20220601 A Dog is Lost on the Way to Nīlācala

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on June 1st,2022 in Chennai, 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 Kṛṣṇa! Continuing the Caitanya Lila Compilation the chapter entitled is:

A Dog is Lost on the Way to Nīlācala
Under the section: Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Second Meeting with the Lord

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.17

śivānandera bhāgavad-bhakta kukurera vṛtānta:—

eka kukkura cale śivānanda-sane
bhakṣya diyā lañā cale kariyā pālane

Translation: While going to Jagannātha Purī, Śivānanda Sena allowed a dog to go with him. He supplied it food to eat and maintained it.

Jayapatākā Swami: Since Śivānanda Sena was a pure Vaiṣṇava, anyone who showed some enthusiasm for worshipping Lord Caitanya, he accepted it. since the dog was following the devotees, so Śivānanda Sena took him along, the ferry owners asked for money to ferry the dog, and Śivānanda Sena paid his ferry charges.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, 10.1

(A Foreigner enters)

Foreigner: I heard that like every year, at the time of the Ratha-yātrā festival, Advaita Ācārya and the devotees in Bengal go to see Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. An associate of the Lord, named Śivānanda, as a leader leads these devotees and even the caṇḍālas by maintaining and protecting them from the toll-collectors who are like thorns on the highways. Therefore, I will look for him so that I can go with him.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śivānanda Sena became famous for taking the devotees to Nīlācala, this foreign devotee he also wanted to take advantage of Śivānanda Sena’s and joined the group.

(he approaches).

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, 10.2

(Enter Advaita’s servant named Gandharva).

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.1

Translation: One time, the Lord, spoke to the devotees headed by Advaitācārya, who had come see his lotus feet.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.2

Translation: “O Ācārya! O most intelligent, learned one! Hear what I speak about the activities of Jagannātha.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.3

Translation: “Jagannātha is always the shelter of all rasas. He goes to Guṇḍicā for special pastimes.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.4

Translation: “There is an attractive flower garden on either side of the path going to Guṇḍicā.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.5

Translation: “Know that it particularly gives remembrance of Vṛndāvana. Going to the Guṇḍicā hall Jagannātha stays and performs pastimes there for nine days.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the whole Ratha-yātrā festival lasts for nine days, one day going, then Lord Jagannātha with His Brother and Sister in Guṇḍicā and then one day coimng back so that’s nine days in total.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.6

Translation: “Every year you should all come to see this great festival, rare even for the devatās to see.”

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.7

Translation: Mahāprabhu, the ocean of mercy, in this way, on the pretext of Ratha-yātra, allowed the devotees to see his own pastimes.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.8

Translation: Thus from that time onwards, they would eagerly come to see Gauracandra at the time of Ratha-yātra every year.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, devotees from Bengal felt separation from Caitanya Mahāprabhu and so to be able to go Jagannātha Purī and have His association for four months was a great mercy and many devotees wanted to go to see Lord Caitanya. One blind devotee in Rājāpur wanted to go, but no one want to take the responsibility of a blind man walking 500 km to Jagannātha Purī. Jagannātha Baladeva and Subhadra appeared in the Ganges and that pastimes is displayed in temple at Rājāpur.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.9

Translation: How can hundreds of Bṛhaspatis describe these devotees who came to see Gauraṅga every year?

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.10

Translation: I will describe how they went there one time, with constant eagerness, to give a general idea.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.11

Translation: Advaitācārya and Śrīvāsa with many people were eager to go one year.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.12

Translation: In Vaiśākha month, with the Malaya wind blowing, with the chirping of cuckoos and humming of bees, they decided to go.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.13-14

Translation: Śrīvāsa full of joy, his heart soft with affection for Gauracandra, spoke to Vāsudeva Datta and Śivānanda Sena, giving their hearts joy.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.15

Translation: “Find out the day of Ratha-yātra, and decide what day is most suitable for us to depart for Purī.”

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.16

Translation: Having fixed the day of going, they all with great longing and desire went to Navadvīpa.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.17

Translation: The great devotees saw Śacī, the form of Viṣṇu-bhakti, mother of the whole universe.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.18

Translation: Staying there a few days, with bliss and affection, they went to see Advaitācārya, who was filled with longing.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.19

Translation: He said in a sweet voice, “The day of departure that is suitable for you is suitable for me also.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, all the devotees in the area of Navadvīpa were very eagerly longing to see Lord Gauracandra, they prepared the day they would go to see the Lord. So they are going in a big group.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.20

Translation: They danced and sang happily, blissful with affection for Gaurāṅga’s lotus feet.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.21

Translation: Advaita, the greatest mountain range of rasa for bhakti pastimes, also departed in great happiness.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this one year Advaita Ācārya, following him the family members also went to Jagannātha Purī and a big large group went under the care of Śivānanda Sena.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, 10.2

Gandharva: I have been ordered by Lord Advaita thus, “The auspicious time for going to Puruṣottama-kṣetra has come. We will go quickly. Now, you tell Śivānanda that he should decide a day for travel and write to us. Since we want to travel with him, he should tell us when we should go and meet him beforehand in order to travel together with him in the journey.”

