Rūpa Gosvāmī went to Bengal to see the devotees there, he could not get in touch with them because they had already left.
Thus Rūpa Gosvāmī became the object of love and affection for all the devotees of the Lord, including those who came from Bengal and those who resided in Orissa.
After the four months of Cāturmāsya (Śrāvaṇa, Bhādra, Āśvina and Kārtika), all the Vaiṣṇavas of Bengal returned to their homes, but Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī remained in Jagannātha Purī under the shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
All the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu thus spent four months with Him. Then the Lord bade them farewell, and they returned to Bengal.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī took leave of all the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and returned to Vṛndāvana by the path through Bengal.
Later, when Junior Haridāsa, following the order of Bhagavān Ācārya, went to collect alms from Mādhavīdevī, he committed an offense by talking intimately with a woman although he was in the renounced order. Because of this, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu rejected Junior Haridāsa, and despite all the requests of the Lord's stalwart devotees, the Lord did not accept him again. One year after this incident, Junior Haridāsa went to the confluence of the Ganges and Yamunā and committed suicide. In his spiritual body, however, he continued to sing devotional songs, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu heard them. When the Vaiṣṇavas of Bengal went to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, these incidents became known to Svarūpa Dāmodara and others.
Every year, devotees from Bengal would go to Jagannātha Purī to meet Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and after the meeting they would return to Bengal.
In this way Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu delivered the entire three worlds, not only by His personal presence but also by empowering others. I shall briefly describe how He empowered a living being in Bengal.
In Āmbuyā-muluka there was a person named Nakula Brahmacārī, who was a perfectly pure devotee, greatly advanced in devotional service.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that Āmbuyā-muluka is the present Ambikā, a city in the Vardhamāna district of West Bengal. Formerly, during the Muslim regime, it was known as Āmbuyā-muluka. In this city there is a neighborhood called Pyārīgañja, and that is where Nakula Brahmacārī used to live.
Desiring to deliver all the people of Bengal, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu entered the heart of Nakula Brahmacārī.
His body shone with the same luster as that of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and he showed the same absorption in ecstatic love of Godhead. People came from all provinces of Bengal to see these symptoms.
When he was about to return to Bengal, the Lord told him, “Forbid the devotees of Bengal to come to Jagannātha Purī this year.
“This year I shall personally go to Bengal and meet all the devotees there, headed by Advaita Ācārya."
When Śrīkānta Sena returned to Bengal and delivered this message, the minds of all the devotees were very pleased.
When Lord Nityānanda returned to Bengal to preach the cult of bhakti, love of Godhead, He began touring all over the country.
In those days, and also even now, the palatial buildings of respectable people, especially in the villages of Bengal, were divided into two parts. The inside part was especially meant for the family, and the ladies would live there unexposed to men. That part was called the bhitara-bāḍi, or inside house. In the outside house, or bahir-bāḍi, the respectable gentleman received visitors and kept his business office. The Durgā-maṇḍapa would be part of the outside house. Thus when Lord Nityānanda entered the outside house, Rāmacandra Khān was in the inside house with the members of his family. When Nityānanda Prabhu arrived, Rāmacandra Khān did not receive Him personally but sent his servant to inform Him indirectly to go away.
This Gopāla Cakravartī lived in Bengal. His duty as chief tax collector was to collect 1,200,000 coins to deposit in the treasury of the emperor.
After meeting Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī also returned to Bengal, where he remained for one year. Whatever money he owned, he distributed among his relatives, the brāhmaṇas and the temples. In this way he completely retired and returned to Vṛndāvana to meet Sanātana Gosvāmī. After narrating these incidents, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has given a list of the main books of Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Jīva Gosvāmī.
When Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī returned from Jagannātha Purī to Bengal, Sanātana Gosvāmī went from Mathurā to Jagannātha Purī to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu informed Sanātana Gosvāmī, “Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was here for ten months. He left for Bengal just ten days ago.
During the time of Ratha-yātrā, all the devotees arrived from Bengal to visit the car festival as they had done previously.
