20210316 Bengali Devotees Arrive in Jagannātha Purī

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on March 16th, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma 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!

Continuation of the Compilation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya book, today’s chapter entitled:

Bengali Devotees Arrive in Jagannātha Purī 
Under the section, The Beḍa kīrtana pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu

Jayapatākā Swami: So, many of these verses are in Sanskrit, we will just read the translations.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.29

Translation: These devotees, trembling with prema for Gaurāṅga’s lotus feet, joyfully went while chanting the Lord’s name and qualities.

Jayapatākā Swami: Devotees from Bengal were filled with pure love of Kṛṣṇa as they were constantly glorifying and remembering Lord Caitanya and His pastimes.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.30

Translation: Singing kīrtana from morning, they took rest in the evening or night, performing necessary activities on the road.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.31

Translation: Passing their days in singing and dancing, the devotees travelled on the road with greatly anxious hearts.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.32

Translation: One cannot properly describe their days. The ocean of happiness spread in all directions.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the devotees in Bengal displayed so much intense emotions to be able to see Lord Caitanya again, and their happiness knew no bounds.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.33

Translation: With minds aroused by huge waves in an ocean of joy, greedy for Gaurāṅga’s lotus feet, they happily came to Remuṇā.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.34

Translation: The sun, lamenting on not seeing the devotees, placed his rays on Sunset Mountain.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.35

Translation: The devotees, with hairs standing on end, entered the attractive town to see Gopīnātha.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.36

Translation: Seeing the moon-like face of the deity, they experienced the greatest satisfaction. Offering respects, the great devotees exited with difficulty.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.37

Translation: In the morning they departed with eager hearts, longing to see the lotus feet of Gauracandra.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.38

Translation: With their blissful bodies, the great crowd shone like a second ocean.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.39

Translation: Advaita was the water, Śrīvāsa was a mountain of bhakti. Kīrtaṇa was the nectar arising in the ocean. Hari-dāsa was the Kaustubha jewel.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.40

Translation: Their mutual affection became excellent Lakṣmī. Its great fame was the foam and its effulgence was the vaḍava fire.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.41

Translation: Shouts of “Jaya” were the waves and flooding rip tides. Their toes were the fish and their toenails were the pearls.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.42

Translation: Their arms were the serpents; their chests were the islands and their faces were the astonishing lotuses.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.43

Translation: The great minded Sārvabhauma with great eagerness came to Jayapura village to meet them.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.44-45

Translation: While he shed tears out of affection for them, his body became covered with goose bumps. After seeing the great devotee Advaita, the great poet began reciting verses of praise he had composed.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.46

Translation: “I offer respects to Advaita, the great devotee, the great Lord, by whose mercy attachment to Gaurāṅga’s lotus feet arises.”

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.47

Translation: Saying this, his hairs standing on end, and stunned, the ocean of good fortune fell on the ground, offering respects.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.48

Translation: Seeing Hari-dāsa, filled with great devotion, in great joy, he fell on the ground with hairs standing on end.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.49

Translation: He offered respects many times with lowered shoulders saying, “I offer respects to Hari-dāsa, whose family and birth are not considered.”

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.50

Translation: The best of brāhmaṇas, recovering, with hairs standing on end, then spoke in a choked voice.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.51-52

Translation: “Following the order of Gauracandra’s lotus feet, I will bring to life with the nectar of bhakti to those persons who have dried up by thoughts impersonal brahman, by delivering knowledge, giving another meaning to the Vedānta.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.53

Translation: “After hearing my proposal, the Lord said playfully, ‘Do not make useless efforts.”

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.54

Translation: “The ocean of mercy, seeing me anxious to go, said, ‘You will not at all have that power.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.55

Translation: “‘Do not go. Do not have wasted effort, O brāhmaṇa! What can you do, you who do not have good fortune?’

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.56

Translation: “I am eagerly going to Kāśī without shame. Be merciful so that my desire will be fulfilled.”

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.57

Translation: Sārvabhauma, Bṛhaspati on earth, saying this, offered respects and, his body filled with happiness, left.

Caitanya-Carita-Mahā-Kāvya 14.58

Translation: The devotees came to attractive Yājapurī and after bathing in the Vaitaraṇī River, entered the town.

Jayapatākā Swami: This this city is known as a special tīrtha, and the Vaitaraṇī river is non-different from the river that separates the material world from the spiritual world.

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 4.17.15

Translation: Śrī Hari, the Master of all, immediately sent the group of devotees who were standing near Him to receive the arriving bhaktas at Narendra Sarovara.

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 4.17.16

Translation: Afterwards He, who is the very life force of His devotees, who is controlled by His devotees and who bestows love on His devotees, determined to set forth.

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 4.17.17-20

Translation: Nityānanda Prabhu together with Paṇḍita Śrī Gadādhara, Purī Śrī Paramānanda, and Bhaṭṭa Śrī Sārvabhauma, Paṇḍita Jagadānanda and Śrī Kāśī Miśra, Dāmodara Svarūpa and Paṇḍita Śaṅkara, Śrī Kāśīśvara Gosvāmī, Paṇḍita Bhagavān, Pradyumna Miśra and Śrī Paramānanda Pātra, Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya and Govinda, the Lord's doorman, Brahmānanda Bhāratī, Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Sanātana...

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 4.17.21-24

Translation:...Śrī Raghunātha Dāsa and the physician Raghunātha, Śrī Nārāyaṇa Nanda and the delightful son of Advaita Ācārya named Acyutānanda Gosvāmī, whose life and soul was the love he held for Śrī Gaurāṅga, the renowned Śikhi-Māheti as well as Vānīnātha and all the other bhaktas who resided in Kṣetra went along with their Prabhu. In their company, the Supreme Master, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, whose heart is always filled with affection for His devotees, came to the bank of Narendra Sarovara, where at that very moment the great Personality Śrī Advaita was arriving with the devotees from Gauda-deśa.

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 4.17.25

Translation: When the two parties of devotees glimpsed one another, everyone became extremely enlivened by a spontaneous festive spirit, and it seemed as if the various symptoms of ecstasy such as weeping, and trembling appeared in personified form at that place.

Jayapatākā Swami: When the devotees saw Lord Caitanya, the devotees who came from Bengal, they immediately offered their obeisances. As they approached Lord Caitanya. He embraced Advaita and Nityānanda and there were different devotees from Sri Ksetra, they offered respects appropriately to the devotees coming from Bengal. The wives of the Bengal devotees touched the feet of the Lord mentally and they were also in ecstasy. Everyone was crying in a great festive mood. So, Lord Caitanya and all His associates from Puruṣottama-kṣetra, they came to Narendra Sarovara and the devotees from Bengal had also arrived at the Narendra Sarovara. So this happiness that everyone was feeling is indescribable. Haribol!

Thus, ends the chapter entitled, Bengali Devotees Arrive in Jagannātha Purī. Under the section, The Beda kīrtana pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu

So, we should have such a strong desire to see Lord Caitanya and serve Him. These pastimes with the devotees, they walked 500 km to see the Lord in Jagannātha Purī, and when they met the Lord, these devotees they were feeling so much happiness. So, this is a great example of how meeting with the Lord is sambhoga and separation from the Lord is vipralambha. So, this is the real happiness in life, and this is the real separation in life. So unfortunately in material world, we are absorbed in material sentiments and we don’t actually, experience the great spiritual happiness. So, these devotees were experiencing this unlimited joy, how Lord Caitanya, He was also reciprocating with His devotees from Bengal.

Haribol!