|
Chapter Summary -
Chaitanya-bhagavata - Adi-khanda Ch.
12
Back to Chaitanya-bhagavata
·
Table of Contents
Brief Summary: This Chapter
concentrates completely on Nimai Pandita, the consummate scholar of
Nabadwip.
Nimai was fully engaged in performing His transcendental pastimes as a
scholar in Nabadwip. Always
with a book in hand, He went about Nabadwip challenging all the scholars
and teachers to debate on
practically any subject matter, but no one could meet His challenge. The
Lord was supposed to have studied only grammar. Yet He regarded acclaimed
and titled scholars with disdain; Several new names are added to,
Devotees Mentioned; Nimai Pandita meets Gadadhara
Pandita agreed and the
Lord began, Tell me the symptoms of liberation; Gadadhara could only think of escaping Nimai's
association;
Everyone now recognized Nimai as an erudite scholar; The only thing
that disheartens me is that He does not worship Lord Krishna; The
Vaishnava's often prayed for Nimai's welfare, especially that He become
attached to Lord Krishna; The Lord affectionately replied, "I am truly very fortunate that all of
you are so intent about teaching
Me the path of devotional service to Krishna. Within My heart I know that
whoever receives your blessings is most fortunate; The
citizens of
Nabadwip were equally happy to meet Sri Gaura Chandra and whenever they saw
him they offered respect;
After holding class for several hours, Gaurasundara and his students would
break at midday for their
bath in the Ganga. After that the Lord would return home for His daily
worship of Lord Vishnu.
He offered water to Tulasi Devi, circumambulated her, and then sat down to
eat his meal while
chanting the name of Lord Hari;
Laksmi Devi served the prasada to her Lord
while mother Saci looked
on, drinking in the Lord's beauty to her full satisfaction. After eating
the Lord chewed some betel leaf
and lay down while Laksmi massaged His lotus feet. For a while He would
rest in a transcendental
sleep, and upon rising He would again take his books in His hand and leave
the house. Out in the
street, Gaurasundara gave and received great pleasure in talking with
anyone He met.
Each of the townspeople saw the Lord according to his own mentality.
With His disciples the Lord would walk wherever He desired, visiting
the weaver, milkman, perfumer, florist, pan dealer, conch-shell dealer,
and astrologer - with emphasis given by the author on the milkman and
astrologer. The milkmen brought milk, clarified butter, yogurt, cream and
curd and offered it to the Lord.
This chapter covers a variety of areas from the pastimes
of Nimai Pandita. In the Most Memorable
section five more important summaries are mentioned; pastimes with
Sridhara, Nimai's air disorder, supernatural things Mother
Saci witnessed, the zenith of all the Lord's activities, and wonderful
prayers and thought by the author.
Most Memorable:
1) The Lord's
dealings with Sri Sridhara are especially nice along with the author's
brief descriptions of various supernatural occurrences witnessed by His
Mother. 2) People continued to try to cure the Lord by applying a variety of oils
over His head and body. He dripped with oil.
3) I am not going to touch Your hidden wealth now: that I will get later,
assured Nimai. But if you
give Me banana root and some banana stalks right now without taking money,
then I will not fight with
you any more. Yes that is a very satisfactory agreement, said Nimai. There should be
no further fights, but please
see to it that I get good quality bananas, banana stalk and radish. Daily
the Lord ate with Sridhara
from his leaf cups, relishing his bananas, banana stalks, radishes and Sridhara's cooking in general.
Sridhara thought to himself, "He is a very aggressive brahmana. Someday He
might even beat me. But
even if He does beat me, what can I do? I really cannot afford to give him
whatever He wants free each
day. But I see He has a godly form; He is not an ordinary personality by
any means. If He takes my
things by force or by some other tricky means, then He is free to do so. I
think this is my good fortune,
and in spite of my poverty I will continue to give Him whatever He wants."
