The Advent of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu

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Adi-lilaChapter 13: The Advent of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu

 

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Sri Caitanya Caritamrta

 

CC Adi 13 Summary

 

CC Adi 13.1: I wish the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by whose mercy even

one who is fallen can describe the pastimes of the Lord.

 

CC Adi 13.2: All glories to Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu! All glories to

Advaitacandra! All glories to Lord Nityananda Prabhu!

 

CC Adi 13.3: All glories to Gadadhara Prabhu! All glories to Srivasa Thakura!

All glories to Mukunda Prabhu and Vasudeva Prabhu! All glories to Haridasa

Thakura!

 

CC Adi 13.4: All glories to Svarupa Damodara and Murari Gupta! All these

brilliant moons have together dissipated the darkness of this material world.

 

CC Adi 13.5: All glories to the moons who are devotees of the principal moon,

Lord Caitanyacandra! Their bright moonshine illuminates the entire universe.

 

CC Adi 13.6: Thus I have spoken the preface of the Caitanya-caritamrta. Now I

shall describe Caitanya Mahaprabhu's pastimes in chronological order.

 

CC Adi 13.7: First let me give a synopsis of the Lord's pastimes. Then I shall

describe them in detail.

 

CC Adi 13.8: Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, adventing Himself in Navadvipa, was

visible for forty-eight years, enjoying His pastimes.

 

CC Adi 13.9: In the year 1407 of the Saka Era (A.D. 1486), Lord Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu appeared, and in the year 1455 (A.D. 1534) He disappeared from this

world.

 

CC Adi 13.10: For twenty-four years Lord Caitanya lived in the grhastha-asrama

[household life], always engaging in the pastimes of the Hare Krsna movement.

 

CC Adi 13.11: After twenty-four years He accepted the renounced order of life,

sannyasa, and He resided for twenty-four years more at Jagannatha Puri.

 

CC Adi 13.12: Of these last twenty-four years, He spent the first six

continuoually touring India, sometimes in South India, sometimes in Bengal and

sometimes in Vrndavana.

 

CC Adi 13.13: For the remaining eighteen years He continuously stayed in

Jagannatha Puri. Chanting the nectarean Hare Krsna maha-mantra, He inundated

everyone there in a flood of love of Krsna.

 

CC Adi 13.14: The pastimes of His household life are known as the adi-lila, or

the original pastimes. His later pastimes are known as the madhya-lila and

antya-lila, or the middle and final pastimes.

 

CC Adi 13.15: All the pastimes enacted by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His

adi-lila were recorded in summary form by Murari Gupta.

 

CC Adi 13.16: His later pastimes [the madhya-lila and antya-lila] were recorded

in the form of notes by His secretary, Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, and thus kept

within a book.

 

CC Adi 13.17: By seeing and hearing the notes recorded by these two great

personalities, a Vaisnava, a devotee of the Lord, can know these pastimes one

after another.

 

CC Adi 13.18: In His original pastimes there are four divisions: balya,

pauganda, kaisora and yauvana [childhood, early boyhood, later boyhood and youth

].

 

CC Adi 13.19: I offer my respectful obeisances unto the full-moon evening in the

month of Phalguna, an auspicious time full of auspicious symptoms, when Lord Sri

Caitanya Mahaprabhu advented Himself with the chanting of the holy name, Hare

Krsna.

 

CC Adi 13.20: On the full-moon evening of the month of Phalguna when the Lord

took birth, coincidentally there was also a lunar eclipse.

 

CC Adi 13.21: In jubilation everyone was chanting the holy name of the Lord --

"Hari! Hari!" -- and Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu then appeared, after first

causing the appearance of the holy name.

 

CC Adi 13.22: At His birth, in His childhood and in His early and later boyhood,

as well as in His youth, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, under different pleas,

induced people to chant the holy name of Hari [the Hare Krsna maha-mantra].

 

CC Adi 13.23: In His childhood, when the Lord was crying He would stop

immediately upon hearing the holy names Krsna and Hari.