The Lord's devotees from Bengal stayed at Jagannātha Purī during the four months of the rainy season, and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu introduced Sanātana Gosvāmī to them all.
When all the other devotees returned to Bengal after the Ratha-yātrā festival, Sanātana Gosvāmī stayed under the care of the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī had been delayed in Bengal for a year because he was dividing his money among his relatives to situate them in their proper positions.
Although Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī renounced his family life, he nevertheless was not unjust to his family members. Even after renunciation, he returned to Bengal, where he properly divided whatever money he had and gave it to his relatives so that they would not be inconvenienced.
He collected whatever money he had accumulated in Bengal and divided it among his relatives, the brāhmaṇas and the temples.
When Jīva Gosvāmī wanted to go to Mathurā from Bengal, he requested permission from Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu.
A brāhmaṇa from Bengal composed a drama about the activities of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and went to Jagannātha Purī to show it to the associates of the Lord. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's secretary, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, heard the drama, he discerned a tinge of Māyāvāda philosophy and pointed it out to the author. Although Svarūpa Dāmodara condemned the entire drama, by reference to secondary meanings of the introductory verse he nevertheless satisfied the brāhmaṇa. That brāhmaṇa poet thus became greatly obliged to Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, renounced his family connections and stayed at Jagannātha Purī with the associates of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
A brāhmaṇa from Bengal wrote a drama about the characteristics of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and came with his manuscript to induce the Lord to hear it.
For two or three days Bhagavān Ācārya continually asked Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī to hear the poetry. Because of his repeated requests, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī wanted to hear the poetry written by the brāhmaṇa from Bengal.
When one's eyes are purified by devotional service performed on the spiritual platform, one can actually envision Lord Jagannātha and His body as being completely spiritual. The advanced devotee, therefore, does not see the worshipable Deity as having a soul within a body like an ordinary human being. There is no distinction between the body and the soul of Lord Jagannātha, for Lord Jagannātha is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), just as the body of Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. There is actually no difference between Lord Jagannātha and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, but the ignorant poet from Bengal applied a material distinction to the body of Lord Śrī Jagannātha.
Even the very body of a devotee becomes spiritualized, just as an iron rod put into fire becomes as qualified as fire because it becomes red hot and will immediately burn anything it touches. Therefore the poet from Bengal committed a great offense by treating Lord Jagannātha's body and Lord Jagannātha, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as two different entities, material and spiritual, as if the Lord were an ordinary living being. The Lord is always the master of the material energy; therefore He is not doomed to be covered by the material energy like an ordinary living entity.
The brāhmaṇa poet from Bengal was an offender in the estimation of Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, for although the poet had no knowledge of the Absolute Truth, he had nevertheless tried to describe it. The Bengali poet was an offender to both Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Lord Jagannātha. Because he had made a distinction between Lord Jagannātha's body and His soul and because he had indicated that Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was different from Lord Jagannātha, he had committed offenses to Them both. A-tattva-jña refers to one who has no knowledge of the Absolute Truth or who worships his own body as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If an ahaṅgrahopāsaka-māyāvādī, a person engaged in fruitive activities or a person interested only in sense gratification describes the Absolute Truth, he immediately becomes an offender.
Hearing this explanation, all the members of the assembly were struck with wonder. "Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has spoken the real truth," they admitted. "The brāhmaṇa from Bengal has committed an offense by wrongly describing Lord Jagannātha and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu."
Herein Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī instructs the poet from Bengal to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a pure Vaiṣṇava and learn from him. In India especially, there is now a class of professional Bhāgavatam readers whose means of livelihood is to go from village to village, town to town, reading Bhāgavatam and collecting dakṣiṇā, or rewards, in the form of money or goods, like umbrellas, cloth and fruit. Thus there is now a system of Bhāgavata business, with recitations called bhāgavata-saptāha that continue for one week, although this is not mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nowhere does Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam say that the Bhāgavatam should be heard for one week from professionals. Rather, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17) says, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ: one should regularly hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a self-realized Vaiṣṇava. By such hearing, one becomes pious: hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām.
