CHAPTER TEN

Text 1: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is always pleased to accept anything given with faith and love by His devotees and is always ready to bestow mercy upon them.

Text 2: All glories to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityānanda Prabhu! All glories to Advaitacandra! And all glories to all the devotees of Lord Caitanya!

Text 3: The next year, all the devotees were very pleased to go to Jagannātha Purī [Nīlācala] to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Text 4: Advaita Ācārya Gosāñi led the party from Bengal. He was followed by Ācāryaratna, Ācāryanidhi, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and other glorious devotees.

Text 5: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had ordered Lord Nityānanda to stay in Bengal, but nevertheless, because of ecstatic love, Lord Nityānanda also went to see Him.

Text 6: Indeed, it is a symptom of real affection that one breaks the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not caring for the regulative principles, to associate with Him.

Text 7: During the rāsa dance, Kṛṣṇa asked all the gopīs to return home, but they neglected His order and stayed there for His association.

Text 8: If one carries out Kṛṣṇa’s order, Kṛṣṇa is certainly pleased, but if one sometimes breaks His order due to ecstatic love, that gives Him millions of times greater happiness.

Texts 9-11: Vāsudeva Datta, Murāri Gupta, Gaṅgādāsa, Śrīmān Sena, Śrīmān Paṇḍita, Akiñcana Kṛṣṇadāsa, Murāri, Garuḍa Paṇḍita, Buddhimanta Khān, Sañjaya Puruṣottama, Bhagavān Paṇḍita, Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī, Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī and many others joined together to go to Jagannātha Purī. It would be impossible to mention the names of them all.

Text 12: The inhabitants of Kulīna-grāma and Khaṇḍa also came and joined. Śivānanda Sena took the leadership and thus started taking care of them all.

Text 13: Rāghava Paṇḍita came with bags full of food prepared very nicely by his sister, Damayantī.

Text 14: Damayantī made varieties of unparalleled food just suitable for Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to eat. The Lord ate it continually for one year.

Texts 15-16: These are the names of some of the pickles and condiments in the bags of Rāghava Paṇḍita: āmra-kāśandi, ādā-kāśandi, jhāla-kāśandi, nembu-ādā, āmra-koli, āmsi, āma-khaṇḍa, tailāmra and āma-sattā. With great attention, Damayantī also made dried bitter vegetables into a powder.

Text 17: Do not neglect sukutā because it is a bitter preparation. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu derived more happiness from eating this sukutā than from drinking pañcāmṛta [a preparation of milk, sugar, ghee, honey and yogurt].

Text 18: Since Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He extracts the purpose from everything. He accepted Damayantī’s affection for Him, and therefore He derived great pleasure even from the dried bitter leaves of sukutā and from kāśandi [a sour condiment].

Text 19: Because of her natural love for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Damayantī considered the Lord an ordinary human being. Therefore she thought that He would become sick by overeating and there would be mucus within His abdomen.

Text 20: Because of sincere affection, she thought that eating this sukutā would cure the Lord’s disease. Considering these affectionate thoughts of Damayantī, the Lord was very pleased.

Text 21: “A dear lover strung a garland and placed it on the shoulder of his beloved in the presence of her co-wives. She had raised breasts and was very beautiful, yet although the garland was tainted with mud, she did not reject it, for its value lay not in material things but in love.”

Text 22: Damayantī powdered coriander and anise seeds, cooked them with sugar and made them into sweetmeats in the shape of small balls.

Text 23: She made sweetmeat balls with dried ginger to remove mucus caused by too much bile. She put all these preparations separately into small cloth bags.

Text 24: She made a hundred varieties of condiments and pickles. She also made koli-śuṇṭhi, koli-cūrṇa, koli-khaṇḍa and many other preparations. How many should I name?

Text 25: She made many sweetmeats in the shape of balls. Some were made with powdered coconut, and others looked as white as the water of the Ganges. In this way she made many varieties of long-lasting sugar confections.

Text 26: She made long-lasting cheese, many varieties of sweetmeats with milk and cream, and many other varied preparations, such as amṛta-karpūra.

Text 27: She made flat rice from fine, unboiled, śāli paddy and filled a large bag made of new cloth.

Text 28: She made some of the flat rice into puffed rice, fried it in ghee, cooked it in sugar juice, mixed in some camphor and rolled it into balls.

