Chapter Summary - Chaitanya-bhagavata - Adi-khanda Ch. 10
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Brief Summary:   This chapter focuses on Lord Chaitanya's youthful pastimes as a great scholar at the ripe-old age of 16.  There is nobody more intelligent that God and here we find an excellent purport of this fact in the life of Nimai Pandita.  One of the older students who became an important player in the life of Lord Chaitanya was Murari Gupta.  Exactly how Nimai Pandita won-over His dear friend is explained.  Eventually the Lord became very impressed with Murari Gupta's erudition and this exchange led to Murari accepting Lord Chaitanya as his personal teacher.  Significantly the author mention that Lord Chaitanya at one point (after the Lord accepted defeat from Muraur's magnificent explanations) touched Murari and in so doing surcharged Murari's being. It was in the temple courtyard at Sri Mukunda Sanjaya home (his son was one of Nimai's student) that Nimai would gather with his disciples and teach, on occasion speaking out against the other teachers of Nabadwip.  Nimai looked down upon them for flouting their big titles like Bhattacarya and Misra when in fact they were only kali-yuga men, actually unqualified due to their lack of knowledge regarding the fundamental knowledge about the conjugation of verbs (see below, words); It was also at this time that Mother Saci desired for her son to be married.  It was a brahmana friend of Mother Saci (Sri Banamali) who was instrumental in Nimai's marriage to the daughter of Sri Vallabha Acarya;


Quiz:
(see answers below)

1.  What would Nimai Pandita and his friends do at the home of their teacher, Sri Gangadasa?   

A- eat the wonderful prasada that had been offered to their teacher's diety  
B-
enjoy nocturnal kirtans  
C-
conduct debates  
D- 
enact Krishna lila plays

2.  The author describes the general mood, the way that Nimai carried Himself and how He projected Himself to His Peers?  How is that described?

A-  a humble servant  
B- 
the mood of a valiant, arrogant prince 
C- 
full of joy 
D-
 transcendental

3.  How did Nimai Pandita treat the students who were not within His circle of close friends?    

A- with great respect  
B-
like His equal  
C-
would joke with them  
D-
Nimai was quick to taunt them.

4.  Older than most of the students, by profession Murari Gupta was:   

A-  a professional singer 
B- 
magistrate judge  
C-
famous poet   
D-
Ayurvedic doctor

5.  How was Murari Gupta's spiritual greatness explained? 

A- He was the partial expansion of Rudra, Lord Siva     
B- 
he was an expansion of Lord Brahma  
C-
He was the great monkey, Hanuman, who retrieved medicine for Sri Laksmana  
D-
he was Lord Vishnu personified

6.  How did Nimai first meet Sri Laksmi devi, who later became His wife? 

A- They met at school   
B-
Sri Laksmi devi once met Sri Gaurasundara on the banks of the Ganga when they had each gone for a bath   
C-
They were first introduced to each other when they were much younger, by Nimai's father  
D-
She was selling bananas at the market and Nimai had gone there on an errand for His mother

7.  What did Laksmi devi do when she first met Nimai Pandita?

A- hid from him  
B- 
made fun of his arrogant manners 
C-
gave him some prasadam to eat  
D-
offered Him prayers as she clasped His lotus feet

8. How did Mother Saci react when Sri Banamali first approached the subject with her concerning the marriage of her son to the beautiful daugher of Vallabha Acarya?

A- With an apathetic reply 
B-
With great excitement  
C-
With anger 
D-
She refused to discuss the idea

9. What made Mother Saci change her mind about the marriage?

A- A chance meeting between Nimai and Sri Banamali  
B-
A divine vision  
C-
Her neighbors persuaded Her 
D-
Her astrologer showed her special signs in Nimai's chart

10. Vallabha Acharya was concerned that he was too poor to offer as a dowry anything other than his daughter along with what five other items? 

A- 5 gold tala bars 
B-
5 sacred cows  
C-
5 pieces of sacred clay  
D-
5 pieces of auspicious hartaki (an auspicious fruit)

11. How many days did the wedding ceremony last? 

A- 2  
B-
7  
C-
3  
D-
5

12.  Other than the actual day of the wedding, what was the main activity mentioned by Vrndavana das Thakura that everyone participated in?

A- Swimming in the Ganga  
B-
Eating a special wedding feast 
C-
listening to music and watching dancers  
D-
circumambulating the village temple

13. At what time of day did the wedding take place? 

A- at dawn  
B-
exactly at noon  
C-
at midnight 
D-
in the evening

14.  According to the marriage customs, Laksmi devi was lifted off the ground and carried how many times around the Lord?

A- 3
B- 7  
C-  5  
D- 12

15.  What mode of transportation was used to take the Lord and His new bride back to Nimai's house?

A- rode in a cart pulled by sacred cows   
B-
simply walked with everyone in a huge procession 
C-
carried on a palanquin  
D-
were taken there by boat

16.  What mystical occurrences did Mother Saci observe right after their marriage ceremony?

A-
saintly forms could be seen floating through her house  
B-
soft-heavenly music could be heard but there was nobody in the house singing  
C-
beautiful lights and the smell of lotus flowers   
D- s
wirling incense would magically appear with the most wonderful fragrance

 Devotee Mentioned:    Murari Gupta; Sri Mukunda Sanjaya (the father of one of Nimai Pandita's students); Sri Vallabha Acarya (a good and pious brahmana, equal to King Janaka, the father of Sita devi, whose daugher Nimai married); Sri Laksmi devi; Banamali;

Flowery Language:  Sri Laksmi offered Him a garland of flowers at His lotus feet. She worshipped Him, surrendering herself as though she were those very flowers.

Blessings:   Whoever hears the narration of the Lord's marriage with devotion will certainly be able to break the ties of material bondage.

Words:

erudition (scholarship)
Brhaspati (
seeks to learn. He then imparts his knowledge to others)
conjugation (
the inflection of verbs; the whole set of inflected forms of a verb or the recital or display thereof in a fixed order: The conjugation of the Latin verb amo begins amō, amas, amat; a class of verbs having similar sets of inflected forms: the Latin second conjugation)
oblations (The act of offering something, such as worship or thanks)
 

 

 Answers: 1-C;  2-B;  3-D;  4-D;   5-A;  6-B;  7-D;   8-A;  9-A;  10-D;  11-A; 12-C; 13-D;  14-B;  15-C;  16-A