By the mercy of the devotees of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that poet from Bengal gave up all other activities and stayed with them at Jagannātha Purī. Who can explain the mercy of the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu?
In the course of the narration, I have also told about the drama by the poet from Bengal. Although he was ignorant, because of his faith and humility he nevertheless obtained shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
The members of the kāyastha community in India are generally very intelligent and expert in business management. Formerly they were mostly government officers. They were mentioned even by Yājñavalkya, as quoted by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya:
- cāṭa-taskara-durvṛttair mahā-sāhasikādibhiḥ
- pīḍyamānā prajā rakṣet kāyasthaiś ca viśeṣataḥ
From this verse it appears that the governmental officials of the kāyastha community would sometimes chastise the citizens, and thus it was the duty of the king to protect the people in general from the atrocities of the kāyasthas. In Bengal the kāyastha community is honored almost as much as the brāhmaṇa community, but in the up-country of India the kāyasthas are considered śūdras because they generally eat meat and drink wine. In any case, from history the kāyasthas appear very intelligent. Thus the Muslim caudhurī was afraid of Raghunātha dāsa because he belonged to the kāyastha community.
At that time, all the devotees of Bengal were going to Jagannātha Purī to see Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Raghunātha dāsa's father said, “Now all the devotees from Bengal have gone to Jagannātha Purī to see Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Chatrabhoga, known now as Chāḍa-khāḍi, is in the district of Twenty-four Parganas in West Bengal. It is situated near the celebrated village Jayanagara-majilapura. Formerly the Ganges or some of its branches flowed through this region. Sometimes Chatrabhoga is misunderstood to have been a village on the river Kāṅsāi-nadī in Benāpola.
At this time, all the devotees from Bengal arrived, and, as previously, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu met them with great feeling.
When all the devotees from Bengal returned home after staying at Jagannātha Purī for four months, Raghunātha dāsa's father heard about their arrival and therefore sent a man to Śivānanda Sena.
The next year, all the devotees of Bengal went to visit Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and as previously, the Lord met each and every one of them.
"Ācāryaratna, Ācāryanidhi, Gadādhara Paṇḍita, Jagadānanda, Dāmodara, Śaṅkara, Vakreśvara, Kāśīśvara, Mukunda, Vāsudeva, Murāri and many other devotees have descended in Bengal to preach to everyone the glories of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and the value of love for Him. I have learned from them the meaning of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa."
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “Although some of them live in Bengal and some in other states, they have all come here to see the Ratha-yātrā festival.
The devotees from Bengal, whom I am unable to count, all sat down in lines in the courtyard.
The following summary of Chapter Ten is given by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya. Before the Ratha-yātrā ceremony, all the devotees from Bengal started for Jagannātha Purī as usual. Rāghava Paṇḍita brought with him various kinds of food for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The food had been cooked by his sister, Damayantī, who then packed it in bags (jhāli). Thus the stock of food was generally known as rāghavera jhāli, "the bags of Rāghava." Makaradhvaja Kara, an inhabitant of Pānihāṭi who accompanied Rāghava Paṇḍita, was the secretary in charge of accounting for the rāghavera jhāli.
Govinda induced the Lord to eat all the food delivered by the devotees of Bengal for His service. All the Vaiṣṇavas used to invite Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to their homes. The Lord accepted the invitation of Caitanya dāsa, the son of Śivānanda Sena, and ate rice and yogurt there.
Advaita Ācārya Gosāñi led the party from Bengal. He was followed by Ācāryaratna, Ācāryanidhi, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and other glorious devotees.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had ordered Lord Nityānanda to stay in Bengal, but nevertheless, because of ecstatic love, Lord Nityānanda also went to see Him.
Thus all the Vaiṣṇavas from Bengal went to Jagannātha Purī. By chance, they arrived on the day when Lord Jagannātha performs pastimes in the water.
At the same time, all the devotees from Bengal arrived at the lake and had a great meeting with the Lord.
