20201101 Why Did Nityānanda Prabhu Break the Sannyāsa Rod?

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation By His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 1st November 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: Today we are continuing with Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book compilation, today’s chapter entitled is:

Why Did Nityānanda Prabhu Break the Sannyāsa Rod?

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.127

kathokṣaṇe ekatra hailā duijane
sudhāila prabhu–daṇḍa nā dekhiye kene

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda and Lord Caitanya after some time, the two of Them met each other. Lord Caitanya inquired, why don’t I see My sannyāsa daṇḍa?"

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.223

gaura-nitāira kondala-līlā— 
nityānanda-prati prabhu jijñāse āpani
“ki lāgi' bhāṅgilā daṇḍa kaha dekhi śuni”

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya asked Lord Nityānanda, “why did You break My daṇḍa? tell Me, I will listen”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.128

prabhura saṅkoce kichu nā deya uttara
vismaya lāgila prabhu cintaye antara

Jayapatākā Swami: Not to embarrass the Lord Caitanya, Nityānanda didn’t give any reply. Lord Caitanya was worried and was thinking in His heart.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.129

punarapi puche prabhu–daṇḍa thuile kothā
daṇḍa nā dekhiyā hiyāya lāge baḍa vyathā

Jayapatākā Swami: Again Lord Caitanya asked, “Where did you keep the daṇḍa? Not seeing My daṇḍa, I feel great sorrow and pain in My heart.”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.130

e bola śuniñā kahe nityānanda rāya
tora kare daṇḍa dekhi’ poḍoṁ mo hiyāya

Jayapatākā Swami: Hearing these words, Lord Nityānanda Prabhu said, “When I see you with Your daṇḍa, My heart burns into flames.”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.131

sannyāsa karile eke muḍāile muṇḍa
tāhāra adhika duḥkha–kāndhe kara daṇḍa

Jayapatākā Swami: “You accepted sannyāsa, You shaved Your head, greater sorrow than this is that You carry on Your shoulder the sannyāsa daṇḍa, staff.”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.132

sahite nā pāri bhāṅgi’ phelāiluṁ jale
ye kara se kara–gadagada-bhāṣe bole

Jayapatākā Swami: “I could not tolerate that, so I broke your daṇḍa and threw it into the water. Whatever You want to do, whatever You want to do.” Lord Nityānanda spoke these words with a voice choked with emotion.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.224

nityānanda bale,—“bhāṅgiyāchi vāṁśa-khāna
nā pāra kṣamite kara ye śāsti pramāṇa”

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda replied, “I broke only a piece of bamboo, if You cannot forgive Me, then punish Me appropriately.”

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: “The daṇḍa is carried by a sannyāsī who has not yet attained the platform of paramahaṁsa. Therefore, everyone can understand that a sannyasi without a daṇḍa has attained the final stage of spiritual life. Worldly opulences cannot disturb such a person. But since paramahaṁsas do not accept this symbol of renunciation, ordinary people cannot understand their exalted position. That is why foolish people consider the topmost paramahaṁsa Vaiṣṇavas to be inferior to themselves. Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu broke the bamboo daṇḍa of svayaṁ-rupa Vrajendra-nandana, Śrī Caitanya, so that people would not mistakenly consider anyone who simply carries a daṇḍa made of bamboo to be situated just below the topmost paramahaṁsa platform. Realizing that people would invite inauspiciousness by committing the offense of considering Lord Caitanya as simply a sannyāsī or considering that he was obligated to accept such symbols and that they would thereby meet with obstacles in understanding that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nityānanda broke the one danda into three daṇḍas. This passtime of Nityānanda was meant to reveal that the principles of tridaṇḍa, entailing control of the body, mind and speech, are to be respected by those whose senses are not controlled; that ekadaṇḍa is the combined form of the tridaṇḍa; and that it is the duty of paramahaṁsas to renounce the daṇḍa. The tendency of tri-daṇḍīs is to neither aspire for anyone’s blessing nor to award anyone worldly blessings. Those who are bound by mundane conceptions have little interest in pursuing spiritual life. If such people relegate Śrī Gaurasundara to relative roles like dandena-daṇḍi, or a sannyāsī because of carrying a daṇḍa, they will achieve inauspiciousness.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya, He is the transcendental Lord, and He had taken sannyāsa as one of His pastimes. Not that He had to do some austerity, to achieve perfection, He is already perfect. So, Lord Nityānanda Prabhu broke His ekadaṇḍa into three parts. Once Śrīla Prabhupāda was visiting the Gauḍīya Maṭha, one brahmacārī started instructing Śrīla Prabhupāda. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, I am a paramahaṁsa, I don’t have to do that! Haribol! and the brahmacārī was overwhelmed. He bowed down there, not his position to instruct Śrīla Prabhupāda. Similarly, Lord Nityānanda Prabhu didn’t want people to misunderstand the exalted position of Lord Caitanya.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.225

prabhu bale,—“yāhe sarva-deva-adhiṣṭhāna
se tomāra mate ki haila vāṁśa-khāna!”

