Produced by James Simmons
CHAITANYA'S LIFE AND TEACHINGS
From his contemporary Bengali biography
the _Chaitanya-charit-amrita_:
Translated into English
BY
JADUNATH SARKAR, M.A., I.E.S.
SECOND EDITION,
_Revised and enlarged, with topographical notes._
1922
M. C. SARKAR & SONS, CALCUTTA,
LUZAC & Co., LONDON.
Rs. 2.
PUBLISHED BY S. C. SARKAR
M. C. Sarkar & Sons, 90/2A, Harrison Road, Calcutta.
PRINTER: S. C. MAZUMDAR
SRI GOURANGA PRESS
_71/1, Mirzapur Street, Calcutta._
1481/21.
TO
_Professor_ RAJA GOPALACHARIAR, M.A., B.L.,
WHO HAS DONE SO MUCH TO MAKE THE VAISHNAV
SAINTS OF THE SOUTH KNOWN TO US,
I DEDICATE THIS ATTEMPT TO PLACE THE ORIGINAL LIFE OF
CHAITANYA--THE GREATEST VAISHNAV TEACHER OF
THE NORTH WITHIN THE REACH OF ALL
READERS OF ENGLISH WHO KNOW
NOT THE BENGALI TONGUE.
PATNA COLLEGE,
_10th April, 1913._
J. SARKAR
THE AUTHOR AND HIS BOOK
Krishna-das Kaviraj, the author of the _Chaitanya-charit-amrita_, was
born in the Vaidya caste, at Jhamatpur, a village of the Katwa
sub-division of the Burdwan district in Bengal, (1496 A.D.) Having lost
his parents in early life, he was brought up by his late father's
sister. He read Persian at the village school, and then began to study
Sanskrit in order to qualify himself for practising Hindu medicine, the
profession of his caste. Every part of his great poem bears evidence to
his profound mastery of Sanskrit literature, particularly of the
_Bhagabat Puran_. The young orphan, while still unmarried, was
converted to Vaishnavism by Nityananda, and begged his way on foot to
Brindaban, where he spent the remainder of his long life in religious
study, meditation and worship. He was initiated as a Vaishnav monk by
Raghunath-das, who along with Swarup Damodar had been body-servants to
Chaitanya during that saint's stay at Jagannath. From his _guru_,
Krishna-das learned the particulars of Chaitanya's life and teaching
which he has embodied in the present biography.
His first efforts at authorship were in Sanskrit and dealt with the
mysteries of _bhakti_ and the service of Krishna. The great work of his
life was the composition of his old age, and was undertaken at the
request of the faithful. Every evening the Bengali Vaishnavs of
Brindaban used to gather together and hear the acts of their Master read
out from his poetical biography, the _Chaitanya Bhagbat_ composed by
Brindaban-das. But this book dealt with the saint's last years in too
meagre and concise a fashion to satisfy the curiosity of his followers.
They, therefore, led by Haridas Pandit, the chief servitor of the
Govindaji temple, pressed Krishna-das to write a new and fuller life of
the Master. The poet was old and infirm, but he regarded the request as
a solemn charge which he was not free to decline. That very evening he
prayed to the image of Madanmohan, and the god's approbation was shown
by a sign,--a garland of flowers slipping down from his neck at the end
of the prayer! On the bank of the Radha-kunda tank, the aged Krishna-das
completed his _Chaitanya-charit-amrita_ in 1582 after nine years of
unremitting toil. It is divided into three Books, the _Adi Lila_, the
_Madhya Lila_, and the _Antya Lila_, dealing respectively with the
three stages of Chaitanya's life, _viz._, (i) the 24 years from his
birth to the time of his entering the monastic order, (ii) the six years
of his pilgrimage, and (iii) the last eighteen years of his life, which
were spent in residence at Puri. In spite of its epic length, prolixity,
and repetitions, the _Chaitanya-charit-amrita_ is a masterpiece of
early Bengali literature, and has the further merit of making the subtle
doctrines of the Vaishnav faith intelligible to ordinary people. Indeed,
the older school of Vaishnav Fathers, as represented by Jiv Goswami, had
at first objected to its publication, lest the merits and completeness
of this vernacular work should cause the learned Sanskrit treatises on
_bhakti_ exegetics to be neglected by the public! The author's
manuscript is still preserved in the Radha-Damodar temple of Brindaban,
and worshipped as a holy relic.
