20201207 Entrance into Nilacala (Part 3)

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation By His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 7th December 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 the compilation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book, today’s chapter is entitled as:

Entrance Into Nīlācala (Part III)

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.136

nayane galaye jala abirala dhāre
vipula pulake se ḍhākila kalebare 

Jayapatākā Swami: Water flowed from lotus eyes without stop. The hairs on His body stood erect intensely and His body was trembling.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.137

premāya vihvala prabhu hṛdaya satvara 
uttarilā mahā-tīrtha mārkaṇḍeya saraḥ 

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya’s heart intensely overwhelmed with unparalleled loving spiritual ecstasy. Lord Caitanya arrived at the great holy place called Markanḍeya-sarovara.

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.10.13-14: For the sake of Mahādeva, Lord Viṣṇu, used His terrible cakra to make a tīrtha in that spot. Those who bathe there attain the planet of Śiva. Quickly Gaura Hari entered that place and He took bath in accordance with the vidhi. Then the Supreme Lord saw the liṅgam of the gentle Śiva. He did japa of Aghora (Name of Lord Śiva) and falling before the liṅgam like a rod , He offered praise to Maheśa by chanting auspicious verses composed in his glorification. Then our Prabhu departed for the great abode of Jagannātha, the Lord of all sacrifice.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, even today the devotees visited the sacred lakes in Śrī Ksetra. So, Markanḍeya-sarovara is one of those holy tīrtha and devotees come here and bathe in the waters and see the Śiva liṅga that gave special blessings to Markanḍeya ṛṣi. So now we also know that Lord Caitanya visited this place, bathed in the lake and paid obeisances to the Śiva liṅga and then proceeded on to Jagannātha Purī temple.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.138

snāna dāna kaila prabhu ye vidhi ācāra
calilā satvare tabe kari’ namaskāra 

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya, He took His bath and He gave charity and did auspicious ritual, offered obeisances, and quickly continued on His journey.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.139

yajñeśvara namaskari’ ati hṛṣṭa-mane
utkaṇṭhā-hṛdaye yāya satvara gamane 

Jayapatākā Swami: Offering His prostrated obeisances to the deity Yajñeśvara, with a very blissful heart Lord Caitanya with longing in His heart, hurriedly continued on His journey. Lord Caitanya was most anxious to see Lord Jagannātha, although He performed His bathing rituals; He was filled with a desire to see Lord Jagannātha.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.140

punarapi jagannātha-mandira dekhiyā
punaḥ paraṇāma kare bhumite paḍiyā 

Jayapatākā Swami: Again, Lord Caitanya saw Lord Jagannatha's temple in the distance. Again, He fell to the ground to offered His respectful obeisances. See the Mārkaṇḍeya Sarovara was in some distance to the Guṇḍicā temple. In that covered area the Lord was not able to see the Purī temple. Coming out from that area the temple of Lord Jagannātha was visible. Immediately Lord Caitanya offered his obeisances on the ground.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.141

ajhara jharaye dui nayanera nīra
vihvala haiyā kānde ārati gabhīra 

Jayapatākā Swami: Tears flowed from His two lotus eyes. Overcome with very deep love, He wept.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.142

ei mate gaurācāṅdera ārati dekhiyā
dekhā dila jagannātha pāni pasāriyā 

Jayapatākā Swami: In this way, seeing the intense love of Lord Gauracandra's, Lord Jagannātha revealed Himself to Lord Caitanya and again beckoned Him with His hand, called Him with His hand.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.143

‘āisa āisa’ bali’ ḍāke trijagata rāya
dekhiyā vihvala prabhu bhūmite loṭāya 

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord of the three worlds, Lord Jagannātha, He called saying, “Come! Come!” Lord Caitanya overwhelmed gazing at Lord Jagannātha, He rolled on the ground.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.144

ānande hāsiyā kichu kahila vacana
kṛpā kara jagannātha dekhila caraṇa 

Jayapatākā Swami: Smiling with bliss, Lord Caitanya said something as follows, “O Lord Jagannātha, please be merciful to Me, so I may see Your feet.”