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya said, “All the devas or demigods reside in the sannyāsa daṇḍa, according to Your conception, You call it as a piece of bamboo.”

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: According to spiritual consideration one should respect the supremely pure tridaṇḍa, which is a worshipable form of the three guṇa-avatāras. But since the mundane consideration that the Deity form of Viṣṇu is made of stone leads one to hell, Śrī Nityānanda delivered all living entities from future offense.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.133

e bola śuniñā prabhu bhaigela duḥkhita
ruṣiyā kahila–saba kara viparīta

Jayapatākā Swami: Hearing these words of Lord Nityānanda, Lord Caitanya became very unhappy. Angrily He said, “You do everything contradictory.” 

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.5.16: “Becoming angry the Lord said to the avadhūta, “All the devas headed by Śiva together with their śaktis resided on My daṇḍa.”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.134

mora daṇḍe baise mora yata devagaṇa
hena daṇḍa bhāṅgi’ ki sādhile prayojana

Jayapatākā Swami: “All the demigods reside in My daṇḍa. By breaking such a daṇḍa, what purpose did You achieve?”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.135

tumi sadā unamata–buddhi sthira naya
bātulera prāya rīta–bālaka āśaya

Jayapatākā Swami: “You are always mad, and Your intelligence is not steady. You act like a crazy man, and Your heart is like that of a boy.”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.136

pāṇḍitya-dharmete dharmī naha kadācita
āśrama chāḍāo–kārya kara viparīta

Jayapatākā Swami: “In the conclusion, the codes of conduct enunciated by the Paṇḍitas, by the scholars, You are never religious, You reject the varnāśrama dharma. You do everything opposite.”

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.5.17: “By breaking My daṇḍa, you have given them pain. Don’t you know that giving devatas pain has serious consequence?”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.137

devatā-āśrama pīḍā nāhi jāna doṣa
kichu yadi bali’–tabe kara mahāroṣa

Jayapatākā Swami: You don’t think there is any anything wrong with causing pain, to torment the demigods and varnāśrama. If I tell something about this, then You become very angry."

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.138

e bola śuniñā nityānanda paṁhu hāse
prabhure kahaye kichu gadagada-bhāṣe

Jayapatākā Swami: Hearing these words, Lord Nityānanda Prabhu smiled, He spoke to Lord Caitanya in a voice choked with emotion, the following:

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.5.18: “Hearing this, Nityānanda-deva replied, “I have rather done the devatas great good.”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.139

devatā-āśrama-pīḍā nāhi kari āmi
bhāla kaila,–manda kaila,–saba jāni tumi

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t torment the demigods or varnāśrama. Whether I do it good, or whether I do it bad, You know everything.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.140

tora daṇḍe baise tora yata devagaṇa
kāndhe kari’ lañā yāha sahiba kemana

Jayapatākā Swami: All the demigods reside in Your daṇḍa. How can I tolerate Your carrying the demigods on Your shoulder? Since Lord Nityānanda understood the actual position of Lord Caitanya, He understood that the devas should carry Lord Caitanya, not that Lord Caitanya should carry the devas. Lord Caitanya was playing the part of an ordinary sannyāsa, and Lord Nityānanda was seeing Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So, that is why They are having this disagreement.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.141

tumi tāra bhāla kara, āmi kari manda
ki kāraṇe tora sane kariba āra dvandva

Jayapatākā Swami: “You always do good and I always do bad. For what reason should I argue with You and have a fight?”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.142

aparādha kailuṁ–doṣa kṣama ekabāra
tora nāme nistāraye sakala saṁsāra

Jayapatākā Swami: I committed an offence, please forgive Me one time. By chanting Your holy name, the whole material world is delivered.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.143

tora adhika patita-pāvana nāma tora
ei aparādha kṣamā karibena mora

Jayapatākā Swami: Your name is more patīta-pavana, or deliverer of the most fallen, than You are. Therefore, Your holy name will forgive Me of My offence.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.144

nāmamātra nistāraye jagatera loka
sannyāsa karile bhaktagaṇe baḍa śoka

Jayapatākā Swami: Merely by chanting Your holy name, everyone in this universe is delivered. Your accepting of sannyāsa, brought great sorrow to Your devotees.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.145