The Second Book (_Madhya Lila_), which is the longest and most detailed
of the three and the foremost authority on Chaitanya's teachings, life
and character, and contains the clearest and fullest exposition of
Vaishnav philosophy, has been here translated into English for the first
time. In the second edition, many long extracts from the Third Book
(_Antya Lila_) have been added, to complete the story of Chaitanya's
doings and sayings at Puri till his death. Readers to whom the Bengali
tongue is unknown, will here find an unvarnished account of Chaitanya as
his contemporaries knew him, without any modern gloss, interpolation or
criticism. My version is literal; only, in certain places needless
details have been curtailed, all repetitions have been avoided, and the
texts so freely quoted by our author from the Sanskrit scriptures have
been indicated by reference to chapter and verse, instead of being done
into English. The word _Prabhu_, applied by the author to Chaitanya,
has been rendered by me as _Master_.
There are three other contemporary lives of Chaitanya in old Bengali.
The earliest of them is the _Chaitanya Bhagabat_, composed in 1535
A.D., by the Brahman Brindaban-das, a sister's son of Shribas Pandit of
Navadwip. This author (b. 1507, d. 1589) was a votary of God as
incarnate in Nityananda; to him Chaitanya was almost a secondary object
of adoration. His poem is encumbered with miracles and digressions, and
far inferior to Krishna-das's work in wealth of philosophic exposition
and description of men and events.
Trilochan-das (born 1523) wrote the _Chaitanya-Mangal_ at the age of
fourteen! It is full of marvellous incidents and should be classed with
romances rather than with sober histories. Its text is still sung by
wandering minstrels and is appreciated by the lower ranks of the
Vaishnav community.
Jayananda Mishra (b. about 1511) wrote his _Chaitanya-Mangal_ about
1568, and his poem gives us much new information about the saint and his
family. He is our only authority for the narrative of Chaitanya's death,
which I have translated at the end of this work.
* * * *
In the second edition parts of two chapters of the first edition,
_viz._, xviii. pp. 254-269 and xxii. pp. 290-303, have been omitted, as
they can be understood only by very learned Sanskrit scholars, the
remaining part of ch. xxii has been incorporated with ch. xxi, while ch.
xxiii has been renumbered as xxii. In the present edition, all the
chapters from xxiii to the end are taken from the _Antya Lila_.
In preparing the second edition, the translation has been carefully
compared with the text and minutely revised. Many mistakes have been
detected and corrected; some of them came no doubt from the manuscript
from which the first edition was printed, but most of the others were
due to the inefficiency and carelessness of the press. In going through
the original a second time I have in a few places modified my
interpretation of the text made twelve years ago.
A long and important appendix has now been added, giving the exact
situation and some description of the various holy places visited by
Chaitanya, (with references to the best and most modern sources of
information, such as Gazetteers and maps).
A SHORT LIFE OF CHAITANYA
Navadwip, a town in the Nadia district of Bengal, situated on the river
Ganges, 75 miles north of Calcutta, was a great trading centre and seat
of Hindu learning in the 15th century. Sanskrit logic (_nyay_) for
which Bengal is most famous among all the provinces of India, was very
highly developed and studied here, and the fame of its scholars was
unsurpassed in the land. But, if we may believe the biographers of
Chaitanya, the atmosphere of the town was sceptical and unspiritual.
There was a lack of true religious fervour and sincere devotion. Proud
of their intellectuality, proud of the vast wealth they acquired by
gifts from rich Hindus, the local _pandits_ despised _bhakti_ or
devotion as weak and vulgar, and engaged in idle ceremonies or idler
amusements. Vedantism formed the topic of conversation of the cultured
few; wine and goat's meat were taken to kindly by the majority of the
people, and such _Shakta_ rites as were accompanied by the offering of
this drink and food to the goddess and their subsequent consumption by
her votaries, were performed with zeal and enthusiasm.
Jagannath Mishra, surnamed Purandar, a Brahman of the Vaidik sub-caste,
had emigrated from his ancestral home in Sylhet and settled here in
order to live on the bank of the holy Ganges. His wife was Shachi, a
daughter of the scholar Nilambar Chakravarti. One evening in February or
March, 1485 A.D., when there was a lunar eclipse at the same time as
full moon, a son was born to this couple. It was their tenth child; the
first eight, all daughters, had died in infancy, and the ninth, a lad
named Vishwarup, had abandoned the world at the age of sixteen when
pressed to marry, and had entered a monastery in the Madras presidency.