Texts 29-30: She powdered fried grains of fine rice, moistened the powder with ghee and cooked it in a solution of sugar. Then she added camphor, black pepper, cloves, cardamom and other spices and rolled the mixture into balls that were very palatable and aromatic.

Text 31: She took parched rice from fine paddy, fried it in ghee, cooked it in a sugar solution, mixed in some camphor and thus made a preparation called ukhḍā or muḍki.

Text 32: Another variety of sweet was made with fused peas that were powdered, fried in ghee and then cooked in sugar juice. Camphor was added, and then the mixture was rolled into balls.

Text 33: I could not mention the names of all these wonderful eatables, even in a lifetime. Damayantī made hundreds and thousands of varieties.

Text 34: Damayantī made all these preparations following the order of her brother, Rāghava Paṇḍita. Both of them had unlimited affection for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and were advanced in devotional service.

Text 35: Damayantī took earth from the Ganges, dried it, powdered it, strained it through a fine cloth, mixed in aromatic ingredients and rolled it into small balls.

Text 36: The condiments and similar items were put into thin earthen pots, and everything else was put into small cloth bags.

Text 37: From small bags Damayantī made bags that were twice as large. Then with great attention she filled all the large ones with the small ones.

Text 38: She then wrapped and sealed each and every bag with great attention. The bags were carried by three bearers, one after another.

Text 39: Thus I have briefly described the bags that have become famous as rāghavera jhāli.

Text 40: The superintendent for all those bags was Makaradhvaja Kara, who kept them with great attention like his very life.

Text 41: Thus all the Vaiṣṇavas from Bengal went to Jagannātha Purī. By chance, they arrived on the day when Lord Jagannātha performs pastimes in the water.

Text 42: Boarding a boat in the water of Narendra-sarovara, Lord Govinda performed His water pastimes with all the devotees.

Text 43: Then Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu arrived with His personal associates to see the jubilant pastimes of Lord Jagannātha in Narendra-sarovara.

Text 44: At the same time, all the devotees from Bengal arrived at the lake and had a great meeting with the Lord.

Text 45: All the devotees immediately fell at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and the Lord lifted and embraced every one of them.

Text 46: The Gauḍīya-sampradāya, consisting of all the devotees from Bengal, began congregational chanting. When they met the Lord, they began to cry loudly in ecstatic love.

Text 47: Because of the pastimes in the water, there was great jubilation on the shore, with music, singing, chanting and dancing creating a tumultuous sound.

Text 48: Indeed, the chanting and crying of the Gauḍīyā Vaiṣṇavas mixed and created a tumultuous sound vibration that filled the entire universe.

Text 49: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu entered the water with His devotees and began His pastimes with them in great jubilation.

Text 50: In his Caitanya-maṅgala [now known as Caitanya-bhāgavata], Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has given a detailed description of the activities the Lord performed in the water.

Text 51: There is no use in again describing here the activities of the Lord. It would simply be repetitious and would increase the size of this book.

Text 52: After concluding His pastimes in the water, Lord Govinda returned to His residence. Then Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to the temple, taking all His devotees with Him.

Text 53: When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu returned to His residence after visiting the temple of Jagannātha, He asked for a large quantity of Lord Jagannātha’s prasādam, which He then distributed among His devotees so that they could eat sumptuously.

Text 54: After talking with all the devotees for some time, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked them to occupy the individual residences in which they had lived the previous year.

Text 55: Rāghava Paṇḍita delivered the bags of eatables to Govinda, who kept them in a corner of the dining room.

Text 56: Govinda thoroughly emptied the bags from the previous year and kept them in another room to fill them with other goods.

Text 57: The next day, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went with His personal devotees to see Lord Jagannātha when Lord Jagannātha arose early in the morning.

Text 58: After seeing Lord Jagannātha, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu began His all-encompassing saṅkīrtana. He formed seven groups, which then began to chant.

Text 59: In each of the seven groups was a principal dancer, such as Advaita Ācārya or Lord Nityānanda.

Text 60: The dancers in the other groups were Vakreśvara Paṇḍita, Acyutānanda, Paṇḍita Śrīvāsa, Satyarāja Khān and Narahari dāsa.

Text 61: As Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu walked from one group to another inspecting them, the men in each group thought, “The Lord is within our group.”