se hena vinoda cūḍā muṇḍāile māthā
bhaktajana hṛdaye dāruṇa ei vyathā

Jayapatākā Swami: The hair which delighted everyone, You shaved off Your head. The hearts of Your devotees suffered great sorrow by that act.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.146

mora prāṇa poḍe nirantara ihā dekhi
haya naya pucha–sarvabhakta ihāra sākhī

Jayapatākā Swami: “My life airs burn constantly when I see this, isn’t this so? ask all the devotees who are witness to this sorrow.”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.147

bhāṅgiyā phelila daṇḍa bhaktagaṇa duḥkhe
daṇḍa nahe śela yena chila mora buke

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda continued, “Because of the sorrow of the devotees, I broke the sannyāsa daṇḍa and threw it into the water. This was not a staff or daṇḍa, but it was like an iron lance, pierced into My chest."

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.148

e bola śuniñā prabhu nā dila uttara
virasa-vadana kichu hariṣa antara

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya, hearing this reply, He didn’t give any response. His face was withered and sorrowful, but within His heart, He was somewhat filled with bliss. 

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.5.18: “A moment later, the Lord gave up His anger and said:

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.5.19: “When I have travelled to see Lord Jagannātha, the Śrī Puruṣottama, the wielder of the cakra, I must stay a few months by His side.”

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.5.20: “I thought of abandoning My daṇḍa. Nityānanda becoming mad, has thrown it on the ground and broken it. What else can I do?”

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.5.21: “So saying, He embraced Nityānanda and told Him in a charming tone “you ought to always act in compliance with My wishes.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Here we see Lord Caitanya has great love for Lord Nityānanda.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.226

śrī-gaurasundarera acintya agamya līlā—
ke bujhite pāre gaurasundarera līlā?
mane kare eka, mukhe kare āra khelā

Jayapatākā Swami: Who can understand Lord Gaurasundara’s pastimes? His pastime is, He thinks one thing and says something else. Being the Supreme Lord, He is trying to teach by His example. At the same time, He has a personal relationship with Lord Nityānanda and others, and it is not possible to understand exactly, what He does sometimes. Why He does what He does. He will do one thing for one purpose, but He has some other idea also.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.227

eteke ye bale `bujhi kṛṣṇera hṛdaya'
sei se abodha ihā jāniha niścaya

Jayapatākā Swami: Therefore, know for certain, that anyone who says, I understand Kṛṣṇa’s mind, or Kṛṣṇa’s heart, is a fool.”

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.228

māribena hena yāre āchaye antare
tāhāre o dekhi yena mahā-prīti kare

Jayapatākā Swami: Even if He thinks to kill someone, when He sees such a person, He may still love him greatly.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.229

prāṇa-sama adhika ye saba bhakta-gaṇa
tāhāre o dekhi yena nirapekṣa mana

Jayapatākā Swami: He considers all the devotees are equal or greater than His own life. Even seeing the devotees, He acts as if indifferent.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: The devotees of Śrī Gaurasundara are equal to the Lord's own life. They have no desire at all to deviate from the path shown by Gaurahari. To reveal that He is not totally obliged to the devotees, Śrī Gaurasundara sometimes displays indifference. Otherwise envious humanity will condemn Him as a flatterer. To benefit such foolish people, Śrī Caitanya pretended to display indifference by exhibiting equal treatment to both devotees and non-devotees.

Jayapatākā Swami: Since the Supreme Lord is the father of everyone both for the devotees and the non-devotees, the devas and the demons, in one sense He acts equally to everyone. But in another sense, He reciprocates with each according to their way of approaching Him. The demons don’t consider Him as the Supreme Person and don’t depend on Him, so He reciprocates; and the devotees are always depending on Him, so He reciprocates with them. But sometimes He acts as if indifferent, just to give everyone the chance.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.230

ei mata acintya agamya līlā-mātra
tāna anugrahe bujhe tāna kṛpā-pātra

Jayapatākā Swami: In this way, such pastimes are inconceivable and unfathomable. Only by receiving the Lord’s mercy, one can understand them.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.231

mahāprabhura krodha-līlā—
daṇḍa bhāṅgilena āpanei icchā kari'
krodha vyañjibāre lāgilena gaurahari

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda broke the daṇḍa by Lord Caitanya’s desire. Lord Gaurahari thus expressed His anger.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.232

prabhu bale,—“sabe daṇḍa-mātra chila saṅga
tāho āji kṛṣṇera icchāte haila bhaṅga

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya said, “This daṇḍa was My only companion, now today, by Lord Kṛṣṇa’s will, it was broken.”

