20200902 Lamentation of Śacī and Viṣṇupriyā After Nimāi's Departure from Home (Part 1)

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 2nd September 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!

Introduction: So today is Bhādra Pūrṇimā. All over the world we had a special Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam distribution marathon. We offered the Bhāgavatams on a golden āsana. Devotees went out to deliver those to the nearby temples. We also had a yajña for the donors and the people who purchased the Bhāgavatams. Also, in Ahobilam they had a special yajña. And today is also the appearance day of the twin sakhīs, Raṅgadevī and Sudevī. Also today is the anniversary of Śrīla Prabhupāda accepting the sannyāsa āśrama.

So today we are reading:

Lamentation of Śacī and Viṣṇupriyā After Nimāi's Departure from Home.

I think today, is also Viśvarūpa mahotsava. 

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 13.4

calila ta mahāprabhu gaṅgāra samīpe
gaṅgāsantaraṇe yāna chaḍi’ navadvīpe

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu, He walked by the side of the Ganges. He crossed the Ganges river and He left Navadvīpa dhāma.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 13.5

gaṅgā namaskari navadvīpa chaḍi’ yāye
bajara paḍila yena sabhāra māthāye

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Gaurāṅga offered His obeisances to the mother Ganges, and He left Navadvīpa city. This was like a thunderbolt falling on the heads of all.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.66

bhaktagaṇera mahāprabhu-praṇāmārtha āgamana o śacīmātāke bahirdvāre darśane uhāra kāraṇa-jijñāsā—

bhakta-saba nā jānena e saba vṛttānta
ūṣaḥ-kāle snāna kari' yateka mahānta 

Jayapatākā Swami: All the devotees did not know about this matter, while they took their early morning bath. They were unaware of the Lord’s departure.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.67

prabhu namaskarite āilā prabhu-ghare
āsi’ sabe dekhe āi bāhira-duyāre 

Jayapatākā Swami: When they went to offer their obeisances to Lord Gaurāṅga, they came to the Lord’s home, they found mother Śacī sitting outside the doorway.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.68

prathamei balilena śrīvāsa-udāra
“āi kena rahiyāche bāhira-duyāra”

Jayapatākā Swami: The most kind Śrīvāsa, was the first to speak. “O mother, why are you sitting outside at the doorway?”

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.69

śacīmātāra nirvedasūcaka uttara–
jaḍa-prāya āi, kichu nā sphure uttara
nayanera dhārā mātra vahe nirantara

Jayapatākā Swami: Mother Śacī was almost inert. She was unable to say anything to reply. From her eyes, incessant flow of tears came.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.70

kṣaṇeke balilā āi—“śuna, bāpa saba!
viṣṇura dravyera bhāgī sakala vaiṣṇava

Jayapatākā Swami: After some time, mother Śacī said, listen, my dear children, all the Vaiṣṇavas are eligible to receive or share Lord Viṣṇu’s property.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.71

eteke ye kichu dravya āchaye tāhāra
tomā'-sabākāra haya śāstra-paracāra”

Jayapatākā Swami: Whatever things are left of His, all of you, may distribute amongst yourselves. The śāstras, the scriptures, declare that these items belong to you.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 28.71

eteke tomarā sabe āpane miliyāyena
icchā tena kara, mo yāṅa caliyā”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, take the items amongst yourselves, whatever you want, do as you please. Let me go from here.

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): Śrī Śacīdevī said to the devotees, “The devotees are the rightful owners of the Lord's items; therefore you all have the right to Gaurahari’s possessions. This is the verdict of the scriptures. So, take away these items and let me go away.”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.9

nijajana parijana śacī viṣṇupriyā
mūrhita haiyā paḍe aṅga āchāḍiyā

Jayapatākā Swami: The Lord’s associates, mother Śacī and Viṣṇu-priyā devī, all fainted on the ground, with all their bodily limbs afflicted.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.10

śacīdevī kānde kole kari’ viṣṇupriyā
viṣṇupriyā marā yena rahila paḍiyā

Jayapatākā Swami: Mother Śacī devī was crying and took on her lap Viṣṇu-priyā. Viṣṇu-priyā devī was as if dead and fell on her lap.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.11

abayava āche - prāṇa gela ta’ chāḍiyā
śacī-viṣṇupriyā kānde bhūmi loṭāiyā

Jayapatākā Swami: The senses were there, but the life breath seemed to have left. Mother Śacī and Viṣṇu-priyā devī were crying and rolling on the ground.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.12

śacīdevī kānde ḍāke nimāi baliyā
āgune puḍila yena dhakdhak hiyā

Jayapatākā Swami: Mother Śacī cried out, “Nimāi! Nimāi!” As if her heart was ablazed with fire, and she was burnt.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.13

daśadik śunya haila andhakāramaya
kemane vañcita muñi ghara gheramaya

Jayapatākā Swami: Mother Śacī lamented, the ten directions have become empty, covered by blinding darkness. “How I have been cheated, being surrounded in the house!”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.14

gilibāre āise more e gharakaraṇa
viṣa yena lāge iṣṭakuṭumbaracana

Jayapatākā Swami: As if my house is coming to devour me. The sweet words of my relatives appear as if, like poison.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.15

mā baliyā āra more nā ḍākibe keho
āmāre nāhika yama––pāśarila seho

Jayapatākā Swami: No one will call out to me “Mother!” Even Yamarāja doesn’t come to me, for he has also forgotten me!