Text 62: The congregational chanting made a tumultuous roar that filled the sky. All the inhabitants of Jagannātha Purī came to see the kīrtana.

Text 63: Accompanied by his personal staff, the King also came there and watched from a distance, and all the queens watched from the elevated parts of the palace.

Text 64: Due to the forceful vibration of kīrtana, the entire world began trembling. When everyone chanted the holy name, they made a tumultuous sound.

Text 65: In this way the Lord had congregational chanting performed for some time, and then He Himself desired to dance.

Text 66: The seven groups began chanting and beating their drums in seven directions, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu began dancing in the center in great ecstatic love.

Text 67: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu remembered a line in the Orissan language and ordered Svarūpa Dāmodara to sing it.

Text 68: “Let my head fall at the feet of Jagannātha in the kīrtana hall known as Jagamohana.”

Text 69: Simply because of this line, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was dancing in greatly ecstatic love. People all around Him floated in the water of His tears.

Text 70: Raising His two arms, the Lord said, “Chant! Chant!” Floating in transcendental bliss, the people responded by chanting the holy name of Hari.

Text 71: The Lord fell to the ground unconscious, not even breathing. Then suddenly He stood up, making a loud sound.

Text 72: The hairs on His body constantly stood up like the thorns on a śimula tree. Sometimes His body was swollen and sometimes lean and thin.

Text 73: He bled and perspired from every pore of His body. His voice faltered. Unable to say the line properly, He uttered only “jaja gaga pari mumu.”

Text 74: All His teeth shook, as if each was separate from the others. Indeed, they seemed about to fall to the ground.

Text 75: His transcendental bliss increased at every moment. Therefore even by midafternoon the dancing had not ended.

Text 76: The ocean of transcendental bliss overflowed, and everyone present forgot his body, mind and home.

Text 77: Then Lord Nityānanda found a way to end the kīrtana. He gradually stopped all the chanters.

Text 78: Thus only one group continued chanting with Svarūpa Dāmodara, and they chanted very softly.

Text 79: When there was no longer a tumultuous sound, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu returned to external consciousness. Then Nityānanda Prabhu informed Him of the fatigue of the chanters and dancers.

Text 80: Understanding the fatigue of the devotees, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stopped the congregational chanting. Then He bathed in the sea, accompanied by them all.

Text 81: Then Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu took prasādam with all of them and then asked them to return to their dwellings and take rest.

Text 82: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu lay down at the door of the Gambhīrā, and Govinda came there to massage His legs.

Texts 83-84: It was a steady, long-standing rule that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would lie down to rest after lunch and Govinda would come to massage His legs. Then Govinda would honor the remnants of food left by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Text 85: This time when the Lord lay down, He occupied the entire doorway. Govinda could not enter the room, and therefore he made the following request.

Text 86: Govinda said, “Kindly turn on one side. Let me pass to enter the room.”

Text 87: Govinda made his request again and again, but the Lord replied, “I cannot move My body.”

Text 88: Govinda repeatedly requested, “I want to massage Your legs.”

Text 89: Then Govinda spread the Lord’s wrapper His body and in this way entered the room by crossing over the Lord.

Text 90: Govinda massaged the Lord’s legs as usual. He pressed the Lord’s waist and back very softly, and thus all the Lord’s fatigue went away.

Text 91: As Govinda stroked His body, the Lord slept very nicely for about forty-five minutes, and then His sleep broke.

Text 92: When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu saw Govinda sitting by His side, He was somewhat angry. “Why have you been sitting here for so long today?” the Lord asked.

Text 93: “Why didn’t you go to take your meal after I fell asleep?” the Lord asked.

Text 94: The Lord asked, “How did you enter the room? Why didn’t you go out to take your lunch in the same way?”

Text 95: Govinda mentally replied, “My duty is to serve, even if I have to commit offenses or go to hell.

Text 96: “I would not mind committing hundreds and thousands of offenses for the service of the Lord, but I greatly fear committing even a glimpse of an offense for my own self.”

Text 97: Thinking in this way, Govinda kept silent. He did not reply to the Lord’s inquiry.

Text 98: It was Govinda’s practice to go take lunch when the Lord was asleep. On that day, however, seeing the Lord’s weariness, Govinda continued massaging His body.