 

CC Adi 13.24: All the friendly ladies who came to see the child would chant the

holy names, "Hari, Hari!" as soon as the child would cry.

 

CC Adi 13.25: When all the ladies saw this fun, they enjoyed laughing and called

the Lord "Gaurahari." From then on, Gaurahari became another of His names.

 

CC Adi 13.26: His childhood lasted until the date of hate khadi, the beginning

of His education, and His age from the end of His childhood until He married is

called pauganda.

 

CC Adi 13.27: After His marriage His youth began, and in His youth He induced

everyone to chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra anywhere and everywhere.

 

CC Adi 13.28: During His pauganda age He became a serious student and also

taught disciples. In this way He used to explain the holy name of Krsna

everywhere.

 

CC Adi 13.29: When teaching a course in grammar [vyakarana] and explaining it

with notes, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught His disciples about the glories of

Lord Krsna. All explanations culminated in Krsna, and His disciples would

understand them very easily. Thus His influence was wonderful.

 

CC Adi 13.30: When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was a student, He asked whomever He

met to chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. In this way He inundated the whole town

of Navadvipa with the chanting of Hare Krsna.

 

CC Adi 13.31: Just prior to His youthful life, He began the sankirtana movement.

Day and night He used to dance in ecstasy with His devotees.

 

CC Adi 13.32: The sankirtana movement went on from one part of the town to

another, as the Lord wandered everywhere performing kirtana. In this way He

inundated the whole world by distributing love of Godhead.

 

CC Adi 13.33: Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu lived in the Navadvipa area for

twenty-four years, and He induced every person to chant the Hare Krsna

maha-mantra and thus merge in love of Krsna.

 

CC Adi 13.34: For His remaining twenty-four years, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,

after accepting the renounced order of life, stayed at Jagannatha Puri with His

devotees.

 

CC Adi 13.35: For six of these twenty-four years in Nilacala [Jagannatha Puri],

He distributed love of Godhead by always chanting and dancing.

 

CC Adi 13.36: Beginning from Cape Comorin and extending through Bengal to

Vrndavana, during these six years He toured all of India, chanting, dancing and

distributing love of Krsna.

 

CC Adi 13.37: The activities of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His travels after He

accepted sannyasa are His principal pastimes. His activities during His

remaining eighteen years are called the antya-lila, or the final portion of His

pastimes.

 

CC Adi 13.38: For six of the eighteen years He continuously stayed in Jagannatha

Puri, He regularly performed kirtana, inducing all the devotees to love Krsna

simply by chanting and dancing.

 

CC Adi 13.39: For the remaining twelve years He stayed in Jagannatha Puri, He

taught everyone how to taste the transcendental mellow ecstasy of love of Krsna

by tasting it Himself.

 

CC Adi 13.40: Day and night Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu felt separation from Krsna.

Manifesting symptoms of this separation, He cried and talked very

inconsistently, like a madman.

 

CC Adi 13.41: As Srimati Radharani talked inconsistently when She met Uddhava,

so also Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu relished, both day and night, such ecstatic talk

in the mood of Srimati Radharani.

 

CC Adi 13.42: The Lord used to read the books of Vidyapati, Jayadeva and

Candidasa, relishing their songs with His confidential associates like Sri

Ramananda Raya and Svarupa Damodara Gosvami.

 

CC Adi 13.43: In separation from Krsna, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu relished all

these ecstatic activities, and thus He fulfilled His own desires.

 

CC Adi 13.44: The pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu are unlimited. How much

can a small living entity elaborate about those transcendental pastimes?

 

CC Adi 13.45: If Sesa Naga Ananta personally were to make the pastimes of Lord

Caitanya into sutras, even with His thousands of mouths there is no possibility

that He could find their limit.

 

CC Adi 13.46: Devotees like Sri Svarupa Damodara and Murari Gupta have recorded

all the principal pastimes of Lord Caitanya in the form of notes, after

deliberate consideration.

