The Master teaches His disciples at Puri; the meeting with Sanatan
_Author's words in commencing the Last Acts (Antya Lila)_:--"I bow to
the Lord God Krishna-Chaitanya, whose grace enables a cripple to cross
mountains and a dumb man to recite the scriptures. I am blind; this path
is difficult, and I am again and again stumbling on it. May the saints
be my support by lending me the staff of their compassion!
"I adore the feel of my six _gurus_,--Rup, Sanatan, Raghunath Bhatta,
Jiv, Gopal Bhatta, and Raghunath-das,--who will remove evil (from my
path) and fulfil my desire. In the _Madhya Lila_ I have given a brief
outline of the _Antya Lila_. I am now stricken with the decrepitude of
age, and know death to be near. Therefore, I write in detail such acts
of the _Antya Lila_ as have not been described before."
When the Master returned from Brindaban to Nilachal, Swarup Goswami sent
word of it to Bengal. Shachi rejoiced to hear of it; all the _bhaktas_
rejoiced. They all set off for Nilachal. The men of Kulin village and
the men of Khand all joined Acharya Shivananda. Shivananda Sen undertook
to pass them through the police out posts (_ghati_) of the road, looked
after them, and secured lodgings for them. When they arrived at
Nilachal, they all met the Master, as in past years. At the end of four
months, the Master sent the _bhaktas_ back to Bengal.
Every year the Bengali adorers used to come, meet the Master, and then
return home. From other provinces, too, people used to come to
Jagannath-Puri and attain the bliss of gazing at the feet of
Chaitanya. But there were many householders who could not come. For
their salvation the Master inspired worthy disciples in those countries
with His own force, and thus all countries were made Vaishnav.
Bhagaban Acharya, a great Vaishnav, very learned and high-born (_arya_),
lived at Jagannath-Puri, seeking the Master's company, as the cow-boys
[of Mathura did Krishna's]. He was a comrade of Swarup Goswami, and took
absolute refuge at the feet of Chaitanya. At times he used to invite the
Master and made Him dine alone in his house.
One day, when the Acharya had bidden the Master to dinner at his house,
he called the Master's chanter, the Lesser Haridas, and told him to
bring on his behalf a _maund_ of white rice from the sister of Shikhi
Mahiti. She was named Madhavi Devi, an old anchorite and devout
Vaishnav. At his meal the Master praised the rice and learnt that it had
been supplied by Madhavi through the Lesser Haridas. When He returned to
His lodgings, he ordered Govinda to exclude Haridas from the place from
that day onwards.
Haridas grieved at the Master's doors being closed to him. For three
days he fasted. None knew the reason of his exclusion. Then Swarup and
others asked the Master, who replied, "I cannot look at the face of a
bairagi who speaks to a woman. Our passions are hard to control and take
hold of their natural objects of gratification. Even the wooden statue
of a woman can steal the heart of an ascetic." (They prayed for His
pardon, but in vain. When even Puri Goswami interceded for Haridas, the
Master in anger threatened to leave His disciples there and migrate
alone to Alalnath). At the sight of Haridas's punishment, terror seized
all the _bhaktas_. They gave up conversing with women even in dreams.
Thus did Haridas pass a year, and yet the Master did not feel any grace
for him. So, one night Haridas bowed to the Master [from a distance] and
went away to Allahabad without telling anybody. He concentrated his mind
on attaining to the Master's feet [in the next life] and gave up his
life by plunging into the junction of the three rivers, (_Triveni_ at
Allahabad).
An Oriya Brahman boy, handsome, gentle of manner, but fatherless, used
to visit the Master at Puri daily, bow to Him and hold converse with
Him. The Master was as life unto him, and he enjoyed the Master's
favour. Damodar could not bear to see this attachment, and again and
again forbade the boy [to come]. But he could not live without seeing
the Master; he came daily and the Master showed him great love; it is
natural for a boy to come where he meets with love.
The sight grieved Damodar, but he could not say any thing as the boy
heeded not his prohibition. One day the boy visited the Master, who
lovingly inquired after his [health]. After a time the boy left. Damodar
could not contain himself any longer, but burst out with, "In other
connections you are called a _Goswami_. We shall soon know what sort of
_Goswami_ you are! All men will soon sing the praise of our _Goswami!_
His reputation will be now established at Puri!"
The Master, hearing it, asked, "What is this that you are talking,
Damodar?" The man replied, "You are a free God. You act as you please.
Who can forbid you? But who can shut the mouth of the garrulous world?
You are a wise man. Why then do you not reflect deeply? Why do you love
a widow's son? True, she is chaste and an ascetic; but she has the
faults of being beautiful and young. You too are youthful and extremely
handsome. This will give an opportunity to scandal-mongers to whisper."
Damodar ceased speaking. The Master, pleased at heart, smiled and
reflected, thinking "This is a current of the purest love. I have no
well-wisher like Damodar."