Text 99: There was no way to go. How could he leave? When he thought of crossing over the Lord’s body, he considered it a great offense.

Text 100: These are some of the finer points of etiquette in devotional service. Only one who has received the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu can understand these principles.

Text 101: The Lord is very interested in manifesting the exalted qualities of His devotees, and that is why He engineered this incident.

Text 102: Thus I have briefly described Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s dancing in the hall of the Jagannātha temple. The servants of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sing about this dancing even now.

Text 103: Accompanied by His personal associates, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu washed and swept the Guṇḍicā temple, cleansing it as usual.

Text 104: The Lord danced and chanted and then enjoyed a picnic in the garden as He had done before.

Text 105: As previously, He danced in front of the Jagannātha car and observed the festival of Herā-pañcamī.

Text 106: All the devotees from Bengal stayed in Jagannātha Purī for the four months of the rainy season and observed many other ceremonies, such as the anniversary of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s birth.

Text 107: Formerly, when all the devotees had arrived from Bengal, they all desired to give Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu something to eat.

Text 108: Each devotee would bring a certain type of prasādam. He would entrust it to Govinda and request him, “Please arrange that the Lord will surely eat this prasādam.”

Text 109: Some brought paiḍa [a coconut preparation], some brought sweetballs, and some brought cakes and sweet rice. The prasādam was of different varieties, all very costly.

Text 110: Govinda would present the prasādam and say to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, “This has been given by such-and-such devotee.” The Lord, however, would not actually eat it. He would simply say, “Keep it in storage.”

Text 111: Govinda kept accumulating the food, and soon it filled a corner of the room. There was quite enough to feed at least a hundred people.

Text 112: All the devotees asked Govinda with great eagerness, “Have you given Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu the prasādam brought by me?”

Text 113: When the devotees questioned Govinda, he had to tell them lies. Therefore one day he spoke to the Lord in disappointment.

Text 114: “Many respectable devotees, headed by Advaita Ācārya, make a great endeavor to entrust me with varieties of food for You.

Text 115: “You do not eat it, but they ask me again and again. How long shall I go on cheating them? How shall I be freed from this responsibility?”

Text 116: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “Why are you so foolishly unhappy? Bring here to Me whatever they have given you.”

Text 117: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sat down to eat. Then Govinda offered Him the preparations one after another, and as he did so he spoke the name of the person who had given each one.

Text 118: “These preparations — paiḍa, sweet rice, cakes made with cream, and also amṛta-guṭikā, maṇḍā and a pot of camphor — have been given by Advaita Ācārya.

Text 119: “Next there are varieties of food — cakes, cream, amṛta-maṇḍā and padmacini — given by Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita.

Text 120: “All these are gifts of Ācāryaratna, and these varieties of gifts are from Ācāryanidhi.

Text 121: “And all these varieties of food have been given by Vāsudeva Datta, Murāri Gupta and Buddhimanta Khān.

Text 122: “These are gifts given by Śrīmān Sena, Śrīmān Paṇḍita and Nandana Ācārya. Please eat them all.

Text 123: “Here are the preparations made by the inhabitants of Kulīna-grāma, and these have been made by the inhabitants of Khaṇḍa.”

Text 124: In this way, Govinda gave everyone’s name as he put the food before the Lord. Being very satisfied, the Lord began to eat it all.

Texts 125-126: The hard sweets made of coconut (mukutā nārikela), the sweetballs, the many kinds of sweet drinks and all the other preparations were at least a month old, but although they were old, they had not become tasteless or stale. Indeed, they had all stayed fresh. That is the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Text 127: Within a very short time, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu ate enough for a hundred people. Then He asked Govinda, “Is there anything more left?”

Text 128: Govinda replied, “Now there are only the bags of Rāghava.”

Text 129: The next day, while taking His lunch in a secluded place, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu opened the bags of Rāghava and inspected their contents one after another.

Text 130: He tasted a little of everything they contained and praised it all for its flavor and aroma.

Text 131: All the varieties of the remaining prasādam were kept to eat throughout the year. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu ate His lunch, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī would serve it little by little.

Text 132: Sometimes Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would take some of it at night. The Lord certainly enjoys preparations made with faith and love by His devotees.

Text 133: Thus Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu spent the entire period of Cāturmāsya [the four months of the rainy season] in the happiness of discussing topics of Kṛṣṇa with His devotees.