The new-born child was named Vishwambhar. But the women, seeing that his
mother had lost so many children before him, gave him the disparaging
name of Nimai or short-lived in order to propitiate Nemesis. The
neighbours called him _Gaur_ or _Gauranga_ (fair complexioned) on
account of his marvellous beauty. That the child was born amidst the
chanting of Hari's name all over Navadwip on the occasion of the
eclipse, was taken to be an omen that he would prove a teacher of
_bhakti_. Passing over the lucky signs of his horoscope, and the
miracles and Krishna-like antics with which pious imagination has
invested his boyhood, we may note that he showed great keenness and
precocity of intellect in mastering all branches of Sanskrit learning,
especially grammar and logic.
On the death of his father, Vishwambhar, while still a student, married
Lakshmi, the daughter of Vallabh Acharya, with whom he had fallen in
love at first sight. He now became a householder, and began to take
pupils like many other Brahmans of Navadwip. As a _pandit_ he surpassed
the other scholars of the place and even defeated a renowned champion of
another province, who was travelling all over India holding
disputations.
On his return from a scholastic tour in East Bengal, in which he
received many gifts from pious householders, he found that his wife had
died of snake-bite during his absence. After a while the widower married
Vishnu-priya. At this time his head was turned by the pride of
scholarship, and his victories in argument made him slight other men.
During a pilgrimage to Gaya, he met Ishwar Puri, a Vaishnav monk of the
order of Madhavacharya and a disciple of that Madhavendra Puri who had
first introduced the cult of bhakti for Krishna among the _sannyasis_.
Vishwambhar took this Ishwar Puri as his guru or spiritual guide. A
complete change now came over his spirit. His intellectual pride was
gone; he became a _bhakta_; whatever subject he lectured on, the theme
of his discourse was love of Krishna. Indeed, he developed religious
ecstasy and for some time behaved like a mad man: he laughed, wept,
incessantly shouted Krishna's name, climbed up trees, or raved in
abstraction imagining himself to be Krishna. He now made the
acquaintance of the elderly scholar and _bhakta_ Adwaita Acharya, and
was joined by a sannyasi named Nityananda, who became to him even more
than what Paul was to Christ.
Many people of Navadwip now believed Chaitanya to be an incarnation of
Krishna and did him worship, while Nityananda came to be regarded as
Balaram, (the elder brother of Krishna). Religious processions were
frequently got up, in which the devout, headed by the two, went dancing
and singing through the streets or assembled in the courtyards of
houses. This was the origin of the _nam-kirtan_ ('chanting God's name')
which has ever been the most distinctive feature of this creed.
Chaitanya's greatest achievement at this time was the reclamation of two
drunken ruffians, Jagai and Madhai, who were a terror to the city. The
apostles of _bhakti_ had also to face mockery and persecution from
scoffers and unbelievers (_pashandi_), which were overcome by
supernatural signs. We pass over the scenes of ecstasy, tireless
exertion in _kirtan_, madness and miracles, which form the extant
history of this period of Chaitanya's life. But the conversions among
the learned were few, and Chaitanya at last in despair resolved to turn
hermit for their salvation, arguing thus, "As I must deliver all these
proud scholars, I have to take to an ascetic life. They will surely bow
to me when they see me as a hermit, and thus their hearts will be
purified and filled with _bhakti_. There is no other means." So, he
induced Keshav Bharati to initiate him as a _sannyasi_ (1509) under the
name of Krishna-Chaitanya, usually shortened into CHAITANYA, which we
have anticipated in this sketch. He was then 24 years of age. His
mother, who had often before urged him not to desert her as his elder
brother had done, was heart-broken at the loss of her sole surviving
child, but Chaitanya consoled her in every possible way, and bowed to
her wishes in many points in his after years as obediently as he had
done before renouncing the life of a householder.
The next six years were passed by him in pilgrimages to Orissa, the
Southern Land, and Brindaban, and in the preaching of _bhakti_ in many
parts of India, as described in detail in the present volume.