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.16

kibā duḥkha pāi putra chāḍila āmāre
hāputi kariyā more gelā kothākāre

Jayapatākā Swami: What sadness did my son get that He has left me? Made me exclaim, “Where did my son go?!”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.17

hāya hāya nidāruṇa nimāi haiyā
kon deśe gelā putra––ke dire āniñā

Jayapatākā Swami: “Alas! Alas! Nimāi had become merciless! Which country did my son go to? Who will bring Him back to me?”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.18

buka phāṭe tora bāpa soṅari madhurī
mā baliyā āra nā ḍākiba gaurahari

Jayapatākā Swami: My heart breaks when I remember Your sweetness! My dear Gaurahari will not call out again “Mother”.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.19

anāthinī kariyā kothāre gele bāpa
mane chila - jananīre diba āmi tāpa

Jayapatākā Swami: My dear son, you made me an orphan, and where did You go? Did you think how You will make Your mother suffer?!

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.20

paḍhiyā śuniyā putra ihāi śikhilā
anāthinī abhāginī māyere karilā

Jayapatākā Swami: By reading and listening, my dear son, did You learn, that you make your mother an orphan and unfortunate?

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.21

kothā viṣṇupriyā eḍi palāiyā gelā
bhakata-sabhāra prema kichu nā gaṇilā

Jayapatākā Swami: Abandoning Viṣṇu-priyā devi, where did You flee to? You did not think of all the love the devotees bear for You?

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.22

viṣṇupriyā kānde – hiyā nāhika samvit
kṣaṇe uṭhe, kṣaṇe paḍe—unamata-cita

Jayapatākā Swami: Viṣṇu-priyā devī wept in her heart, she was not conscious. One moment she stood, next moment she fell down. Her consciousness was as if mad.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.23

vasana nā deya gāye-nā rāndhaye culi
hākānda kāndanā kānde–unmati pāgalī

Jayapatākā Swami: She did not put garments on her body. She did not tie her hair. She cried and wept. She was wild and like a mad woman.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.24

prabhura aṅgera mālā hṛdaye kariyā
jvālaha āguni- tāthe mariba puḍiyā

Jayapatākā Swami: Viṣṇu-priyā said, holding to my heart the flower garland that touched my master’s body, I will burn in a fire’s flames. There I will die, burning.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.25

guṇa vināite nāre-maraye marame
sabe eka bola bole––ye chila karame

Jayapatākā Swami: She was not able to say anything, as she was dying within. One thing she said, only this “this is due to my karma”.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.26

amiyā-adhika prabhu tora yata guṇa
ekhane sakala sei bhaigela āguna

Jayapatākā Swami: O Lord, Your good qualities are sweeter than nectar. Being bereft of Your association, is like entering into the fire’s flames. 

So, the Lord’s devotees are experiencing such extreme lamentation. But actually this is because of their extreme love for the Lord. Having the association of the Lord, they were in such bliss. Now that they are bereft of Gaurahari’s association, they are feeling great separation. They are feeling as if they are burning in the fire. Lord Gaurāṅga wants to give His mercy to all the conditioned souls. In order to do that, His associates, His mother, His wife, all are suffering, and it is a very intense situation.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.27

rahasya-vinoda-kathā kahibāre nāre
hiyāra poḍane kānde ati ārtta-svare

Jayapatākā Swami: You will no longer speak to me the secret, confidential, loving words. The heart of Viṣṇu-priyā was burning as she was crying, making a great suffering tone. 

So we know that when the devotee meets the Lord, that is called sambhoga. When the Lord leaves, that is known as vipralambhā. So the devotees of Navadvīpa were everyday meeting with the Lord. They were having this sambhoga, great jubilation. Now that the Lord has left to take sannyāsa, to give His mercy to all of India, the devotees are in great lamentation, feeling the vipralambā, separation from the Lord. We can see why the devotees of Navadvīpa don’t like to see Lord Caitanya as a sannyāsī, because it means He is leaving Navadvīpa. And why should He take such austerities. He has nothing to achieve. He has everything. But this is His līlā as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, that he would spend half His life as a householder, and half as a sannyāsī. 

Thus, ends the chapter: Lamentation of Śacī and Viṣṇu-priyā After Nimāi’s Departure from Home.

We have one village here, it is called Nirdayā. It is nir-dayā because they say that mother Śacī, she was crying out, "Where is Nimāi? Where has He gone?" And the village did not answer in the night. Then she said you are nirdayā. You are without mercy. Since then the village is known as Nidayā. So, it is the first village to suffer the flood of the Ganges. 

I watched with Śrīla Prabhupāda a drama, they were playing Lord Caitanya taking sannyāsa. Of course, here in the historical books it says that Lord Caitanya told His mother that He was going to leave. But still naturally, the shock is there. But in this drama, they expressed it very nicely and emotionally, mother Śacī is saying, “Nimāi! Nimāi! Ami jābo na! Ami jābo na! I won’t go! I won’t go!” Then she changed, “Ami jābo! Ami jābo! Ami jābo! I will go! I will go! I will go!” Anyway, it was very nicely presently. Śrīla Prabhupāda asked them, would they willing to come to the West to show the dramas of Lord Caitanya. 

How many online now? 179! So today we had the GBC meeting. So, our class is a little late.