20200827 The Devotees Forget About the Sannyāsa During Saṅkīrtana With the Lord

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 27^th August 2020 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, India

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

We continue now with the Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book. This chapter is entitled:

The Devotees Forget About the Sannyāsa During Saṅkīrtana With the Lord

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.2

prabhura saṅkīrtana raṅge bhaktagaṇera prabhura sannyāsa-vārtā-vismṛti—
ei-mate āchena ṭhākura viśvambhara
saṅkīrtana-ānanda karena nirantara

Jayapatākā Swami: In this way, Lord Śrī Viśvambhara continuously passed His time, in spiritual ecstatic bliss of saṅkīrtana, congregational chanting of the holy names.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.3

svecchāmaya maheśvara kakhane ki kare
īśvarera marma keha bujhaite nā pare

Jayapatākā Swami: The Supreme Personality of Godhead is completely independent, and what He does is not understood by others.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.4

niravadhi parānanda saṅkīrtana-raṅge
hariṣe thākena sarva-vaiṣṇavera saṅge

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Gaurāṅga, He was enjoying transcendental bliss continuously, joyfully performing the saṅkīrtana, congregational chanting with all the Vaiṣṇavas.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.5

parānande vihvala sakala bhakta-gaṇa
pāsari’ rahilā sabe prabhura gamana

Jayapatākā Swami: Being so overwhelmed in transcendental ecstasy, all the devotees, they forgot that the Lord was going to leave.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.6

sarva vede bhāvena ye prabhure dekhite
krīḍā kare bhakta-gaṇa se-prabhu-sahite

Jayapatākā Swami:The Lord which all the Vedas desire to see, He was performing His pastimes along with His devotees.

Purport be Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: “The personified Vedas simply meditate on the form of the Supreme Lord, who is their goal of life, but the devotees of the Lord directly enjoy pastimes with the Supreme Lord.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we hear, the Vedas always desire to see the Lord. But the devotees by their unalloyed devotional service, are so blessed, that they are actually enjoying pastimes in association with the Lord. And this is the great benediction of bhakti-yoga or devotional service, that one is able to enjoy the pastimes with the Lord, which otherwise is very difficult to achieve.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.7

prabhura nitāi-samīpe sannyāsa-grahaṇera divasa o sannyāsa-pradātāra nāmollekha—
ye-dina caliba prabhu sannyāsa karite
nityānanda-sthāne tāhā kahilā nibhṛte

Jayapatākā Swami: What day Lord Gaurāṅga will leave to take sannyāsa, He told to Nityānanda, privately.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.8

“śuna śuna nityānanda-svarūpa gosāñi!
e kathā bhāṅgibe sabe pañca-jana ṭhāñi

Jayapatākā Swami: O Nityānanda, Svarūpa Gosāi, listen, listen to what I say. You should tell only to five persons, what I am about to say.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.9

ei saṅkramaṇa-uttarāyaṇa-divase
niścaya caliba āmi karite sannyāse

Jayapatākā Swami: On the Makara-saṅkrānti, northern path of the sun day (January 14 or 15), I will certainly leave home to take sannyāsa.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: The planets traverse through the wheel of the zodiac. This wheel of the zodiac is divided into twelve equal portions. The portions are each one-twelfth of the zodiac wheel and each are further divided into thirty parts.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, there are two entrances of the sun, one through the southern orbit of the sun, and other through the northern orbit of the sun. So, each of the periods is known as a rāsi. So, Makara or Capricorn is the time when the sun moves to the north, when the days become longer. And then when the sun enters into the Karkaṭa rāsi, Cancer, then the days become gradually shorter. We recently entered actually into the longer days of the year, after that it starts shortening. His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami left on the longest day of the year, on the last day of Uttarāyaṇa. That is considered to be very auspicious. The same day that Sanātana Gosvāmī left. Anyway, at that time the sunset was around 6.30, and now already after Rādhāṣṭamī, it is on 27^th of August, sunset is at 6 pm. So, in less than two months, the sunset has shortened by half an hour. So, like that the shortest day will be on Makara-saṅkrānti, then the days will start to become longer again. Makara-saṅkrānti is considered as an auspicious day. That is the day that Lord Caitanya left to take sannyāsa.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: […] The present day pañjikas in Bengal are calculated according to books like Dina-candrika and the later Dina-kaumudī. Calculations in Bengal during the time of Śrīmān Mahāprabhu were based on the Nirayana system. That is why the author has referred herein to the Nirayana Makara-saṅkrānti.