The Gauḍīya-sampradāya, consisting of all the devotees from Bengal, began congregational chanting. When they met the Lord, they began to cry loudly in ecstatic love.
All the devotees from Bengal stayed in Jagannātha Purī for the four months of the rainy season and observed many other ceremonies, such as the anniversary of Lord Kṛṣṇa's birth.
Formerly, when all the devotees had arrived from Bengal, they all desired to give Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu something to eat.
The devotees who came from Bengal stayed with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for four consecutive months, and then the Lord bade them farewell. After the Bengali devotees departed, the devotees who were the Lord's constant companions at Jagannātha Purī stayed with the Lord.
A summary of the Twelfth Chapter is given by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya as follows. This chapter discusses the transformations of ecstatic love that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu exhibited day and night. The devotees from Bengal again journeyed to Jagannātha Purī to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. As usual, the leader was Śivānanda Sena, who traveled with his wife and children. Because arrangements were delayed en route and Lord Nityānanda did not have a suitable place to reside, He became somewhat disturbed. Thus He became very angry with Śivānanda Sena, who was in charge of the affairs of the party, and kicked him in loving anger. Śivānanda Sena felt highly favored to have been kicked by Nityānanda Prabhu, but his nephew Śrīkānta Sena became upset and therefore left their company. He met Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Jagannātha Purī before the rest of the party arrived.
Meanwhile, all the devotees journeyed from their homes in Bengal to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Because Nityānanda Prabhu was preaching in Bengal, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had ordered Him not to come to Jagannātha Purī. That year, however, He went with the rest of the party to see the Lord.
Ghāṭī refers to the different toll booths used by the zamindars to collect taxes in each state. Generally, this tax was collected to maintain the roads governed by the various zamindars. Since the devotees from Bengal were going to Jagannātha Purī, they had to pass through many such toll booths. Śivānanda Sena was in charge of paying the tolls.
From Bengal the devotees had brought varieties of Bengali food that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu liked. They also cooked various grains and vegetables in their homes and offered them to the Lord.
All the devotees from Bengal would regularly invite Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for lunch, and the Lord would speak to them in very sweet words.
The Lord specifically advised Nityānanda Prabhu, "You should not come here again and again. You will have My association in Bengal."
"He prepared a large jug of it in Bengal, and with great care he has brought it here."
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said to Jagadānanda Paṇḍita, “My dear Paṇḍita, you have brought Me some oil from Bengal, but since I am in the renounced order, I cannot accept it."
Jagadānanda Paṇḍita replied, "Who tells You all these false stories? I never brought any oil from Bengal."
"You permitted him to go see mother Śacī in Bengal, and You may similarly permit him to go see Vṛndāvana and then return here."
Accompanied by a servant carrying his baggage, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa started from Vārāṇasī and traveled along the path leading through Bengal.
In Bengal he met Rāmadāsa Viśvāsa, who belonged to the kāyastha caste. He was one of the king's secretaries.
The Sixteenth Chapter is summarized by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya. When the Bengali devotees of the Lord returned to Jagannātha Purī, a gentleman named Kālidāsa, who was an uncle of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, went with them to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Kālidāsa had tasted the remnants of food of all the Vaiṣṇavas in Bengal, even Jhaḍu Ṭhākura. Because of this, he received the shelter of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Jagannātha Purī.
The next year, as usual, all the devotees from Bengal went to Jagannātha Purī, and, as in previous years, there was a meeting between Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the devotees.
Along with the devotees from Bengal came a gentleman named Kālidāsa. He never uttered anything but the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.
Kālidāsa ate the remnants of food of as many Vaiṣṇavas as there were in Bengal.
In this way Kālidāsa ate the remnants of food left by all the Vaiṣṇavas residing in Bengal.
All the devotees remained with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continuously for four months. Then the Lord ordered them back to Bengal, and therefore they returned.
That chapter also describes how Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī rejected the drama of a poet from Bengal and established the glories of the Deity.
| Page Title: | Bengal (CC Antya-lila) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 17 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=81, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 81 |