Another day, the Master took Damodar aside and said, "Damodar, go to
Navadwip, and stay there with my mother. I do not see any other guardian
for her than you. You have warned me even! I have no candid friend like
you among my followers. Unless a man is candid (_lit._, impartial),
virtue cannot be guarded. You have done something which even I cannot
do. You have reprimanded me, what shall we say of others? Go to my
mother's house and remain at her feet. In your presence nobody can act
freely. Come here occasionally to see me, and then return there quickly.
Convey to mother my millions of salutation. Make her happy with the news
of my happiness. Say that I have sent you to her to tell her constantly
of me. So saying delight her heart."
(The miracles of the Vaishnav saint Haridas Thakur, _not translated_).
When Rup Goswami, after visiting the Master at Puri, went to Bengal for
returning to Brindaban, his brother Sanatan came from Mathura to
Nilachal. He travelled by the Jharikhand jungles (Santal parganas), now
fasting, now chewing [dry grains]. Scabs broke out on his skin from the
bad water of Jharikhand and the irregularity of diet, and exudations ran
down his body.
On the way he sadly reflected, "I belong to a low caste. My body is
vile. I shall fail to see the Master when I go to Puri. He lives, I
hear, near the temple. But I dare not go near it, as the servitors of
Jagannath are constantly passing there on business and it will be a sin
if I [accidentally] touch them. Therefore, I shall renounce my body by
throwing myself under the wheels of Jagannath's car when the god is
taken out in the car procession; thus shall I attain at a holy place
relief from my pangs and the salvation of my soul."
So resolving, he came to Nilachal and alighted at Haridas's place. He
bowed at the feet of Haridas, who learning his name embraced him. His
heart yearned for the sight of the Master. Haridas assured him that He
would soon come.
The Master, after witnessing the _Upala-bhog_ of Jagannath, came there
with His disciples to meet Haridas. The two prostrated themselves at His
feet. The Master raised Haridas and embraced him. Haridas said, "Here is
Sanatan, bowing to you." The Master looked at Sanatan with interest and
advanced to embrace him, while Sanatan ran backwards shouting, "Touch me
not, Master, I beseech Thee. I am of low caste, and in addition my skin
is running with exudations." But the Master embraced him by force, and
His fair body was stained with Sanatan's sores. He introduced all His
disciples to Sanatan, who bowed at their feet. With them all the Master
sat down on the raised terrace, while Haridas and Sanatan sat below. He
inquired after Sanatan's health, who replied "My supreme bliss is that I
have gazed on Thy feet." The Master then asked about the Vaishnavs of
Mathura, and Sanatan reported that they were well.
The Master said, "Rup [your brother] was here for ten months, and he
left for Bengal only ten days ago. Your [youngest] brother Anupam has
died on the bank of the Ganges. He was a staunch devotee of Ram."
Sanatan replied, "I have been born in a low family; All sorts of
wickedness and wrongdoing were my hereditary burden. Such a family thou
hast accepted, without scorning it! My whole family has been blessed by
thy grace. This Anupam was devoted to Ram-worship from his childhood.
Day and night he used to meditate on the name of Ram, hear the
_Ramayan_ read, and chant it. He used to live with Rup and myself
constantly and listen with us to Krishna's deeds and the _Bhagabat_. We
one day tested him saying, Listen, dear, Krishna is very delicious; he
abounds in beauty, sweetness, love, and grace. Do you, therefore, adore
Krishna in our company. We three brothers shall dwell together in the
delights of discourses on Krishna. So we two urged him again and again.
Our influence turned his mind a little and he responded, How long can I
resist your command? Initiate me in the mantra and I shall adore Krishna
[in future]. So saying, he paced up and down all the night, waking and
crying how he could leave Ram's feet. Next morning he told us, I have
sold my head to the feet of Ram, and it pains me excessively to draw my
head away thence, Have mercy on me and permit me to worship Ram's feet
birth after birth. Then we two embraced him and praised him saying noble
is the firmness of thy faith. Master, when you bless a family, it enjoys
every good, and all its troubles, disappear."
The Master replied, "Just in the same way did I test Murari Gupta
before. That _bhakta_ is noble who does not leave his Lord's feet. That
Master is blessed who does not abandon his own devotee. It is well that
you have come here. Dwell in the same house with Haridas."
One day the Master came there, as was his daily wont, to meet the two,
and began abruptly to speak, "Sanatan! If giving up life could have made
one gain Krishna, I could have sacrificed my life a million times over
in a moment. It is not by courting death but by adoration that we can
gain Krishna. There is no other way of gaining him than _bhakti_.
Suicide and the like are a low dark (_tamas_) kind of _dharma_. But
the _tamas_ and _rajas_ kinds of _dharma_ cannot give us the essence
of Krishna. Without _bhakti_ there cannot be love, and without love
Krishna cannot be attained.
"Suicide and the like are a _tamas dharma_, and the cause of sin;
through them a devotee cannot attain to Krishna's feet. The loving
_bhakta_ wishes to quit his body when separated from his Lord; but when
love has brought Krishna to him, he cannot think of death.