Thereafter, at the age of 30, he settled at Puri, and spent his
remaining days in the constant adoration of Jagannath. Disciples and
admirers from many places, chiefly Bengal and Brindaban, visited him
here; and he edified them by his discourses, acts of humility, and
penances. Towards the close of his life he had repeated fits of
religious ecstasy in which he acted in utter disregard of his
life,--once leaping into the blue ocean, at another time battering his
face against the walls of his room.
At last in June-July, 1533, his physical frame broke down under such
prolonged mental convulsion and self-inflicted torments, and he passed
away under circumstances over which the piety of his biographers has
drawn the veil of mystery.
In his lifetime his disciples had organized a mission. In Bengal the new
creed was preached and spread far and wide by Nityananda, who afterwards
came to be regarded as a god, co-ordinate with Chaitanya. Modern
Brindaban, with its temples, Sanskrit seminaries and haunts for
recluses, is the creation of the Bengali Vaishnavs, and it has eclipsed
the older city of Mathura. Here the brothers Rup and Sanatan,--descended
from a Prince of Karnat who had settled in Bengal and whose descendants
had become completely Bengalized, joined Chaitanya's Church. These two
and their nephew Jiv Goswami were great Sanskrit scholars and their
devotional works, commentaries, &c. encouraged a revival of Sanskrit
studies in general in that Muslim age. These three, with Gopal Bhatta,
nephew of the celebrated Vedantist Prakashananda who was latterly
converted to _bhakti_ by Chaitanya and changed his name into
Prabodhananda, and Raghunath Bhatta, son of an up-country Brahman
bhakta, and the last Raghunath-das, a Kayastha saint of the Saptagram
zamindar family of the Hugli district and the guru of our author, formed
the six Fathers of Chaitanya's Church. Except Rup and Sanatan, most of
the other disciples of Chaitanya adopted the Bengali tongue as their
medium, and greatly enriched it with their songs, biographies, poems,
travels, and translations of the bhakti literature from Sanskrit. The
Vaishnav Goswamis, both at Brindaban and Navadwip, have kept up the
study of Sanskrit to our own day. A classified list of Chaitanya's
disciples is given in Book I. canto x and those of Nityananda and
Adwaita's disciples in cantos xi and xii respectively.
GLOSSARY
_Abadhut_--an ascetic who has renounced the world.
_Acharya_--a family name or title of Brahmans, _lit._, teacher.
_Adwaita Acharya_--an elderly scholar of Shantipur and associate in
Chaitanya's devotions before he became a sannyasi.
_Arati_--divine service performed to a god in the early morning or
after dusk, with lamps, incense, and instrumental music, especially
bells.
_Balaram_--the elder brother of Krishna; the images of the two with
that of their sister Subhadra between them, are worshipped in the temple
of Jagannath.
_Bania_--grocer, (also acts as banker).
_Bhagabat_--an adorer of Bhagaban or Vishnu as God; the Bhagabat, the
name of a Puran, regarded by the Vaishnavs as their Scripture.
_Bhakta_--a devotee, who seeks salvation through faith.
_Bhakti_--faith, devotion.
_Bharati_--the title of an order of monks.
_Bhattacharya_--a title of Brahmans.
_Bhog_--see _prasad_.
_Dhoti_--a sheet of cloth worn round the lower limbs by Hindu males.
_Gandharva_--a class of celestial musicians.
_Garuda_--a bird ridden by Vishnu, sacred to the Vaishnavs.
_Gaur_--(1) a city in the Malda district, the capital of Bengal during
the Pathan period; also applied to the whole country of Bengal, (Gaur).
(2) or _Gauranga_, a title of Chaitanya.
_Gauriya_--a native of Bengal.
_Ghaghar_--a musical instrument.
_Ghat_--bathing stairs in a river, usually sacred.
_Ghee_--melted butter.
_Gopis_--milk-maids of Brindaban with whom Krishna disported.
_Goswami_--a title of respect, usually given to spiritual leaders among
the Vaishnavs.
_Govardhan_--a sacred hill near Brindaban.
_Guru_--spiritual preceptor, initiator into learning or a faith.
_Haridas_--a Muhammadan who had turned Vaishnav under Chaitanya's
influence. There was another Haridas, a born Hindu, among Chaitanya's
followers.
_Jagannath_--or Lord of the Universe, name of the idol of Krishna
worshipped in the temple at Puri; also applied to the town of Puri.
