Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Carita | Book 3 Chapter 12

Twelfth Sarga

Lord Gaurāṅga Shows Mercy to Sārvabhauma

1

After eating Śrī Nṛhari's prasāda, at dusk Mahāprabhu again entered the Śrī Mandira. There saw the lotus-eyed Lord Jagannātha offered many fragrant oils, incense, ghee lamps and flower-garlands.

2

 Delightfully decorated with splendid ornaments, Jagannātha Svāmī appeared a thousand times more luminous than the emperor of the night. The Lord's complexion was swarthy, like the hue of a newly-formed torrential thunder- cloud. Bowing before Him to the ground, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya again, again and yet again drank the vision of Śrī Puruṣottama-deva through His blossoming eyes.

3

Gaura's heart was immersed in a shoreless sea of ānanda, and His chest became bathed by the flood of tears from that sea. His body was ornamented by jubilant thrilling hair-follicles, and His golden body appeared like the peak of a golden mountain.

4

Shining as the sovereign of the twice-born, Prabhu remained there while the bhaktas offered puṣpāñjali to Puruṣottama-deva. Then, again offering prostrated obeisances before Him, that same original creator of the system of āśramas, returned to His āśrama.

5

After Śrī Caitanya returned to the house of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, throughout the night He sang the fame of Śrī Hari, the possessor of astonishing abilities, and again He became overwhelmed and lost all composure due to Hari-prema, and so absorbed He rolled to and fro upon the earth, knowing nothing more than that prema.

6

The Supreme Soul dwelt there a few days, in this manner and His feet were worshipped by godly people. The lotus-eyed Lord gladly gave instruction to them with charming and nectarine words.

7

Once while Śrī Caitanya-deva was residing in that place, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, who was a soul fully covered by illusion, came to the place where Mahāprabhu was staying. Considering an Him an ordinary man, he then spoke a few words surrounded by his own people.

8

Although Sārvabhauma was very deluded, Gaura Janārdana is very merciful. Surely He performs each and every one of His actions solely by His sweet desire to benefit the people of the world.

9

Sārvabhauma said, "This man is born of a great family, and He is an excellent scholar. But since He is in the flower of youth, how can He successfully execute the practices of sannyāsa? For this we should again give Him a second birth and teach Him the knowledge of Vedānta concerning the Ātmā."

10

Hearing this, Śrī Hari said with a smile, "Yes, let Me again receive the sacred thread, and I shall offer heaps of fragrant flowers and garlands to this vipra."

11

So saying, He left that spot. Some persons told Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya about Murāri Caitanya's response to his words, yet Sārvabhauma felt shy due to respect for the Lord and said nothing more.

12

Then in the afternoon, in the presence of the Bhaṭṭācārya and a host of brāhmaṇas, Mahāprabhu explained how the confidential purport of the Vedānta-sūtras points to the shelter of Murāri's lotus feet.

13

At this time Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya could comprehend that the principle taught by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was the perfectional conclusion of Vedānta study. Thus he considered all he had previously thought knowledge to be ignorance, and he therefore discarded it. That great soul fell at Śrī Caitanya's lotus feet, his heart blossoming in wonder.

14

"O all-opulent Personality of Godhead," Sārvabhauma prayed, "Your Lordship is the beloved Person who is gloried in the Vedic hymns. The people of the world cannot understand You in the least. O Prabhu, I am also a soul bewildered by Your illusory potency, but in this life, by Your grace, I have come in the presence of Your lotus feet.

15

"In ancient times, You descended to earth in the home of Vasudeva and slew many great demons headed by Kasa. Now, again manifesting Your transcendental abode, You have appeared in the home of a brāhmaṇa.

16

"You engage Your own followers in relishing Your glorious pastimes of married relationships with the queens of Dvārakā, as well as Your unwedded relationships with the milkmaids in the pastoral abode of Vraja. You have descended for the happiness and welfare of the universe. Please protect this fallen soul, O ocean of mercy!

17

"The primeval Personality of Godhead has accepted the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya for the purpose of teaching the process of bhakti to Himself and the science of vairāgya (detachment from sense gratification). He is an ocean of mercy. I therefore take shelter of Him.

18

"Since the passage of time has obscured the process of bhakti, the Lord has appeared in order to renovate that process, accepting the name Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. May the bee of my mind become absorbed deeper and deeper in the honey of His lotus feet."

19

After Sārvabhauma recited these rasa-imbued ślokas, that Lord of Śrī Lakṣmī, who is forever controlled by His bhakta's love, at once affectionately took that bhakta's hand in His and embraced him to His heart with His two beautiful arms.

Thus ends the Twelfth Sarga entitled "Lord Gaurāṅga Shows Mercy to Sārvabhauma," in the Third Prakrama of the great poem Śrī Caitanya Carita.