"Give up your evil intention and listen to the _kirtan_, and soon will
you get the treasure of love for Krishna. Even a low-caste man is not
unfit to adore Krishna. Even a well-born Brahman is not, [merely by
reason of his birth] worthy to adore him. He who adores is great; the
man wanting in devotion is low and despicable. In the worship of Krishna
there is no distinction of caste or pedigree. The Lord is more gracious
to the lowly, while the high-born, the learned, and the rich are too
proud [in His eyes]. "Among the methods of adoration the chief are the
nine kinds of _bhakti_, which is most potent in giving us, Krishna's
love, even Krishna himself. The highest of these is _nam-sankirtan_,
chanting the Name. Chant the Name with a pure soul and you will win the
treasure of divine love!"
Sanatan marvelled when he heard all this, thinking "The Master is
omniscient. He has divined my plan of suicide and forbidden it." Then he
clasped the Master's feet, crying, "You are omniscient, gracious, free,
and God. I move like a wooden machine as you turn my handle. I am lowly,
a wretch, and wicked of disposition. What would you gain by keeping me
alive?"
The Master replied, "Your body is my property. You have given yourself
up to me. How dare you think of destroying what is another's property?
Cannot you distinguish between a crime and a just deed? Your body is my
chief instrument; with it I shall carry out many purposes. The
exposition of the nature of devotion, the devotee and Krishna-_prem_,
the duties and daily practices of Vaishnavs, the establishing of
devotion to Krishna, love for Krishna and service, the restoration of
forgotten holy places, the teaching of asceticism, the preaching of this
faith at Mathura and Brindaban which are my favourite places, all these
I wish for. But by my mother's command I live at Nilachal, and therefore
I cannot preach the religion at Mathura in person. The body by means of
which I want to do all these works, you want to give up. How can I allow
it?"
At this Sanatan said, "I bow to thee. Who can fathom the depths of thy
heart? As the juggler makes the wooden puppet dance, while it knows not
what it plays or what it sings, so, too, does the man whom you inspire,
dance with out knowing why he is dancing or through whom."
Thereafter the Master embraced the two and left for His home to do His
noontide devotions.
Haridas mourned to Sanatan, "None can be compared with you in good
fortune. The Master has declared your body to be His own property. He
will do through you at Mathura the work that He cannot do in His own
person. Through you He will compose the exegetics of _bhakti_, and lay
down its scriptures and practices. [Alas!] my body has been of no
service to the Master. My body, though born in the [holy] land of
Bharat, has become futile."
But Sanatan consoled him saying, "Who else is your equal? Among the
Master's followers you are the most fortunate. The work of His
incarnation is the preaching of the Name, and that work He does through
you. Daily do you chant the Name three hundred thousand times. Before
all do you hold forth on the glory of the Name."
The Bengal _bhaktas_ came on pilgrimage, as before, on the occasion of
the Car festival, and stayed with the Master for the four months of the
monsoon. The Master introduced to them Sanatan who bowed at their feet
and they favoured him. His excellent character and [deep] scholarship
endeared Sanatan to all.
In the month of Jyaishtha the Master went to Yameshwar Tota (garden) to
dine at the entreaty of His _bhaktas_. At noon He called for Sanatan,
who delighted to hear of it, and went to Him by way of the sea-beach. He
reached the Master with his two feet blistered [by the hot sand].
The Master asked "By what route have you come, Sanatan?" He replied, "By
the sea-side." Then the Master said, "Why did you come over the hot
sand? Why did you not take the cool path before the Lion Gate
(_singha-dwar_)? The hot sand has blistered your feet. You cannot walk;
how could you bear the journey?"
Sanatan replied, "It was no great hardship. I did not feel that my feet
were being blistered. I am not entitled to pass by the _singha-dwar_
road, especially, as the servitors of the god Jagannath frequently pass
along it and it would be a disaster if I touch any of them."
The Master's heart was pleased to hear of it, and He began to tell
Sanatan, "Though you are the saviour of the world and your touch can
purify even the gods and sages, yet it is the sign of a [true] _bhakta_
to respect the dignity [of rank or caste]. It is an ornament to a
_sadhu's_ character to observe distinctions (_maryada_) of rank. Not
to do so is to court public ridicule and to destroy one's own earthly
life and spiritual welfare as well."
Sanatan's body was covered with running eruptions. The Master embraced
him in spite of prohibition, and His body was stained with the
exudation, at which Sanatan grieved.
But the Master said, "The body of a Vaishnav is not material. It is
supra-physical and full of the _chit_ and _ananda_ of _bhakti_. At
the time of his initiation the _bhakta_ surrenders himself to Krishna,
who then renders him equal to his own self, and fills the body with his
own _chit_ and _ananda_. The Lord Krishna has visited Sanatan's body
with sores only to test me. If I had in disgust refused to embrace him,
I should have been guilty in the eyes of Krishna."
So saying, He embraced Sanatan again, and lo! the sores disappeared and
his body assumed a golden hue!
After the _dol-yatra_ he was given leave to depart to Brindaban with
minute instructions as to what he should do there to propagate the
faith. [A long list of the Vaishnav literature produced by Rup, Sanatan,
and their nephew Jiv, the son of their youngest brother Vallabh
Anupam,--_not translated here_].
[1] Chapters XXIII-XXVII are taken from the _Antya Lila_ or Third Book
of the text.