Jayapatākā Swami: We have our Gaṅgā-sāgara-melā, which goes on up to Makara-saṅkrānti day. In Chennai, they have a big festival on the Makara-saṅkrānti day. They call it Poṅgal. So this is a very auspicious day in the Indian calendar.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.10

‘indrāṇī’ nikaṭe kāṭoṣā-nāme grāma
tathā āche keśava bhāratīśuddha nāma

Jayapatākā Swami: There is a village named Katwa near Indrāṇī. At that place lives the pure soul, Keśava Bhāratī.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: Indrāṇī was a famous place at that time. The subdivision of Indrāṇī was situated near the present day Katwa.

Katwa (Kāṭoyā) is a subdivision situated in the district of Burdwan. There is a railway station of this name on the Bandel-Barharwa line. This place is still situated on the bank of the Ganges.

Keśava Bhāratī was a sannyāsī. He performed the duties of a sannyāsa guru. There are one hundred eight sannyāsa names current in the ancient sampradāya of Viṣṇusvāmī. Later on, Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, who propounded the philosophy of impersonalism, took ten of those sannyāsa names and introduced them in his sampradāya. Bhāratī is one of those names. It is said that in Śrṅgerī, South India, the three classes among the ten sannyāsīs are known as Sarasvatī, Bhāratī, and Purī. Sarasvatī is considered first class, Bhāratī second class, and Purī third class. Bhāratī was the name of his class, and Keśava was his name. Even today many people identify themselves as descendants of Keśava Bhāratī. These topics have been elaborately described in the book named Vaiṣṇava-mañjuṣā-samāhṛti.

Jayapatākā Swami: We may or may not use all these purports.  But in Katwa, at present there is the samadhi of Keśava Bhāratī. Also, of Gadādhara dāsa, I think also, the barber. I told the pastime of the barber after cutting Lord Caitanya’s hair. After that he didn’t cut anyone else’s hair any more, he just remained in ecstasy his whole life. So, there is the samādhi of Lord Caitanya’s hair. There is a special deity of Lord Caitanya, established by Raghunandana Ṭhākura, and it is a very nice place to visit. It is very close to the Ganges.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.11

tāna sthāne āmāra sannyāsa suniścita
ei pāṅca jane mātra karibā vidita

Jayapatākā Swami: I will take My sannyāsa from him. This is for certain. Reveal this to the five people, what I am about to tell you.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.12

mātra pañcajana-sthāne rahasya-prakāśa—
āmāra jananī, gadādhara, brahmānanda
śrī-candraśekharācārya, apara mukunda”

Jayapatākā Swami: My mother, Gadādhara Prabhu, Brahmānanda Bhārati, Śrī Candraśekhara Ācārya and Mukunda Datta.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa

ei kathā nityānanda-svarūpera sthāne
kahilena prabhu, ihā keha nāhi jane

Jayapatākā Swami: This discussion was held with Lord Nityānanda Svarūpa. This was told by Lord Gaurāṅga, and no one else knew about this.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.14

pañca-jana-sthāne mātra e saba kathana
kahilena nityānanda prabhura gamana

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda Prabhu told only these five persons, this message of the Lord’s leaving.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.15

prabhura kīrtana-vilāsa o bhojana—
sei dina prabhu sarva-vaiṣṇavera saṅge
sarva dina goṅāilā saṅkīrtana-raṅge

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Gaurāṅga passed that day with all of the Vaiṣṇava devotees. The whole day, the Lord was joyfully engaged in the saṅkīrtana-yajña.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.16

parama-ānande prabhu kariyā bhojana
sandhyāya karilā gaṅgā dekhite gamana

Jayapatākā Swami: In transcendental bliss, Lord Gaurāṅga, He took His noon day meal. When the sunset came, He went to see the Ganges.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.17

gaṅgā namaskariyā vasilā gaṅgā-tīre
kṣaṇeka thākiyā punaḥāilena ghare

Jayapatākā Swami: He offered His obeisances to the Ganges and sat by on the Ganges bank, for some time, and then He returned home. So, we will stop here.