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.145

punaḥ nā dekhiyā punaḥ karaye rodana
punarapi dekhi’ ati ulasita mana 

Jayapatākā Swami: Again, Lord Caitanya could not see Lord Jagannātha, again He was crying intensely. Again, Lord Caitanya saw Lord Jagannātha, His heart become filled with blissful joy.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.146

kevala udbhaṭṭa prema-pulakita aṅga
huhuṅkāra-nāde prema-amiyā-taraṅga 

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya being affected by intense love of Kṛṣṇa, all the hairs of His body stood erect. Tossed by the waves of nectar in the pure love of Kṛṣṇa, ecstatic spiritual love, Lord Caitanya roared in ecstasy.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.413

daṇḍavatera sahita patha atikrama—

cakra-prati dṛṣṭi-mātra karena sakale
sei śloka paḍiyā paḍena bhūmi-tale 

Jayapatākā Swami: When the Lord Caitanya and all His associates as soon as they saw the cakra at the top of the temple, they offered obeisances on the ground and they recited that verse.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.414

ei mata daṇḍavat haite haite
sarva-patha āilena prema prakāśite 

Jayapatākā Swami: In this way the Lord Caitanya, He offered His prostrated obeisances again and again. He approached the Lord Jagannātha temple exhibiting His pure ecstatic love of God, while offering obeisances the entire way.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.415

ihāre se bali prema-maya avatāra
e śakti caitanya vahi anye nāhi āra 

Jayapatākā Swami: This is why He is called the incarnation of love of God. No one other than Lord Śrī Caitanya has the power to display such spiritual love. Lord Caitanya is described as prema-avatāra or the incarnation of pure love for Kṛṣṇa. So He was describing on, His approach to Lord Jagannātha temple.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.416

pathe yata dekhaye sukṛti nara-gaṇa
tārā bale,—“ei ta' sākṣāt nārāyaṇa” 

Jayapatākā Swami: On the path, the pious persons who saw the Lord Caitanya said, “He is directly Lord Nārāyaṇa.”

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.417

catur-dike veḍiyā āise bhakta-gaṇa
ānanda-dhārāya pūrṇa sabāra nayana 

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.418

sabe cāri-daṇḍa patha premera āveśe
prahara-tinete āsi' haila praveśe 

Jayapatākā Swami: The path that could be covered in one and a half hours took nine hours because of the Lord Caitanya's absorption in ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa.

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): The journey between Kamalapura and the Jagannātha temple takes only one and a half hours. But since the Lord was fully absorbed in ecstatic love and He was repeatedly offering obeisances, it took Him nine hours.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.419

āṭhāranālāya āgamanamātra bhāvasamvaraṇa—

āilena mātra prabhu āṭhāranālāya
sarva-bhāva samvaraṇa kailā gaura-rāya 

Jayapatākā Swami: As soon as Lord Caitanya arrived at Āṭhāranālā river, He concealed all His symptoms of ecstatic love.

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): At the entrance to Jagannātha Purī there is a bridge called Āṭhāranālā. Since that bridge over a small river has eighteen arches it is called Āṭhāranālā. [Āṭhāra means “eighteen,” and nālā means “canal.]

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.420

sthira hai' vasilena prabhu sabā' la
'yāsabāre balena ati vinaya kariyā 

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya became peaceful and He sat down with His associates and He very humbly spoke to all of them.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.421

bhaktagaṇera prati kṛtajñatā-jñāpana-līlā—

“tomarā ta' āmāra karilā bandhu-kāja
dekhāilā āni' jagannātha mahārāja 

Jayapatākā Swami: “You have done a great friendly service to Me. You have brought Me to see Lord Jagannātha Mahārāja.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.422

prabhura ekākī purī-praveśe abhilāṣa—

ebe āge tomarā calaha dekhibāre
āmi vā yāiba āge, tāhā bala more

Jayapatākā Swami: “You kindly tell to Me know, whether you should go first to see Jagannātha or I should go first.” So some histories says that Lord Caitanya was broken at this eighteen, Āṭhāranālā so He decided to go to see Lord Jagannātha alone. He asked them whether they should go first or He should go first.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.423

mukunda balena,—“tabe tumi āge yāo”
bhāla', bali' calilena śrī-gaurāṅga-rāo 

Jayapatākā Swami: Mukunda dutta said, “Then You should go first.” Lord Gaurāṅga then replied, “Good, All right,” and then departed.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.424

purīra bhitare—

matta-siṁha-gati jini' calilā satvara
praviṣṭa haila āsi' purīra bhitara 

Jayapatākā Swami: Like an intoxicated lion, Lord Caitanya quickly walked and He entered the town of Jagannātha Purī.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.425

praveśa hailā gauracandra nīlācale
ihā ye śunaye sei bhāse prema-jale 

Jayapatākā Swami: In this way Lord Gauracandra entered into Nīlācala, whoever hears about His ecstatic entrance Gauracandra floats in an ocean of ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa. So by hearing this transcendental manifestation of Lord Caitanya actually entering the Jagannātha Purī town, one will float in unlimited water of ecstasies.

Thus, ends the chapter entitled Entrance into Nīlācala