20201214 Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya Feeds Mahā-prasāda to the Devotees (Part 1)

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation By His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 14th 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 entitled:

Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya Feeds Mahā-prasāda to the Devotees

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 6.39

sārvabhaumera nimantraṇa :— 

sārvabhauma kahe—

śīghra karaha madhyāhna
muñi bhikṣā dimu āji mahā-prasādānna 

Translation: The Bhaṭṭācārya informed all of them, “Please take your midday baths immediately. Today I shall offer you mahā-prasāda, the remnants of food offered to Lord Jagannātha.”

Jayapatākā Swami: (Hari Bol!)

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 2.16.175

tabe punaḥ mahāprabhu nṛtya avasāne
bhikṣā-āmantraṇa tāre dila sārvabhaume 

Jayapatākā Swami: When again Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's dancing came to an end, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya invited the Lord for Jagannātha māha-prasāda.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 2.16.176

prasāda ānite dila brāhmaṇera gaṇa
prabhusaṅge sārvabhauma karaye milana 

Jayapatākā Swami: He sent some brāhmaṇa to bring māha-prasāda. Then Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya met Lord Caitanya.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 6.40

snānānte sagaṇa prabhura prasāda-sammāna :— 

samudra-snāna kari’ mahāprabhu śīghra āilā
caraṇa pākhāli’ prabhu āsane vasilā 

Translation: After bathing in the sea, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His devotees returned very soon. The Lord then washed His feet and sat down on a carpet to take lunch.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.492

snānānte prabhura sakalera sahita upaveśana— 

tabe kata-kṣaṇe snāna kari' prema-sukhe
vasilena sabāra sahita hāsya-mukhe 

Jayapatākā Swami: Then after some time He took His bath in ocean enjoying ecstatic love, after that He sat down with all His devotees with smiling face.

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.11.20

Lord Caitanya partook the nectarean mahā-prasāda of Jagannātha Svāmī. That food is the super excellent medicine to cure souls afflicted by bhava-roga. It is rarely obtained even by the best of gods.

Jayapatākā Swami: So here the glories of Lord Jagannātha’s mahā-prasāda is been highlighted, that by taking the Jagannātha mahā-prasāda, one can be cured from material entanglements, the bhava-roga, the disease of this material life. This prasāda is rare even for denizens of higher planets, so we are very fortunate to get the mahā-prasāda

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.11.21

He who eats that food with devotion entirely gives up the fruitless endeavor to enjoy this calamitous material existence. Attaining the qualities of a great soul, he receives the benefits of religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, and immortality. But that foolish person, devoid of virtue, who will not eat it, attains the birth of a hog.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, by taking Jagannātha mahā-prasāda one gets all these benefits. Who is the foolish person who will not accept such benediction!

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 3.11.22

Caitanya-deva's enthusiastic eating of Jagannātha-prasāda was to show to the world that such food is always auspicious. One who has received this human life, but who refuses to eat it because it has come from a far, or has been looked at or even touched by a dog-eater, will certainly take birth as a hog.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, even today in Jagannātha Purī, if one gets Jagannātha mahā-prasāda, he sits in line, whether he is brāhmaṇa or dog eater or whatever and he takes the mahā-prasāda with great respect.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 2.16.186

ānāila bhaṭṭācārya aneka prasāda
uṭhila prasāda dekhi’ premāra unmāda

Jayapatākā Swami: Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he brough a lot of mahā-prasāda. When Lord Caitanya saw the prasāda, He become wild with ecstatic love.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 6.41

bahuta prasāda sārvabhauma ānāila
tabe mahāprabhu sukhe bhojana karila

Translation: Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya made arrangements to bring various kinds of mahā-prasāda from the Jagannātha temple. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then accepted lunch with great happiness.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, they actually offer 56 offering to Lord Jagannātha.So if you insist the pāṇdās he can bring a variety of vegetables a variety of dhāl, variety of rice, khicuri type rice, plain rice, so one should ask for variety of vegetables and preparations. We can see that Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya had brought various kinds of Jagannātha mahā-prasāda, so Caitanya Mahāprabhu is very ecstatic and blissful to take this Jagannātha mahā-prasāda.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.493

sārvabhauma-kartṛka prabhura nikaṭa vicitra mahā-prasāda ānayana— 

bahuvidha mahāprasāda āniyā satvare
sārvabhauma thuilena prabhura gocare 

Jayapatākā Swami: Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he quickly brought many varieties of Jagannātha mahā-prasāda and he placed them before Lord Caitanya.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 6.42

suvarṇa-thālīra anna uttama vyañjana
bhakta-gaṇa-saṅge prabhu karena bhojana 

Translation: Caitanya Mahāprabhu was offered special rice and first-class vegetables on golden plates. He thus took lunch in the company of His devotees.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.494

