20201126 Gopāla Gives His Witness

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 the compilation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book, today’s chapter entitled is:

Gopāla Gives His Witness

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.101

āra dina ājñā māgi’ calilā brāhmaṇa
tāra pāche pāche gopāla karilā gamana

Translation: The next day, the brāhmaṇa begged permission from Gopāla and started for his country. Gopāla followed him, step by step.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.102

nūpurera dhvani śuni’ ānandita mana
uttamānna pāka kari’ karāya bhojana

Translation: While Gopāla followed the young brāhmaṇa, the tinkling sound of His ankle bells could be heard. The brāhmaṇa became very pleased, and he cooked first-class rice for Gopāla to eat.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.103

ei-mate cali’ vipra nija-deśe āilā
grāmera nikaṭa āsi’ manete cintilā

Translation: The young brāhmaṇa walked and walked in this way until he eventually arrived in his own country. When he neared his own village, he began to think as follows.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.104

‘ebe muñi grāme āinu, yāimu bhavana
lokere kahiba giyā sākṣīra āgamana

Translation: “I have now come to my village, and I shall go to my home and tell all the people that the witness has arrived.”

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.105

sākṣāte nā dekhile mane pratīti nā haya
ihāṅ yadi rahena, tabu nāhi kichu bhaya’

Translation: The brāhmaṇa then began to think that if the people didn’t directly see the Gopāla Deity, they would not believe that He had arrived. “But even if Gopāla stays here,” he thought, “there is still nothing to fear.”

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.106

eta bhāvi’ sei vipra phiriyā cāhila
hāsiñā gopāla-deva tathāya rahila

Translation: Thinking this, the brāhmaṇa turned to look back, and He saw that Gopāla, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was standing there smiling.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the deity has walked behind the brāhmaṇa from Vṛndāvana to Andhra Pradesh, this is a certainly a wonderful history and that deity is still there in Orissa brought by the King of Orissa to His kingdom.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.107

brāhmaṇere kahe, — “tumi yāha nija-ghara
ethāya rahiba āmi, nā yāba ataḥpara”

Translation: The Lord told the brāhmaṇa, “Now you can go home. I shall stay here and shall not leave.”

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.108

tabe sei vipra yāi nagare kahila
śuniñā sakala loka camatkāra haila

Translation: The young brāhmaṇa then went to the town and informed all the people about Gopāla’s arrival. Hearing this, the people were struck with wonder.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.109

āila sakala loka sākṣī dekhibāre
gopāla dekhiñā loka daṇḍavat kare

Translation: All the townspeople went to see the witness Gopāla, and when they saw the Lord actually standing there, they all offered their respectful obeisances.

Jayapatākā Swami: It’s said that they offered their daṇḍavats, which means prostrated obeisances and they were amazed that the Lord was there.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.110

gopāla-saundarya dekhi’ loke ānandita
pratimā caliñā āilā, — śuniñā vismita

Translation: When the people arrived, they were very pleased to see the beauty of Gopāla, and when they heard that He had actually walked there, they were all surprised.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.111

tabe sei baḍa-vipra ānandita hañā
gopālera āge paḍe daṇḍavat hañā

Translation: Then the elderly brāhmaṇa, being very pleased, came forward and immediately fell like a stick in front of Gopāla.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Kṛṣṇa says that His devotees will never perish, He is offered respectful obeisances as the protector of the brāhmaṇas, namo brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya cajagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya govindāya namo namaḥ. So, he had walked all the way from Vṛndāvana to distant place, Vijayanagara just to protect His devotees.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.112

sakala lokera āge gopāla sākṣī dila
baḍa-vipra choṭa-vipre kanyā-dāna kaila

Translation: Thus, in the presence of all the townspeople, Lord Gopāla bore witness that the elderly brāhmaṇa had offered his daughter in charity to the young brāhmaṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami: So as a result the elderly brāhmaṇa gave his daughter to the younger brāhmaṇa to marry.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.113

tabe sei dui vipre kahila īśvara
“tumi-dui — janme-janme āmāra kiṅkara

Translation: After the marriage ceremony was performed, the Lord informed both brāhmaṇas, “You two brāhmaṇas are My eternal servants, birth after birth.”

Purport: Like these two brāhmaṇas of Vidyānagara, there are many devotees who are eternal servants of the Lord. They are specifically known as nitya-siddha, eternally perfect. Although the nitya-siddhas appear in the material world and seem to be common members of the world, they never forget the Supreme Personality of Godhead in any condition. This is the symptom of a nitya-siddha. There are two kinds of living entities — nitya-siddha and nitya-baddha.  The nitya-siddha never forgets his relationship with the Supreme Personality, whereas the nitya-baddha  is always conditioned, even before the creation. He always forgets his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here the Lord informs the two brāhmaṇas that they are His servants birth after birth. The phrase birth after birth refers to the material world because in the spiritual world there is no birth, death, old age or disease. By the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the nitya-siddha remains within this material world like an ordinary man, but the only business of the nitya-siddha is to broadcast the glories of the Lord. This incident appears to be an ordinary story about a marriage transaction involving two ordinary people. However, Kṛṣṇa accepted the two brāhmaṇas as His eternal servants. Both brāhmaṇas took much trouble in these negotiations, just like mundane people, yet they were acting as eternal servants of the Lord. All nitya-siddhas within this material world may appear to toil like ordinary men, but they never forget their position as servants of the Lord. Another point: The elderly brāhmaṇa belonged to an aristocratic family and was learned and wealthy. The young brāhmaṇa belonged to an ordinary family and was uneducated. But these mundane qualifications do not concern a nitya-siddha engaged in the service of the Lord. We have to accept the fact that the nitya-siddhas are completely distinct from the nitya-baddhas, who are ordinary human beings. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura confirms this statement:

gaurāṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe, nitya-siddha kari’ māne,
se yāya vrajendra-suta pāśa
śrī-gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, yebā jāne cintāmaṇi
tāra haya vraja-bhūme vāsa

One who accepts the associates of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu as nitya-siddhas is certain to be elevated to the spiritual kingdom to become an associate of the Supreme Lord. One should also know that Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi — those places in Bengal where Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stayed — are equal to Vrajabhūmi, or Vṛndāvana. There is no difference between the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana and those of Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, or Śrīdhāma Māyāpur.

Jayapatākā Swami: Sometimes devotees want to leave Māyāpur and go to Vṛndāvana, but here Śrīla Prabhupāda is confirming as the previous ācāryas has confirmed that Māyāpur is non-different from Vṛndāvana and Siddha Jagannātha dāsa bābājī he came from Vṛndāvana to Māyāpur because there is one difference in Vṛndāvana and Māyāpur is that one gets thousands times benefit for any devotional service you offer in either place but if you commit any offense, you get thousand times of that offense in Vṛndāvana but in Māyāpur there is not so much offense taken. So, Siddha Jagannātha dāsa bābājī decided that Vṛndāvana was too hot and he came here to Navadvīpa dhāma and here he achieved his siddha-svarūpa that’s why he is knowns as Siddha Jagannātha dāsa bābājī. So, there is no reason to go from Māyāpur to Vṛndāvana you can go like Jagadānanda Paṇḍita went to see Vṛndāvana but then he was told to come back to Navadvīpa-dhāma as soon as possible, so he came back in two months.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.114

duṅhāra satye tuṣṭa ha-ilāṅ, duṅhe māga’ vara”
dui-vipra vara māge ānanda-antara

Translation: The Lord continued, “I have become very much pleased by the truthfulness of you both. Now you can ask for a benediction.” Thus, with great pleasure the two brāhmaṇas begged for a benediction.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.115

“yadi vara dibe, tabe raha ei sthāne
kiṅkarere dayā tava sarva-loke jāne”

Translation: The brāhmaṇas said, “Please remain here so that people all over the world will know how merciful You are to Your servants.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this truly shows how merciful the Lord is, who will not want to serve such a merciful Lord, in this material world everyone is serving someone but the people they may serve they are not so merciful but here we can see that the Lord is so merciful to His devotees. That’s why we want everyone to be eternal servants of the Lord.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.116

gopāla rahilā, duṅhe karena sevana
dekhite āilā saba deśera loka-jana

Translation: Lord Gopāla stayed, and the two brāhmaṇas engaged in His service. After hearing of the incident, many people from different countries began to come to see Gopāla.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.117

śrīgopāla o utkalarāja puruṣottamera kathā:—

se deśera rājā āila āścarya śuniñā
parama santoṣa pāila gopāle dekhiñā

Translation: Eventually the King of that country heard this wonderful story, and he also came to see Gopāla and thus became very satisfied.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the Kings at that time were also devotees. One day when the King of Orissa heard the story, he came to see the deity and He was super satisfied.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.118

mandira kariyā rājā sevā cālāila
‘sākṣi-gopāla’ bali’ tāṅra nāma khyāti haila

Translation: The King constructed a nice temple, and regular service was executed. Gopāla became very famous under the name of Sākṣi-gopāla [the witness Gopāla].

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 5.119

ei mata vidyānagare sākṣi-gopāla
sevā aṅgīkāra kari’ āchena cira-kāla

Translation: Thus Sākṣi-gopāla stayed in Vidyānagara and accepted service for a very long time.

Purport: This city of Vidyānagara is situated in Trailaṅga-deśa, South India, on the bank of the river Godāvarī. The place where the Godāvarī flows into the Bay of Bengal is called Koṭadeśa. The Orissa kingdom was very powerful, and Koṭadeśa was the capital of Orissa. It was then known as Vidyānagara. Formerly this city was situated on the southern side of the river Godāvarī. At that time King Puruṣottama-deva managed to control Orissa and appoint a government. The present city of Vidyānagara is on the southeast side of the river, only twenty to twenty-five miles from Rajahmundry. During the time of Mahārāja Pratāparudra, Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya was the governor there. Vijaya-nagara is not identical with Vidyānagara.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this great kingdom, which is known as Andhra Pradesh and Orissa was under the control of the Puruṣottama-deva or Mahārāja. So how that’s how the deity got eventually transferred to Orissa so this history was told by Lord Nityānanda Prabhu to Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Lord Caitanya was feeling great ecstasy in hearing the pastimes of Lord Gopāla. Haribol!

Thus ends the chapter entitled Gopāla Gives His Witness