_Jharikhand_--the jungle country, Chota Nagpur and the Santhal
parganas.
_Kali yug_--the present or iron age of the world.
_Katak_--the capital of Orissa and the seat of King Pratap Rudra of the
Gajapati dynasty.
_Kholan_--instrument of music, being a long earthenware drum covered at
both ends with leather; distinctive of the Bengali Vaishnavs.
_Kirtan_ or _sankirtan_, chanting God's name to the accompaniment of
dance and song.
_Kulin_--(1) a man of blue blood (kul), descended from a mythical
ancestor of high character or social position in a very far-off age. (2)
the name of a village in Bengal.
_Kunda_--a pool of water, sacred to some god or saint.
_Lila_--the antic or sport of a god, particularly of Krishna.
_Madhav Pun_--also Madhavendra, a monk, the spiritual guide of that
Ishwar Puri who was the guru of Chaitanya.
_Maha-patra_--minister of the Rajah of Orissa.
_Maha-prasad_--food offered to Jagannath and thereafter considered as
holy.
_Mangal-arati_--early morning worship, see _arati_.
_Mantra_--spell, sacred verse (usually in Sanskrit).
_Mahanta_--the abbot of a Hindu monastery.
_Nilachal_--the Blue Mountain. Name of the mound on which the temple of
Jagannath at Puri is situated.
_Nimai_--a nick-name of Chaitanya.
_Nupur_--bells tied to the feet in dancing.
_Odhra_--Orissa.
_Pandas_--attendants at a temple (such as Jagannath); they act as
guides to pilgrims for a consideration.
_Pandit_--scholar, one versed in Sanskrit.
_Parichha_--the highest servitor of the temple of Jagannath.
_Prasad_--food dedicated to a god at his worship, and thereafter eaten
by the faithful as something holy.
_Prayag_--the town of Allahabad, at the junction of the Ganges and the
Jamuna.
_Prem_--love, the highest form of bhakti or devotion.
_Puri_--(1) a town on the sea-coast in Orissa, containing the temple of
Jagannath. (2) the title of an order of monks.
_Purushottam_--a title of Vishnu; usually applied to the temple of
Jagannath at Puri.
_Rarh_--the upland of Burdwan and Birbhum districts, west of the
Ganges.
_Sankirtan_--see _kirtan_.
_Sannyasi_--ascetic, monk, religious mendicant.
_Sarvabhauma_--i.e., "universal doctor," a man of encyclopaedic
knowledge. In the book this title is applied to a great scholar and
Vedantic philosopher of Navadwip, who had settled at Puri and was held
in high honour by the local king. His father was the scholar Visharad, a
fellow-student of Chaitanya's maternal grandfather. His sister's husband
was Gopinath Acharya, who, too, lived at Puri. Also called the
Bhattacharya, and Bhatta; not to be confounded with the Bhattacharya
(i.e., Balabhadra) of ch. xv-xxiii.
_Shalgram_--a round dark pebble, worshipped as an emblem of Vishnu,
(found in the Gandak river).
_Shantipur_--a town on the Ganges, some miles below Navadwip.
_Shastra_--Scripture.
_Shikdar_--the revenue collector of a district, local governor.
_Shloka_--a complete verse, couplet or quatrain.
_Shripad_--a title of respect, here applied to Nityananda.
_Shri-Vaishnav_--one of the four main sects of the Vaishnavs; they
adore Narayan and Lakshmi (=_Shri_), instead of Krishna and Radha.
_Shudra_--the lowest caste among the Hindus.
_Subhadra_--the sister of Krishna.
_Thug_--a class of professional robbers who used to strangle or poison
their victims, after mixing with them on the way, disguised as
travellers.
_Tirtha_--sacred place, usually containing a bathing place.
_Tulsi_--(1) the Indian Basil plant, sacred to Vishnu, and venerated by
the Vaishnavs as almost divine. "She is the Indian Daphne"
(_Birdwood_). (2) the name of a minister of the king of Orissa.
_Vaikuntha_--the heaven of Vishnu.
_Vaishnav_--worshipper of Vishnu, the preserver, one incarnation of
whom is Krishna. The Shaivas are the worshippers of Shiva the destroyer,
while the Shaktas are the worshippers of Shakti or energy, the wife of
Shiva.
_Varaha_--the "Boar," the 3rd incarnation of Vishnu.