mahāprasāda namaskāra o bhagaṇasaha prabhura prasāda-sevana—

mahāprasādere prabhu kari' namaskāra
vasilā bhuñjite lai' sarva parivāra 

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya offered His obeisances to the mahā-prasāda of Lord Jagannātha, then sitting down with His associates He began to eat. So the food offered to the Lord is a type of holy sacrament and so its worthy of our respect and we should take the remnants or prasāda of the Lord fully and with great respect.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.495

loka-śikṣaka mahāprabhura vaiṣṇavagaṇake carvyacūṣyādi mahā-prasāda dāne anurodha evaṃ svayaṁ sādhāraṇa prasāda-svīkāra— 

prabhu bale,—“vistara lāpharā more deha'
pīṭhāpānā chenā-baḍā tomarā sabe laha” 

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya said, “Give Me a large portion of mixed vegetables. You all can take the curd sweets and preparations made with condensed milk.”

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): Also in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 12.167) it is stated: prabhu kahe,—more deha' lāphrā-vyañjane/ piṭhā-pānā, amṛta-guṭikā deha' bhakta-gaṇe “Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, `You can give Me the ordinary vegetable known as lāphrā-vyañjana, and you may deliver to all the devotees better preparations like cakes, sweet rice, and amṛta-guṭikā.'”

Jayapatākā Swami: Lāphrā is usually with five vegetables mixed together, that’s called lāphrā, that means that Lord wanted to take ordinary vegetables and all the preparations made with ghee, condensed milk and curd all these preparations should be given to others. Lord Caitanya was showing His renunciation as a sannyāsī. whether the devotees will follow His directions we will se it!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.496

ei mata bali' prabhu mahāprema-rase
lāpharā khāyena prabhu, bhakta-gaṇa hāse 

Jayapatākā Swami: After speaking in this way, Lord Caitanya with great loving ecstasy, then Lord Caitanya began to eat the boiled vegetables and the devotees began to laugh.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 6.43

sārvabhaumakarttṛka pariveśana :— 

sārvabhauma pariveśana karena āpane
prabhu kahe,—more deha lāphrā-vyañjane 

Translation: While Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya personally distributed the prasāda, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu requested him, “Please give Me only boiled vegetables.

Purport: Lāphrā-vyañjana is a preparation in which many vegetables are boiled together, and then a cheṅkā is added, consisting of spices like cumin, black pepper and mustard seed.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 6.44

pīṭhā-pānā deha tumi iṅhā-sabākāre
tabe bhaṭṭācārya kahe yuḍi’ dui kare 

Translation: “You can offer the cakes and preparations made with condensed milk to all the devotees.”

Hearing this, the Bhaṭṭācārya folded his hands and spoke as follows.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 6.45

jagannātha kaiche kariyāchena bhojana
āji saba mahāprasāda kara āsvādana 

Translation: “Today, all of you please try to taste the lunch just as Lord Jagannātha accepted it.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Hari bol!

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 6.46

eta bali’ pīṭhā-pānā saba khāoyāilā
bhikṣā karāñā ācamana karāilā 

Translation: After saying this, he made them all eat the various cakes and condensed-milk preparations. After feeding them, he offered them water to wash their hands, feet and mouths.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.497

janma janma sārvabhauma prabhura pārṣada
anyathā anyera nāhi haya e sampada 

Jayapatākā Swami: Birth after birth Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, is an associate of Lord Caitanya. Otherwise, who else will have this good fortune?

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 2.498

sārvabhauma-kartṛka suvarṇa thālite prabhuke prasāda-dāna— 

suvarṇa-thālite anna āniyā āpane
sārvabhauma dena, prabhu karena bhojane 

Jayapatākā Swami: Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya brought rice on a gold plate and offered it to the Lord Caitanya, and the Lord Caitanya ate the mahā-prasāda.

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): Sārvabhauma fed the Lord on a gold plate. Foolish people will think, “How can a sannyāsī eat off of a metal plate?” Since foolish people think they are equal to the object of service, their mentality leads them to hell.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya respected Jagannātha mahā-prasāda, as it was offered by Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. In the scriptures, it states that there are different types of plates  so copper plate, brass plate silver plate better than the silver plate is the banana leaf and better than the banana leaf is a gold plate, better than the gold plate is the lotus leaf. So anyway, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya offered the best he had to Lord Caitanya and actually Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself; but He is coming in the mood of a devotee. So, it is quite appropriate that  He be offered that best plate that Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya had. So, we will continue tomorrow,  bring your appetite to take Jagannātha-prasāda.