Text 134: From time to time, Advaita Ācārya and others would invite Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for home-cooked rice and varieties of vegetables.

Texts 135-136: They offered pungent preparations made with black pepper, sweet-and-sour preparations, ginger, salty preparations, limes, milk, yogurt, sugar candy, two or four kinds of spinach, soup made with bitter melon, eggplant mixed with nimba leaves, and fried paṭola.

Text 137: They also offered phula-baḍī, liquid mung dhal and many vegetables, all cooked according to the Lord’s taste.

Text 138: They would mix these preparations with the remnants of food from Lord Jagannātha. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted the invitations, He went sometimes alone and sometimes with His associates.

Text 139: Devotees like Ācāryaratna, Ācāryanidhi, Nandana Ācārya, Rāghava Paṇḍita and Śrīvāsa were all of the brāhmaṇa caste.

Texts 140-141: They would extend invitations to the Lord. Vāsudeva Datta, Gadādhara dāsa, Murāri Gupta, the inhabitants of Kulīna-grāma and Khaṇḍa and many other devotees who were not brāhmaṇas by caste would purchase food offered to Lord Jagannātha and then extend invitations to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Text 142: Now hear about the invitation Śivānanda Sena extended to the Lord. His eldest son was named Caitanya dāsa.

Text 143: When Śivānanda brought his son, Caitanya dāsa, to be introduced to the Lord, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired about his name.

Text 144: When the Lord heard that his name was Caitanya dāsa, He said, “What kind of name have you given him? It is very difficult to understand.”

Text 145: Śivānanda Sena replied, “He has kept the name that appeared to me from within.” Then he invited Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for lunch.

Text 146: Śivānanda Sena had bought very costly remnants of Lord Jagannātha’s food. He brought it in and offered it to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who sat down to accept the prasādam with His associates.

Text 147: Because of Śivānanda Sena’s glories, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu ate all kinds of prasādam to honor his request. However, the Lord ate more than necessary, and therefore His mind was dissatisfied.

Text 148: The next day, Caitanya dāsa, the son of Śivānanda Sena, extended an invitation to the Lord. He could understand the Lord’s mind, however, and therefore he arranged for a different kind of food.

Text 149: He offered yogurt, limes, ginger, soft baḍā and salt. Seeing all these arrangements, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very pleased.

Text 150: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “This boy knows My mind. Therefore I am very satisfied to accept his invitation.”

Text 151: After saying this, the Lord ate the rice mixed with yogurt and offered Caitanya dāsa the remnants of His food.

Text 152: The four months of Cāturmāsya passed in this manner, with the Lord accepting invitations from His devotees. Because of a heavy schedule of invitations, however, some of the Vaiṣṇavas could not get an open day on which to invite the Lord.

Text 153: Every month Gadādhara Paṇḍita and Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya had fixed dates on which Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would accept their invitations.

Texts 154-155: Gopīnātha Ācārya, Jagadānanda, Kāśīśvara, Bhagavān, Rāmabhadra Ācārya, Śaṅkara and Vakreśvara, who were all brāhmaṇas, extended invitations to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and offered Him food cooked at home, whereas other devotees would pay two paṇas of small conchshells to purchase Jagannātha’s prasādam and then invite the Lord.

Text 156: At first the cost of Jagannātha prasādam for an invitation was four paṇas of conchshells, but when Rāmacandra Purī was there, the price was cut in half.

Text 157: The devotees who came from Bengal stayed with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for four consecutive months, and then the Lord bade them farewell. After the Bengali devotees departed, the devotees who were the Lord’s constant companions at Jagannātha Purī stayed with the Lord.

Text 158: Thus I have described how Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted invitations and how He accepted and tasted the prasādam offered by His devotees.

Text 159: In the midst of that narration are descriptions of Rāghava Paṇḍita’s bags of food and the dancing in the temple of Jagannātha.

Text 160: One who hears about the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu with faith and love will certainly attain ecstatic love for the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu without fail.

Text 161: Narrations of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s activities are just like nectar to hear. Indeed, they satisfy both the ears and mind. One who tastes the nectar of these activities is certainly very fortunate.

Text 162: Praying at the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha, always desiring their mercy, I, Kṛṣṇadāsa, narrate Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, following in their footsteps.