Let me go (he walks).

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Advaita Ācārya and all his followers decided to go with Śivānanda Sena together, Lord Caitanya went travelling for a long time Vṛndāvana, and had been coming back and now that He reached the devotees were eager to see Him.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, 10.3

Foreigner: (approaching) Brother, where are you going?

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, 10.4

Gandharva: (repeats Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, 10.2) I have been ordered by Lord Advaita thus, “The auspicious time for going to Puruṣottama-kṣetra has come. We will go quickly. Now, you tell Śivānanda that he should decide a day for travel and write to us. Since we want to travel with him, he should tell us when we should go and meet him beforehand in order to travel together with him in the journey.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this verse has been repeated and it shows how everyone was eager to see Lord Caitanya and how Advaita Ācārya this year decided to go with the group.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.22

Translation: Hari-dāsa, absorbed in the great ocean of bhakti pastimes, was like a great mountain which had sunk in an ocean.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.23

Translation: Extracting kīrtana glorifying the Lord’s qualities from the great ocean continually, he agreed with great desire to go to Purī.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, many devotees were all united to go Jagannātha Purī, Haridāsa, being a non-Hindu and born in a non-Hindu would not be able to enter the Jagannātha Purī temple but still he was eager to see Lord Caitanya.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.24

Translation: Hari-dāsa and other great devotees, putting Advaita and Śrīvāsa in front, happily proceeded to Purī.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.25

Translation: Vāsudeva Datta and Śivānanda Sena, with great affection, happily went with them.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.26

Translation: The younger brother of Śrīvāsa, Śrīrāma, who controlled Gaurāṅga by his singing at all times, also went.

Caitanya Carita Mahā Kāvya 14.27-28

Translation: Mukunda, pure, affection, most dear to the Lord, sweet, peaceful, mild speaking and very soft, joyfully went with Murāri Gupta, an ocean of prema-bhakti.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, everyone of these devotees were in themselves oceans of prema-bhakti, just like river will meet the ocean, they were going to see Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Haribol!

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.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, 10.5

Foreigner: (jubilant, he says to himself) That which I heard is true. Still, I will ask him. (openly) Brother, does Śivānanda give protection to one unacquainted with and lead him to Puruṣottama-kṣetra.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, 10.6

Gandharva: Brother, Śivānanda even protected a dog and led it to Puruṣottama-kṣetra, what to speak of a human being.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, 10.7

Foreigner: Brother, how is that?

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the foreigner wanted to hear how Śivānanda Sena took even a dog. Normally in India dogs are not very well-situated, peoples don’t think much of dog unlike the west. As this dog showed some enthusiasm to go to Jagannātha Purī with the devotees Śivānanda Sena took him. That story would be mentioned but even low born people, he would take anyone if they were eager to worship Lord Caitanya.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.18

eka-dina eka-sthāne nadī pāra haite
uḍiyā nāvika kukkura nā caḍāya naukāte

Translation: One day, when they needed to cross a river, an Orissan boatman would not allow the dog to get in the boat.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.19

kukkura rahilā,—śivānanda duḥkhī hailā
daśa paṇa kaḍi diyā kukkure pāra kailā

Translation: Śivānanda Sena, unhappy that the dog had to stay behind, paid the boatman ten paṇa of conchshells to take the dog across the river.

Purport: One paṇa is eighty kaḍis, or small conchshells. Formerly, even fifty or sixty years ago, there was no paper currency in India. Coins were generally made not of base metal but of gold, silver and copper. In other words, the medium of exchange was really something valuable. Four pieces of kaḍi made one gaṇḍā, and twenty such gaṇḍās equaled one paṇa. This kaḍi was also used as a medium of exchange; therefore Śivānanda Sena paid for the dog with daśa paṇa, or eighty times ten pieces of kaḍi. In those days one paisa was also subdivided into small conchshells, but at the present moment the prices for commodities have gone so high that there is nothing one can get in exchange for only one paisa. With one paisa in those days, however, one could purchase sufficient vegetables to provide for a whole family. Even thirty years ago, vegetables were occasionally so inexpensive that one paisa’s worth could provide for a whole family for a day.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, normally paisa is aluminum coin at the present time, but we hear how in those days copper, silver and gold were used as coins and how with one paisa one could feed the family for the day, now one paisa we can’t get anything. I saw one paisa in Māyāpur, people give it to the deity but we can’t spend on anything. Anyway, he was paying a huge amount to the ferry man to cross the dog across the river.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.20

eka-dina śivānande ghāṭiyāle rākhilā
kukkurake bhāta dite sevaka pāsarilā

Translation: One day while Śivānanda was detained by a toll-man, his servant forgot to give the dog its cooked rice.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.21