4) In His Nabadwip pastimes the Lord liked to be very
arrogant, in fact, no one
could match that arrogance. Whenever the Supreme Lord performed any
pastime, His activities could
not be equaled by anyone. When the Lord feels like performing His
chivalrous pastimes, then there is
no one to challenge His mastery over weapons. And when He wants to reveal
His amorous pastimes,
then He captivates the hearts of millions of beautiful damsels. When He
wants to enjoy opulence, then
His opulence and magnificence is unmatched. Now in His pastimes as an
erudite scholar there is no
one to match His insolent arrogance, and when the same Lord accepts the
renounced order of life, then
who can excel Him in devotion, dedication and renunciation?
Is there
anyone in the three worlds to
match Him? Yet in all His incarnations and pastimes the zenith of all
activities is voluntary loving
defeat in the hands of His pure unalloyed devotees.
5) Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura prays: There was no way to gauge
the amount of good fortune that those people accumulated and the bliss
they experienced just by seeing the Lord ...But alas for me, I have taken a sinful and wretched birth. I could not be
born at that time. My life is
bereft of that beautiful transcendental sight of Lord Gaurasundara. In
spite of all this, O Lord
Gaura Chandra, please grant me the mercy that I may remember this pastime
of yours in every birth.
Wherever You and my Lord Nityananda perform your transcendental pastimes
with your eternal associates, may I also be present there as your humble
and insignificant servant.
Quiz: (see answers below)
1. One day Nimai Pandita quite unexpectedly met Mukunda
on the road and quickly engaged him in debate, letting Mukunda decide the
subject matter. After being defeated at every turn, what did Mukunda
think to himself?
A- That even though he wasn't the one to overcome
Him, one day Nimai would meet His match and be defeated because there is
always one who is greater that comes along.
B- "It is not possible for a human being to posses such knowledge,"
C- Since Nimai knew everything, He must actually be Lord Krishna.
D- "I must immediately tell everyone that the Lord has arrived."
2. Sri Gadadhara Pandita was another Vaishnava
that Nimai Pandita enjoyed tormenting with His game of questions.
How did Gadadhara explain to the Lord how liberation was attained.
A- Ony by the mercy of Sri Guru.
B- Only by chanting Hare Krishna.
C- Only after the result of extreme suffering.
D- By bathing in the Ganga and other holy rivers.
3. What would the Lord take from the Vaishnavas of
Nabadwip?
A- Their clothes
B- Their food
C- Their blessings, knowing that only through such
blessings could love of
Krishna be achieved.
D- Their pride
4. What did Buddhimanta Khan do to the Lord?
A- Soundly defeated Him in debate.
B- Gave him gold to pay off his many debts.
C- Rushed to Nimai's aid when the Lord fell unconscious from a "wind
disorder".
D- Gave Him some food that made Nimai ill.
5. What was the most spiritual aspect of Nimai
Pandita's illness?
A- That harassing Vaishnava's lead to sickness.
B- That food should never be accepted from a non-devotee.
C- That Nimai was not God because the true Lord never gets sick.
D- Nimai
revealed His real identity during His illness but still no one recognized Him
because of the Lord's internal
potency.
6. What was the main treatment used to cure the
Lord?
A- Oils were rubbed all over Him.
B- Hot cloths were applied to His feet.
C- He was given banana roots to chew.
D- He was given copious amounts of Ganges water to drink
7. What would the Milkmen call Nimai Pandita?
A- Uncle
B- Lord
C- Gurudeva
D- Nimai
8. What did the Lord want from the Astrologer?
A- He wanted to know if His recent illness was
going to return.
B- He wanted to know how long He would live, asking as a form of
hidden joke just to see how the astrologer would reply
C- He wanted to know who He was in His previous birth.
D- Since He was married to Laxmidevi, He wanted to know how many
children they would have.
9. When Nimai Pandita asked the astrologer who
He was in a previous birth, the astrologer chanted his Gopala mantra
and began to meditate. What happened next?
A- The astrologer suddenly got up and began
dancing.
B- Tears began to stream down the astrologer's face.
C- He told the Lord that instead of the past that he could only see
Nimai's future.