_Vidya-nagar_--Rajmahendri, in the Madras presidency.
_Vrihaspati_--the teacher of the gods; hence, a man versed in all the
branches of learning.
_Vishwarup_--Chaitanya's elder brother, who turned a sannyasi under the
title of Shankarayana and died in the monastery of Pandharpur in
Southern India.
_Yug_--era or cycle of time.
[Illustration: KING PRATAP RUDRA BOWING TO CHAITANYA]
(From an old painting in the possession of the Zamindar of Kunjaghata)
CHAITANYA-CHARIT-AMRITA
CHAPTER I
At the House of Adwaita
Glory to Shri Chaitanya! Glory to Nityananda, to Adwaita, and to all
followers of Gaur! In the month of Magh when the Master completed His
twenty-fourth year, in the bright fortnight, He turned hermit. Then led
by devotion He set off for Brindaban, and wandered for three days in the
Rarh country, hallowing it with His footsteps and chanting the following
verse in rapture:
_"I too shall cross the terrible and dark ocean of the world by means of
devotion to the Supreme Being, as the sages did of yore, by service at
the lotus-like feet of Mukunda."[1]_
The Master said, "True are the words of this Brahman, who chose the
service of Mukunda as his life's task. The highest robe [in which a man
can clothe himself] is devotion to the Supreme Soul, the service of
Mukunda which brings salvation. That robe he put on. Now shall I go to
Brindaban and serve Krishna in solitude."
So saying the Master moved day and night, the picture of religious
ecstasy, heedless which way He walked. Nityananda, Acharya Ratna, and
Mukunda, all three followed Him. All who saw Him, cried "Hari! Hari!" in
devotion, and forgot sorrow and loss. The cow-boys shouted Hari's name,
at the sight of the Master, who stroked their heads saying, "Go on with
your chant," and thanked them saying, "Blessed are ye! ye have
gratified me by pouring Hari's name into my ears!" Nityananda took the
boys apart and thus tutored them, "When the Master asks you about the
road to Brindaban, show Him the path leading to the Ganges." This they
did and He took that path. Nityananda spoke to Acharya Ratna, "Hasten to
Adwaita and tell him that I shall lead the Master to his house. He
should keep a boat ready at the riverside. Thence go to Navadwip and
fetch Shachi and all the disciples."
Sending him off, Nityananda came before the Master and showed himself.
"Whither are you going, Shripad?" the Master asked. "With thee to
Brindaban" was the reply. "How far is Brindaban?" "Behold, yonder is the
Jamuna!" So saying Nityananda led the Master to the Ganges. This river
He mistook for the Jamuna. He thanked His stars that He had beheld the
Jamuna, sang its praise, and after bowing bathed in it. He had no second
clothing except His loin-cloth with Him. Just then Adwaita arrived in a
boat, with a fresh loin-cloth and upper garment, and appeared bowing
before the Master, who was puzzled to see him and asked, "You are the
Acharya Goswami. Why have you come here? How did you know that I was at
Brindaban?" The Acharya replied "It is Brindaban wherever you are. It is
my good luck that you have come to the Ganges bank." The Master said,
"So, Nityananda has played me a trick: he has led me to the Ganges and
called it the Jamuna!" The Acharya replied, "False are not the words of
Shripad. You have now indeed bathed in the Jamuna, for the Ganges and
the Jamuna flow in one channel, the eastern waters being called Ganga
and the western (in which you have bathed) Jamuna. Change your wet cloth
for a dry one. Four days have you fasted in fervour of love. Come to my
house to-day, I invite thee. I have cooked a handful of rice, with dry
coarse curry, broth and green herbs." Saying this he took the Master on
board to his house, and joyfully washed His feet. His wife had al ready
done the cooking. The Acharya himself dedicated the food to Vishnu, and
served it in three equal portions. [Description of the dinner omitted.]
The Master said, "Long have you made me dance, now leave it off. Dine
with Mukunda and Haridas." Then the Acharya broke his fast with those
two, to his heart's content. The people of Shantipur, hearing of the
Master's arrival, flocked to gaze on His feet. In joy they cried "Hari!
Hari!" and wondered at His beauty. His fair complexion, which eclipsed
the Sun in splendour, was set off by his red robe. Endless streams of
people came and went throughout the day. At dusk the Acharya began a
_sankirtan_; he danced, while the Master gazed on. Goswami Nityananda
danced hand in hand with the Acharya, and Haridas behind them. This song
accompanied their dance:
_"How shall I speak of my bliss to-day?
