20210806 Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī Decorates the Road Part 3

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation By His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 6th August 2021 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

Hare Krishna! Dear Devotees! Today we will continue with the compilation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya book, the chapter entitled:

Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī Decorates the Road 
Under the Section: The Lord’s Attempt to Go to Vṛndāvana

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.155

vṛndāvana yābena prabhu śuni’ nṛsiṁhānanda
patha sājāila mane pāiyā ānanda

Translation: When Śrī Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī heard that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu would go to Vṛndāvana, he became very pleased and mentally began decorating the way there.

Jayapatākā Swami: Nectar of Devotion, explains how one can worship the Lord mentally and Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī was worshipping the Lord mentally and his mediatation was complete and absorbed.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.156

kuliyā nagara haite patha ratne bāndhāila
nivṛnta puṣpa-śayyā upare pātila

Translation: First Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī contemplated a broad road starting from the city of Kuliyā. He bedecked the road with jewels, upon which he then laid a bed of stemless flowers.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī was making the Lord’s journey very comfortable by constructing this kind of mental road with jewels and flowers.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.157

pathe dui dike puṣpa-bakulera śreṇī
madhye madhye dui-pāśe divya puṣkariṇī

Translation: He mentally decorated both sides of the road with bakula flower trees, and at intervals on both sides he placed lakes of a transcendental nature.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, bakula tree has small leaves and provides a good shade and it has fragrant small flowers and these bakula flower trees he planted on the both sides of the road.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.158

ratna-bāṅdhā ghāṭa, tāhe praphulla kamala
nānā pakṣi-kolāhala, sudhā-sama jala

Translation: These lakes had bathing places constructed with jewels, and they were filled with blossoming lotus flowers. There were various birds chirping, and the water was exactly like nectar.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Nṛsiṁhānanda he was making all nice facilities for Lord Caitanya’s travels, beautiful lakes, and lotuses and nice trees, which had birds. So, like this Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī tried to create a beautiful and nice environment as much as possible.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.159

śītala samīra vahe nānā gandha lañā
’kānāira nāṭaśālā’ paryanta la-ila bāndhiñā

Translation: The entire road was surcharged with many cool breezes, which carried the fragrances from various flowers. He carried the construction of this road as far as Kānāi Nāṭaśālā.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, he was decorating the road mentally, so that Lord Caitanya could travel to Vṛndāvana very comfortably.

Purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: Kānāi Nāṭaśālā is about two hundred miles from Calcutta on the Loop line of the Eastern Railway. The railway station is named Tālajhāḍi, and after one gets off at that station, he has to go about two miles to find Kānāi Nāṭaśālā.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Kānāi Nāṭaśālā is a special place. When Lord Caitanya got initiated in Gayā by Īśvara Purī Mahārāja, when he went back to Navadvīpa via Kānāi Nāṭaśālā, He saw Kṛṣṇa in Kānāi Nāṭaśālā, He became mad after Kṛṣṇa. So, now from Rāmakeli He is going to Kānāi Nāṭaśāla.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.160

āge mana nāhi cale, nā pāre bāndhite
patha-bāndhā nā yāya, nṛsiṁha hailā vismite

Translation: Within the mind of Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī, the road could not be constructed beyond Kānāi Nāṭaśālā. He could not understand why the road’s construction could not be completed, and thus he was astonished.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī although He was constructing a mental road and Lord Caitanya turned back from Kānāi Nāṭaśālā to Śāntipura and Jagannātha Purī, and then could not construct the road beyond Kānāi Nāṭaśāla. So this amazed him building the road mentally, but his building the road was somehow connected to Lord Caitanya’s activities, ever since Lord Caitanya turned back from Kānāi Nāṭaśālā, he couldn’t construct anymore.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.161

niścaya kariyā kahi, śuna, bhakta-gaṇa
ebāra nā yābena prabhu śrī-vṛndāvana

Translation: With great assurance he then told the devotees that Lord Caitanya would not go to Vṛndāvana at that time.

Purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: Śrīla Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī was a great devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu; therefore when he heard that from Kuliyā Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was going to Vṛndāvana, although he had no material wealth he began to construct within his mind a very attractive path or road for Caitanya Mahāprabhu to traverse. Some of the description of this path is given above. But even mentally he could not construct the road beyond Kānāi Nāṭaśālā. Therefore he concluded that Caitanya Mahāprabhu would not go to Vṛndāvana at that time.