D- He had vision after vision of all the different manifestations of
Lord Krishna: the dark, monsoon-cloud complexion of the four-handed form
of Lord Krishna, the Lord bathed in divine effulgence, Krishna as a
newborn baby in kamsa's prison and Sri Vasudeva carrying Him to Gokula for
safety, as a charming two-handed little boy without any clothes, the
curved form of Lord Syamananda Krishna playing His flute while the gopis
around Him played on different musical instruments, the Lord holding a
bow, as Varaha the boar, he saw Lord Nrsimhadeva, Vamana, Matsya,
Lord Balarama carrying His divine plough, Jagannatha and Balarama with Subhadra
standing between them
10. What did Nimai Pandita accuse His dear-most
friend, Sridhara of?
A- Keeping the best vegetable back for himself and
thus not offering them to Him to eat.
B- Being an impersonalist.
C- Hiding great wealth in his house.
D- Harboring jealousy toward Him.
11. What was growing on Sridhara's roof top that the Lord had
Sridhara cook into a
special preparation made with
milk and hot spices?
A- a gourd
B- a pumpkin
C- yellow squash
D- carrots
12. What esoteric truth did Nimai Pandita
reveal to His dearest friend, Sridhara
A- That in a previous birth He was Govinda, the
cowherd boy.
B- That He is the husband of the Goddess of Fortune and that He
would tell her to bring blessing upon Sridhara.
C- The He is the source of the Holy Ganges River.
D- That He was the Yuga-avatar for Kali-yuga.
13. What musical instrument did Nimai play?
A- mirdunga
B- sitar
C- flute
D- Kartyls
14. Mother Saci would often see supernatural
occurrences in her home:
many people singing, dancing and playing instruments; she saw divinely beautiful ladies; effulgent demigods
who would appear and disappear within a moment. What were the
divinely beautiful ladies holding in their hands?
A- pots of yogurt
B- flower garlands
C- incense
D- lotus flowers
15. How does Srivasa Pandita attempt to correct
Nimai Pandita?
A- By reading part of the Srimad Bhagavatam to
Him.
B- By angrily scolding Him.
C- By introducing Nimai to Nabadwip's greatest Saint who is then
able to put Nimai onto the path of devotional service.
D- By asking Nimai five questions followed by a few words of
encouragement.
16. Vrndavana das Thakura finally settles on
just one analogy to best describe Nimai Pandita with His students on the
bank of the Ganges. Which one is it?
A- He looked like the moon surrounded by a starry
firmament.
B- He is as beautiful as Cupid.
C- On
the banks of the Jamuna, Sri Nandakumar Krishna sat surrounded by his
young cowherd boyfriends.
That same Krishna Chandra and the same cowherd boys were also sitting on
the banks of river Ganga.
D- It was as one were seeing the great sage, Brhaspati.
Lord Chaitanya aka: Sri Sacinandana; Gaurasundara;
Devotee Mentioned: Sanjaya; Buddhimanta Khan
Mother Saci:
Mother Saci's visions were certainly not imagination. She was the
embodiment of devotional service to
the Supreme Lord Krishna and all the Vedas glorify her.
Merely her glance
on any person could purify
him so that he could also have the same transcendental visions.
Analogies: It seems that all analogies are inappropriate except the one which is
readily accepted by my heart. On
the banks of the Jamuna, Sri Nandakumar Krishna sat surrounded by his
young cowherd boyfriends.
That same Krishna Chandra and the same cowherd boys were also sitting on
the banks of river Ganga.
Whoever beheld the charming face of the Lord at that time experienced
inexplicable ecstasy.
Words:
extirpation - to
remove or destroy totally; do away with; exterminate
erudite - characterized
by great knowledge
cynosure - something that strongly attracts
attention by its brilliance, interest, etc.
Answers: 1-B; 2-C;
3-C; 4-C; 5-D; 6-A; 7-A; 8-C; 9-D;
10-C; 11-A; 12-C; 13-C; 14-D; 15-D;
16-C 6- |