The Beloved (Krishna) has entered my temple for ever!"_
With perspiration, thrill, tears of joy, shout, and roar, they turned
and turned, touching the Master's feet now and then. The Acharya
embraced Him and said "Long did you wander after escaping from me. Now
that I have got you in my house, I shall hold you fast!" So the Achaiya
continued dancing and singing for three hours after nightfall. The
Master was in an attitude of longing as He had not yet gained union with
Krishna, and this separation made His love burn the more fiercely.
Impatiently He fell down on the ground, at which the Acharya stopped his
dance. Mukunda, who knew the Master's heart well, began to sing verses
apt for His passion. The Acharya raised Him to make Him dance. At the
verses, the Master could no longer be held back. He was all tears,
tremour, thrill, sweat, and broken accents,--now rising up, now falling
down, now weeping.
The song: [Radha speaks]
_Woe is me, dear sister, for my present state!_
_The love of Krishna has caught my body and soul like a poison._
_My heart burns day and night; I know no peace._
_O that I could fly where Kanu (Krishna) is to be found!_
Sweetly did Mukunda sing the above ditty, which made the Master's heart
burst, as the emotions of penitence, melancholy, rapture,
frolicsomeness, pride, and humility struggled with it. He was stricken
down by the force of His passion, and lay down breathless on the ground.
The faithful grew alarmed, when lo! He sprang up with a shout, overcome
with ecstasy and saying "Chant, chant, [the name of Hari]." None could
under stand the strong tides of His emotion.
Nityananda moved on holding Him, while the Acharya and Haridas danced
behind them. Three hours did He pass thus, now joy now sadness surging
in His heart. The dinner had come after five days of fasting; so the
wild dance greatly fatigued Him, but He felt it not to His ecstasy.
Nityananda held Him back by main force; the Acharya ended the _kirtan_,
and laid the Master in His bed with every care.
In the same way ten days were passed in dinners and singing. In the
morning the Acharya brought mother Shachi in a litter followed by the
faithful. All the people of Navadwip came,--old and young, men and
women,--forming a vast crowd. The Master was dancing and singing the
Name, when Shachi arrived at Adwaita's house and He fell prone at her
feet. She took Him up into her bosom and wept, both of them being rapt
at seeing each other. Shachi was distracted at seeing His shaven crown:
she wiped His body, kissed His mouth, and gazed at Him intently; but
could not see anything as tears filled her eyes. She mourned saying, "My
darling Nimai! be not cruel to me as Vishwarup was, whom I never saw
after he had turned hermit. If _you_ too do so, it will be the death of
me." The Master replied amidst tears, "Listen, mother! This body is your
gift and not my own. My birth is from you, my body has been nursed by
you. In ten million births I cannot repay my debt to you. True, I have
become a _sannyasi_ with or without your consent, but I shall never
slight your wishes. I shall live wherever you bid me, I shall do
whatever you command." So saying He bowed to her again and again, while
she joyfully clasped Him repeatedly.
Then the Acharya led her in, and the Master made haste to receive the
faithful, welcoming them, looking into their faces and embracing them,
one after another. They grieved at the sight of His bare head, and yet
delighted at His beauty. How can I name all the devotees Shrivas, Ramai,
Vidyanidhi, Gadadhar, Gangadas, Vakreshwar, Murari, Shuklambar,
Buddhimanta Khan, Nandan, Shridhar, Vijay, Vasudev, Damodar, Mukunda and
Sanjay? Graciously He smiled on meeting the people of Navadwip. They
danced in delight singing "Hari, Hari." The Acharya's house was turned
into Vishnu's Heaven. From Navadwip and many villages men flocked to see
the Master. For many days the Acharya supplied them all with food, drink
and quarters; his store was inexhaustible, the more he spent the more
was it filled again. From that day forward Shachi herself did the
cooking, and the Master dined in the company of the faithful. In the day
they had the Acharya's love and the sight of the Master, at night His
dance and song. While He was singing all passions swept over Him, now He
stood still, now trembled, now shed tears of joy or uttered broken
words, now He fainted. At times He fell down on the ground, at which
mother Shachi wept, saying "Methinks Nimai's body has been shattered."