For a pure devotee, it is the same whether he materially constructs a path or constructs one within his mind. This is because the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Janārdana, is bhāva-grāhī, or appreciative of the sentiment. For Him a path made with actual jewels and a path made of mental jewels are the same. Though subtle, mind is also matter, so any path — indeed, anything for the service of the Lord, whether in gross matter or in subtle matter — is accepted equally by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord accepts the attitude of His devotee and sees how much he is prepared to serve Him. The devotee is at liberty to serve the Lord either in gross matter or in subtle matter. The important point is that the service be in relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.26):

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it.” The real ingredient is bhakti (devotion). Pure devotion is uncontaminated by the modes of material nature. ahaitukī apratihatā: unconditional devotional service cannot be checked by any material condition. This means that one does not have to be very rich to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Even the poorest man can equally serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead if he has pure devotion. If there is no ulterior motive, devotional service cannot be checked by any material condition.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, if one is wealthy King, He can serve the Lord with great opulence and if one is a poor man, he can serve the Lord very simply or worship the Lord using His mind. Nectar of Devotion describes how a devotee everyday would prepare sweet rice for the Lord, put it in a special gold pot. But then he put his finger to test whether it was too hot. Although it was a mental sweet rice, he burnt his finger and then he woke up from his meditation, then he wondered how he had burnt his finger from the mental rice. Meanwhile, Nārāyaṇa smiling in the spiritual world and Lakṣmī said, “why are You smiling?” and then He said to His assistants, “Bring him up” from the material world and he was brought up to the spiritual world.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.162

‘kānāñira nāṭaśālā’ haite āsiba phiriñā
jānibe paścāt, kahilu niścaya kariñā

Translation: Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī said, “The Lord will go to Kānāi Nāṭaśālā and then will return. All of you will come to know of this later, but I now say this with great assurance.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī had this realization of his mentally offering a road to Lord Caitanya. So, all the devotees are invited, if they don’t have any facility the Lord, to worship Him mentally and that if is offered in pure bhakti, He will accept it.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.163

gosāñi kuliyā haite calilā vṛndāvana
saṅge sahasreka loka yata bhakta-gaṇa

Translation: When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu began to proceed from Kuliyā toward Vṛndāvana, thousands of men were with Him, and all of them were devotees.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.164

yāhāṅ yāya prabhu, tāhāṅ koṭi-saṅkhya loka
dekhite āise, dekhi’ khaṇḍe duḥkha-śoka

Translation: Wherever the Lord visited, crowds of innumerable people came to see Him. When they saw Him, all their unhappiness and lamentation disappeared.

Jayapatākā Swami: Such is the value of seeing Lord Caitanya, so naturally people could not leave the site when they are getting such relief.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.165

yāhāṅ yāhāṅ prabhura caraṇa paḍaye calite
se mṛttikā laya loka, garta haya pathe

Translation: Wherever the Lord touched the ground with His lotus feet, people immediately came and gathered the dirt. Indeed, they gathered so much that many holes were created in the road.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, they wanted to get the dust that touched the lotus feet and in this way, every step people gathered the dust and thus holes were made in the road.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.166

aiche cali, āilā prabhu ‘rāmakeli’ grāma
gauḍera nikaṭa grāma ati anupāma

Translation: Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu eventually arrived at a village named Rāmakeli. This village is situated on the border of Bengal and is very exquisite.

Purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: Rāmakeli-grāma is situated on the banks of the Ganges on the border of Bengal. Śrīla Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmīs had their residences in this village.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, in the previous verse of the Caitanya-bhāgavata, more details are given on the village of Rāmakeli, at that time Sanātana Gosvāmī was the Prime minister of Nawab Hussain Shah and Rūpa Gosvāmī was the Finance Minister.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.167

tāhāṅ nṛtya kare prabhu preme acetana
koṭi koṭi loka āise dekhite caraṇa

Translation: While performing saṅkīrtana in Rāmakeli-grāma, the Lord danced and sometimes lost consciousness due to love of God. While at Rāmakeli-grāma, an unlimited number of people came to see His lotus feet.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the pastimes of Rāmakeli village is given here in short form.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī Decorates the Road Part 3 
Under the Section: The Lord’s Attempt to Go to Vṛndāvana