Eleventh Sarga
The Glories of Mahā-Prasāda
1
After hearing all this, the learned vipra Śrī Dāmodara Paṇḍita further inquired, "How did the blessed Lord Gaura again see the Supreme Lord Puruṣottama-deva?
2
"By whose assistance did He see Jagannātha, and what did Śrī Caitanya Janārdana then do?" Hearing this, the physician Murāri Gupta was satisfied and continued narrating that sublime history.
3
O brāhmaṇa, listen attentively to this divine story that purifies the three worlds. It arises from the joy Mahāprabhu took in looking upon the Master of all sentient beings.
4
When Śrī Gaurāṅga first arrived in Puruṣottama Kṣetra, He went to the house of Vāsudeva Sārvabhauma. At once that intelligent scholar rose to greet Him and fell before Him offering obeisances.
5
Seeing Sārvabhauma, Śrī Hari addressed him in a faltering voice, "Kindly tell Me - how may I see My eternal Lord of lords, Śrī Jagannātha?"
6
Sārvabhauma heard the Lord's request, but as that renowned scholar observed intently at Gaurāṅga's form, His lotus eyes opened wide with astonishment.
7
Gaurāṅga's complexion had the sublime effulgence of molten gold, like another Mount Meru. His face appeared like the moon as it generates of nectar throughout the night, and His eyes resembled lotus flowers.
8
His nose was aristocratic, and His neck resembled a conch. His chest was broad and His arms very long. His charming crimson lips resembled budding bandhūka flowers.
9
His teeth were white like jasmine buds, and His smile defeated the radiance of limitless moons. His arms extended to His knees, and His lotus feet shone brightly.
10
In His heart, Kṛṣṇa-prema forever brightly blazed. The hairs of His body thrilled out of rapture, and the tops of His feet resembled the curved shells of tortoises. Sārvabhauma was astonished to see all this, and thought:
11
"Who is this illustrious male, with every sign of a great personality? It appears that He has descended from Vaikuṇṭha to play a role of divine pastimes.
12
"Can He possibly be the original primeval personality, the reservoir of eternity, bliss and knowledge, the personified form of all rasa? Could He be the benefactor of all living beings, the original Personality of Godhead, the Īśvara Himself?"
13-14
Thinking in this way, the wise Sārvabhauma told his younger brother, "Quickly go with this blessed soul, Śrī Caitanya, to the temple of the Lord. Let Him behold without hindrance the ultimate Supreme Person, who expands into limitless forms, and possesses sublime attributes."
15
Hearing these wonderful nectarine words uttered by Śrī Sārvabhauma, his intelligent younger brother departed in the company of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
16
The all-opulent Lord went with him to the mandira of Śrī Hari, and there He saw the transcendental Personality of Godhead, Puruṣottama Jagannātha, with His eyes resembling blue lotuses.
17
Upon seeing Him, the slender form of Gaurāṅga, which resembled a golden mountain peak, became entranced with blossoming mellows. Tears of love formed waterfalls which inundated His effulgent moon-like face and flooded His broad chest. Then trembling profusely, He tumbled to the ground as if struck by a hurricane.
18
Thus Bhagavān Śrī Caitanya fainted upon the earth. His hands were clenched and His garments and belt were scattered. Realizing that the Lord was oblivious to externals, the brāhmaṇa-priests at once lifted Him by His two arms and took Him from the temple of Jagannātha.
19
Śrī Gaurāṅga regained external consciousness in the fine house of Sārvabhauma, and at once performed saṅkīrtana of Narahari. Then the emperor of all enjoyers, His golden body became covered with pulakas, began to dance.
20
Then one of Kṛṣṇa Caitanya's bhaktas brought Him bhikṣā in the form of immortal and nectarine mahā-prasāda of Jagannātha Swāmī. That food is the reservoir of all divine flavours, and it acts as a super-excellent medicine to cure souls afflicted by bhava-roga, the disease of birth and death. It is rarely obtained even by the best of gods.
21
He who eats that food with devotion entirely gives up the fruitless endeavour to enjoy this calamitous material existence. Attaining the qualities of a great soul, he receives the benefits of religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, and immortality. But that foolish person, devoid of virtue, who will not eat it, attains the birth of a hog.
22
Caitanya-deva's enthusiastic eating of Jagannātha-prasāda was to show to the world that such food is always auspicious.
One who has received this human life but who refuses to eat it because it has come from afar, or has been looked at or even touched by a dog-eater, will certainly take birth as a hog.
Thus ends the Eleventh Sarga entitled "The Glories of Mahā-Prasāda," in the Third Prakrama of the great poem Śrī Caitanya Carita.