Text 22
krandanera chale balāila hari-nāma
nārī saba ‘hari’ bale, — hāse gaura-dhāma
krandanera — of crying; chale — on the pretense of; balāila — caused to speak; hari-nāma — the holy name of the Lord; nārī — ladies; saba — all; ‘hari’ bale — chant the holy name of the Lord; hāse — laughs; gaura-dhāma — Lord Śrī Caitanya as a child.
The Lord caused all the ladies to chant the holy names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra on the plea of His crying, and while they chanted the Lord would smile.
In the Caitanya-bhāgavata this pastime is described as follows: “The Lord, with His beautiful eyes, would cry, but He would stop immediately upon hearing the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. When the ladies, understanding the fun of the Lord, discovered that He would cry and then stop upon hearing the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, they all took it as a clue to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa as soon as the Lord cried. Thus it became a regular function. The Lord would cry, and the ladies would begin chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, clapping their hands. In this way all the ladies of the neighboring houses would assemble in the home of Śacīmātā to join in the saṅkīrtana movement twenty-four hours a day. As long as the ladies continued to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, the Lord would not cry but would very pleasingly smile upon them.”