 

CC Adi 13.47: The notes kept by Sri Svarupa Damodara and Murari Gupta are the

basis of this book. Following those notes, I write of all the pastimes of the

Lord. The notes have been described elaborately by Vrndavana dasa Thakura.

 

CC Adi 13.48: Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura, the authorized writer of the

pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, is as good as Srila Vyasadeva. He has

described the pastimes in such a way as to make them sweeter and sweeter.

 

CC Adi 13.49: Being afraid of his book's becoming too voluminous, he left some

places without vivid descriptions. I shall try to fill those places as far as

possible.

 

CC Adi 13.50: The transcendental pastimes of Lord Caitanya have actually been

relished by Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura. I am simply trying to chew the

remnants of food left by him.

 

CC Adi 13.51: My dear devotees of Lord Caitanya, let me now write a synopsis of

the adi-lila; I write of these pastimes in brief because it is not possible to

describe them in full.

 

CC Adi 13.52: To fulfill a particular desire within His mind, Lord Krsna,

Vrajendra-kumara, decided to descend to this planet after mature contemplation.

 

CC Adi 13.53: Lord Krsna therefore first allowed His family of superiors to

descend to the earth. I shall try to describe them in brief because it is not

possible to describe them fully.

 

CC Adi 13.54-55: Lord Sri Krsna, before appearing as Lord Caitanya, requested

these devotees to precede Him: Sri Sacidevi, Jagannatha Misra, Madhavendra Puri,

Kesava Bharati, Isvara Puri, Advaita Acarya, Srivasa Pandita, Acaryaratna,

Vidyanidhi and Thakura Haridasa.

 

CC Adi 13.56: There was also Sri Upendra Misra, a resident of the district of

Srihatta. He was a great devotee of Lord Visnu, a learned scholar, a rich man

and a reservoir of all good qualities.

 

CC Adi 13.57-58: Upendra Misra had seven sons, who were all saintly and most

influential: (1) Kamsari, (2) Paramananda, (3) Padmanabha, (4) Sarvesvara, (5)

Jagannatha, (6) Janardana and (7) Trailokyanatha. Jagannatha Misra, the fifth

son, decided to reside on the bank of the Ganges at Nadia.

 

CC Adi 13.59: Jagannatha Misra was designated as Purandara. Exactly like Nanda

Maharaja and Vasudeva, he was an ocean of all good qualities.

 

CC Adi 13.60: His wife, Srimati Sacidevi, was a chaste woman highly devoted to

her husband. Sacidevi's father's name was Nilambara, and his surname was

Cakravarti.

 

CC Adi 13.61: In Radhadesa, the part of Bengal where the Ganges is not visible,

Nityananda Prabhu, Gangadasa Pandita, Murari Gupta and Mukunda took birth.

 

CC Adi 13.62: Lord Krsna, Vrajendra-kumara, first caused countless devotees to

appear, and at last He appeared Himself.

 

CC Adi 13.63: Before the appearance of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, all the

devotees of Navadvipa used to gather in the house of Advaita Acarya.

 

CC Adi 13.64: In these meetings of the Vaisnavas, Advaita Acarya used to recite

the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, decrying the paths of philosophical

speculation and fruitive activity and establishing the superexcellence of

devotional service.

 

CC Adi 13.65: In all the revealed scriptures of Vedic culture, devotional

service to Lord Krsna is explained throughout. Therefore devotees of Lord Krsna

do not recognize the processes of philosophical speculation, mystic yoga,

unnecessary austerity and so-called religious rituals. They do not accept any

process but devotional service.

 

CC Adi 13.66: In the house of Advaita Acarya, all the Vaisnavas took pleasure in

always talking of Krsna, always worshiping Krsna and always chanting the Hare

Krsna maha-mantra.

 

CC Adi 13.67: But Sri Advaita Acarya Prabhu felt pained to see all the people

without Krsna consciousness simply merging in material sense enjoyment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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