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: From the mundane point of view the only asset of a sannyāsī is his daṇḍa. One who carries a daṇḍa maintains himself by begging door to door, and by accepting a daṇḍa he protects himself from the attack of the external world. The omnipotent Lord Gaurasundara displayed humility by declaring that His only asset was a daṇḍa to attract ordinary people's affection on the mundane level.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya as Bhagavān, He is full in six qualities – all beauty, all power, all knowledge, all fame, all opulence and all renunciation. So, in this pastime of His accepting sannyāsa, He was showing His complete renunciation. But even then He had a daṇḍa that was His one asset, and that by the will of Kṛṣṇa, was also taken away.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.233

prabhura nirapekṣatā-līlā-pradarśana—
eteke āmāra saṅge kāro saṅga nāi
tomarā vā āge cala, kibā āmi yāi”

Jayapatākā Swami: “Now I do not require anyone’s company. Either you go ahead, or I will go ahead.”

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.11) and the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad (Uttara 97) it is stated:

eko devaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ

—“The one Supreme Lord lives hidden within all living entities.”

In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (6.2.1) it is stated:

ekam evādvitīyaṁ: 

“The Supreme Lord is one without a second.”

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.23) it is stated: “You are the one Supreme Soul, the primeval Supreme Personality, the Absolute Truth—self-manifested, endless, and beginningless. You are eternal and infallible, perfect and complete, without any rival, and free from all material designations. Your happiness can never be obstructed, nor have You any connection with material contamination. Indeed, You are the indestructible nectar of immortality.”

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.234

dvirukti karite ājñāśakti āche kāra
sabei hailāśuni' cintita apāra

Jayapatākā Swami: Who has the power to refute the Lord’s decision? Hearing His words, all the devoteed, became unlimitedly anxious.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.235

mukunda balena,—“tabe tumi cala āge
āmarā-sabāra kichu pāche kṛtya āche”

Jayapatākā Swami: Then Mukunda Datta said, “then You go ahead, we will all come later after finishing some of our duties.”

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.236

gauracandrera ekākī agragamana—
`bhāla', bali' calilena śrī-gaurasundara
matta-siṁha-prāya gati likhite duṣkara

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Śrī Gaurasundara said, “Good,” and then He went almost like a mad elephant, He went. It’s difficult to describe, seeing how the Lord entered the temple of Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, alone.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.237

jaleśvara-śiva-sthāne—
muhūrteke gelā prabhu jaleśvara-grāme
barābara gelā jaleśvara-deva-sthāne

Jayapatākā Swami: Within about an hour, Lord Caitanya arrived at the village of Jaleśvara. There He went straight to the temple of Jaleśvara Mahādeva. So there is difference between this history, and the history of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the Lord’s daṇḍa was broken, within a short distance from the Jagannātha Purī temple, and Lord Caitanya went ahead toward the Jagannātha Temple. But Jaleśvara is very far, many days walking to Lord Jagannatha’s temple.

So, it seems that this daṇḍa breaking happened, as explained in the pastime in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, because when Lord Caitanya went to Jaleśvara, after that He went to Remuṇā, and Lord Nityānanda explained the pastimes in Remuṇā. So, Lord Caitanya said, I am going alone. There is some conflict here. The thing is that Lord Caitanya’s daṇḍa is broken. This is explained here.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: The present-day Jaleśvara village is situated north of Baleśvara. But the Daṇḍa-bhāṅgā-nadī is situated near Purī, and the district of Cuttack is situated between the two. Since there is no mention of the Lord returning to Baleśvara district from the Purī district, one should consider in what particular place north of Jaleśvara the Lord's daṇḍa was broken. If the Lord's daṇḍa was broken on the bank of the river Daṇḍa-bhāṅgā, or Bhārgī, then between that river and Purī there must be another temple of Śiva known as Jaleśvara.

Jayapatākā Swami: This is a small detail. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura gave a solution. But the point is that there is a temple of Śiva between the Daṇḍa Bhāṅgā river and Jagannātha Purī.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 15.149

nityānanda mahāprabhu saba rasa jāne
bhāṅgiẏā phelila daṇḍa e locana gāne

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda knows all the rasas for love of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. That is why He broke His sannyāsa daṇḍa and threw it, so says Locana dāsa. Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda are both Viṣṇu-tattvas. Therefore, their activities are transcendental and not understandable by the lower jīva-tattvas.

Thus, Ends the Chapter, Why Did Nityānanda Prabhu Break the Sannyāsa Rod