Then she piteously prayed to Vishnu, "Grant me this reward for my
worship of thee since my infancy, that when Nimai falls on the ground,
it may not hurt Him!" The loving mother Shachi was out of herself with
transports of delight and meekness.
Shrinivas and other Brahmans wanted to feast the Master. But Shachi
entreated them saying, "Where again shall I see Nimai? You will meet Him
elsewhere, but for me, miserable one, this is His only visit. Therefore,
so long as He lives with the Acharya, I shall feed Him. I beg this
favour of you all."
The faithful bowed in assent to the mother's wish. The Master too,
caught His mother's love-longing and said to His assembled followers: "I
had started for Brindaban without your consent. So my journey was cut
short by a hindrance. True, I have embraced the monastic life all of a
sudden, yet I shall not be dead to you all. I shall not leave you in
life, nor shall I leave my mother. It does not, however, become a hermit
to live with his kindred in his birth-place. Let me not lay myself open
to this charge. Devise a means by which I can be true to both my
duties."
At these sweet words, the Acharya and others went to Shachi and told her
of His wish. Shachi, the Mother of the World, answered, "I shall be
happy if He stays here, but if He is blamed it will grieve me. This plan
strikes me as a happy solution: let Him live on the Nilachal (Puri),
which is as it were a next door house from Navadwip; men pass frequently
between the two places, and I shall always get news of Him. You all may
come and go, and He too may sometimes visit Navadwip at the Ganges bath.
I count not my own joy or sorrow. What makes Him happy is happiness to
me."
The faithful praised her, "Mother, thy words are like an oracle of the
gods!" At their report the Master rejoiced, did reverence to the people
of Navadwip and other adorers, and said, "You are my greatest friends.
Grant this my prayer, all of you, that you may ever in your homes sing
Krishna's _sankirtan_, Krishna's name, Krishna's deeds, Krishna's
worship. Now give me leave to go to the Nilachal; I shall visit you
between whiles." Smiling He bade them farewell with due respect. But
when He wished to start, Haridas cried piteously "You are going to the
Nilachal, but what will be my salvation? I have not strength enough to
go there. How can this lowly one hold to his sinful life without getting
sight of you?" The Master answered, "Have done with thy self-abasement.
It agitates my mind. For thy sake I shall pray to Jagannath; I shall
take thee to Purushottam". Then the Acharya meekly begged Him to stay
for a few days more, and the Master listened to him and did not go away.
So, the Acharya, Shachi, and the faithful rejoiced. Daily did the
Acharya hold the grand celebration the sweet discourse on Krishna in the
company of the devout in the day-time, and the revelry of _sankirtan_
at night. Joyfully did Shachi cook, and merrily did the Master dine with
the faithful. The service of the Master brought fulfilment to Acharya's
reverence, devotion, home, and wealth, while Shachi delighted in gazing
on her son, and feasting Him to her heart's content.
Thus did the faithful beguile some days in the Acharya's house in great
bliss. At last the Master told them, "Go you all to your own homes;
there make Krishna's _sankirtan_. We shall meet again; sometimes you
will go to Puri, at others I shall come to you at the Bathing in the
Ganges." Goswami Nityananda, Pandit Jagadananda, Pandit Damodar, and
Mukunda Datta, these four[2] were sent by the Acharya to bear the Master
company. Comforting His mother, He bowed at her feet, walked round her,
and then set off. The cry of lamentation rose in the Acharya's house,
but the Master quickened His pace, heedless of it. Adwaita followed Him
some distance weeping, when He turned back with clasped hands, solaced
him, and spoke these gentle words, "You should comfort my mother and
look after the congregation, for if you give way to grief they will all
die!" Embracing He turned Adwaita back, and passed on freely. To the
bank of the Ganges He went with the four, and then to Puri by way of
Chhatrabhog.[3] [_Madhya Lila_, text, canto 3.]
[1] From the Brahman mendicant's speech reported in the _Shrimad
Bhagabat_, XI. xxiii. verse 53.
[2] The _Chaitanya Bhagabat_ mentions two others, Govinda and Gadadhar,
(III. 2).
[3] _Chhatrabhog_. A village where the Ganges divides into innumerable
branches before falling into the sea. It is famous for its submerged
Shiva styled _Ambu-linga_.
[Illustration]