Chaitanya Bhagavata
by Bhumipati Dāsa | 2008 | 1,349,850 words
The Chaitanya Bhagavata by Sri Vrindavan Das Thakura is a scripture belonging to the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition from the 16th century. It is similair in content to the Caitanya Caritamrita, but asserts that Chaitanya was the direct incarnation of Krishna (as Bhagavan). The Caitanya Bhagavata contains three major parts including many details regard...
Introduction to chapter 16
This chapter describes Ѳ and His associates� night īٲԲ at the house of Śrīvāsa, Śrīvasa’s mother-in-law’s hiding in the īٲԲ hall, Advaita’s mood as the servant of Caitanya, Ѳ’s glorification of Śrī Advaita on the pretext of anger, the ղṣṇ� astonishment on seeing Ѳ’s great mercy on Advaita, Ѳ and His associates� chanting and dancing in ecstatic love of ṛṣṇa, and topics regarding ŚrīŚuklāmbara ī.
Every night Ѳ and His devotees performed īٲԲ at the house of Śrīvāsa after closing the door from inside. With a desire to see the Lord’s īٲԲ pastimes, the less fortunate mother-in-law of Śrīvāsa one day hid herself in one corner of the īٲԲ hall. Ѳ, who is the Supersoul of everyone, understood this and repeatedly declared that He was not getting any happiness in the course of dancing that night. As a result, Śrīvāsa and the devotees became frightened and worried, so they checked whether there were any outsiders within the īٲԲ hall. Finding his mother-in-law hidden in one corner, Śrīvāsa ʲṇḍٲ had her grabbed by the hair and thrown out. Thereafter Ѳ felt blissful and again began to dance with the devotees. No one is eligible to see such pastimes without the mercy of Ѳ. When Ѳ climbed on the throne of վṣṇ in the mood of the Supreme Lord and after placing His lotus feet on everyone’s head addressed Advaita as “servant,� Advaita became extremely pleased. But in the next moment when Gaurasundara, the personification of inconceivable pastimes, concealed His mood as the Supreme Lord and tried to take dust from the feet of the ղṣṇ in the mood of a servant, all the ղṣṇ felt extremely distressed in their hearts. Advaita Āⲹ did not love anything other than the service of Śrī Caitanya, but Ѳ considered Advaita Āⲹ as worshipable and tried to grab His lotus feet. For this reason Advaita Āⲹ felt pain in His mind, and when Ѳ fell unconscious due to love of God, He would approach the Lord’s lotus feet and fulfill His own desires by offering obeisances at the Lord’s lotus feet, washing the Lord’s feet with tears, smearing the dust of the Lord’s feet upon His own head, and worshiping the Lord with various ingredients. One day when Ѳ fell unconscious while dancing, Advaita Āⲹ took the opportunity to smear the dust from Ѳ’s feet over His entire body. After a while the Lord regained His external consciousness and again began to dance. He then expressed His dissatisfaction to the devotees and inquired whether anyone had taken dust from His feet. When everyone remained silent out of fear of Advaita Āⲹ, Advaita Āⲹ admitted with folded hands that He stole the dust from Gaurasundara’s lotus feet and begged the Lord’s forgiveness for His fault.
Upon hearing the words of Advaita, Ѳ externally displayed anger and on the pretext of criticizing Advaita glorified Him in various ways. The Lord then took the dust from Advaita’s feet and placed Advaita’s feet on His own chest. Thereafter, when Advaita Prabhu revealed the glories of Gaurasundara by glorifying how the Lord always tries to increase the prestige of His servants, Ѳ also began to praise the glories of Advaita. The ղṣṇ were struck with wonder on realizing the topics of Gaurasundara’s unlimited mercy on Śrī Advaita.
Then Ѳ, ٲԲԻ岹, Advaita Āⲹ, and the other devotees began to dance and glorify the Lord with ecstasy. Although ٲԲԻ岹 Prabhu would become overwhelmed in the ecstasy of īٲԲ, He was always alert. Whenever He saw that Śrī Caitanyacandra was about to fall unconscious due to love of God, He stretched out His arms and caught Him.
In Navadvīpa there lived a poor ṇa named Śuklāmbara, who was attached to the devotional service of վṣṇ. He offered ṛṣṇa whatever he collected by begging and maintained his life with the remnants. Yet since he was day and night engaged in singing the glories of ṛṣṇa, he did not feel any distress due to poverty. Materialistic people considered him a beggar, because no one other than a recipient of Lord Caitanya’s mercy can recognize His servant. One day as Ѳ was sitting in the mood of the Supreme Lord, Śuklāmbara came there with a begging beg on his shoulder and began to dance in ecstatic love for ṛṣṇa. When Ѳ saw Śuklāmbara, He took a handful of rice from his bag and began to chew it while revealing the qualities of Śuklāmbara. When Śuklāmbara expressed fear of his own ruination on seeing Ѳ eat that broken, inferior quality rice, Ѳ informed Śuklāmbara that He always eats with love the foods offered by His devotees and never even looks at the food offered by nondevotees. Seeing Gaurasundara’s mercy on Śuklāmbara, all the devotees happily engaged in kṛṣṇa-īٲԲ. After glorifying Śuklāmbara’s various qualities, Ѳ awarded him the benediction of ecstatic love of God. When Śuklāmbara received this benediction, all the ղṣṇ chanted the name of Hari in ecstasy.
In arcana-, the path of Deity worship, it is customary to offer foodstuffs to the Lord under certain rules and regulations. Although Śuklāmbara did not offer food in that way to the Lord, Ѳ forcibly ate Śuklāmbara’s rice and exhibited the superiority of the path of 岵, spontaneous attachment, over the path of arcana. Being proud of high birth and other opulences, persons who are blinded with material pride cannot recognize the ղṣṇ. Rather, they blaspheme or tease them, considering them poor and foolish. That is why the Supreme Lord, who is affectionate to His devotees, does not accept worship, wealth, etc. from those who offend the ղṣṇ. It is confirmed in all scriptures that ṛṣṇa alone is the life and wealth of the 쾱ñԲ, those who have no material assets.
Thereafter the author concludes this chapter with a glorification of the results obtained by hearing this chapter.