rātre āsi’ śivānanda bhojanera kale
‘kukkura pāñāche bhāta?’—sevake puchile

Translation: At night, when Śivānanda Sena returned and was taking his meal, he inquired from the servant whether the dog had gotten its meals.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.22

kukkura nāhi pāya bhāta śuni’ duḥkhī hailā
kukkura cāhite daśa-manuṣya pāṭhāilā

Translation: When he learned that the dog had not been supplied food in his absence,he was very unhappy. He then immediately sent ten men to find the dog.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śivānanda Sena took such a care of the people in his party, since the dog was part of his party, he took extreme care for this dog. What to speak of other men in his party even the dog was cared by him.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.23

cāhiyā nā pāila kukkura, loka saba āilā
duḥkhī hañā śivānanda upavāsa kailā

Translation: When the men returned without success, Śivānanda Sena became very unhappy and fasted for the night.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this shows how Śivānanda Sena cared for the people in his party even the dog received such care and consideration.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.24

prabhāte kukkura cāhi’ kāṅhā nā pāila
sakala vaiṣṇavera mane camatkāra haila

Translation: In the morning they looked for the dog, but it could not be found anywhere. All the Vaiṣṇavas were astonished.

Purport: Śivānanda Sena’s attachment to the dog was a great boon for that animal. The dog appears to have been a street dog. Since it naturally began to follow Śivānanda Sena while he was going to Jagannātha Purī with his party, he accepted it into his party and maintained it the same way he was maintaining the other devotees. It appears that although on one occasion the dog was not allowed aboard a boat, Śivānanda did not leave the dog behind but paid more money just to induce the boatman to take the dog across the river. Then when the servant forgot to feed the dog and the dog disappeared, Śivānanda, being very anxious, sent ten men to find it. When they could not find it, Śivānanda observed a fast. Thus it appears that somehow or other Śivānanda had become attached to the dog.

As will be evident from the following verses, the dog got the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and was immediately promoted to Vaikuṇṭha to become an eternal devotee. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has therefore sung, tumi ta’ ṭhākura, tomāra kukkura, baliyā jānaha more (Śaraṇāgati 19). He thus offers to become the dog of a Vaiṣṇava. There are many other instances in which the pet animal of a Vaiṣṇava was delivered back home to Vaikuṇṭhaloka, back to Godhead. Such is the benefit of somehow or other becoming the favorite of a Vaiṣṇava. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has also sung, kīṭa-janma ha-u yathā tuyā dāsa (Śaraṇāgati 11). There is no harm in taking birth again and again. Our only desire should be to take birth under the care of a Vaiṣṇava. Fortunately we had the opportunity to be born of a Vaiṣṇava father who took care of us very nicely. He prayed to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī that in the future we would become a servant of the eternal consort of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Thus somehow or other we are now engaged in that service. We may conclude that even as dogs we must take shelter of a Vaiṣṇava. The benefit will be the same as that which accrues to an advanced devotee under a Vaiṣṇava’s care.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that many sādhus would visit to his father’s house and his father would ask them please bless my son, that he gets the mercy Rādhārānī. So, being a son of a Vaiṣṇava parent is a great benediction.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, 10.8

Gandharva: One year before Lord Caitanya went to Mathurā, more than thousands of devotees were travelling to Puruṣottama-kṣetra. A spontaneous desire arose even in a certain dog to travel to Puruṣottama and thus came near Śivānanda. Seeing the dog coming with him and following, Śivānanda began to look after it, carefully arranging residence and at mealtime he fed the dog, not with leftovers (but with food especially cooked for it). When the travelers had to take a ferry across a river, Śivānanda paid the boatman separate fare to carry the dog. In this way the dog followed Śivānanda every day. Then, one day, when the journey was already three-fourths over, Śivānanda’s servant forgot to give the dog its food. Later, not seeing the dog, Śivānanda filled with regret thinking, “Alas! Today my dog was not fed,” and personally went here and there calling out the dog’s name but could not find it anywhere.

Translation: All the way to Puruṣottama-kṣetra Śivānanda could not find the dog. In his heart he became filled with grief.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śivānanda Sena accepted the dog as part of his party and having lost the dog he felt very bad.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.25

utkaṇṭhāya cali’ sabe āilā nīlācale
pūrvavat mahāprabhu mililā sakale

Translation: Thus in great anxiety they all walked to Jagannātha Purī, where Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu met them as usual.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śivānanda Sena and all devotees who managed the dog enetered to Nīlācala and saw Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya meeting with the devotees was a very joyful occasion and the devotees were overwhelmed with kṛṣṇa-prema, ecstasy to be united with Lord who was more dear to their own life.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, A dog is lost on the way to Nīlācala
Under the section: Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Second Meeting with the Lord

Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Śrīla Gurumahārāja kī jaya!