So yesterday we heard how Lord Caitanya met Amogha who was dying of Cholera and then Gopinatha Acarya also came there. And Amogha was feeling very bad and very repentive. He was slapping his own cheeks and saying, “O my Lord, by my mouth I have offended You.” So this is…
Text 282
caḍāite caḍāite gāla phulāila
hāte dhari' gopīnāthācārya niṣedhila
SP: Indeed, Amogha continued slapping his face over and over until his cheeks were swollen. Finally Gopīnātha Ācārya stopped him by catching hold of his hands.
MS: Amogha continued slapping his face over and over again until his cheeks were swollen. Finally Gopinatha Acarya stopped him by catching hold of his hands.
Text 283
prabhu āśvāsana kare sparśi' tāra gātra
sārvabhauma-sambandhe tumi mora sneha-pātra
SP: After this, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu pacified Amogha by touching his body and saying, "You are the object of My affection because you are the son-in-law of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya.
MS: Mahaprabhu pacified Amogha by touching his body and saying, “You are the object of My affection, because you are the son-in-law of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya.”
Text 284
sārvabhauma-gṛhe dāsa-dāsī, ye kukkura
seha mora priya, anya jana rahu dūra
SP: "Everyone in Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya's house is very dear to Me, including his maids and servants and even his dog. And what to speak of his relatives?
MS: Mahaprabhu continued, “Everyone in Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s house is very dear to Me, including his maids and servants and even his dog. What to speak of his relatives? So here you have the origin, the English phrase – If you love me love my dog.
Lord Caitanya loved Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. He appreciated his association and his surrender. He finally surrendered and came to the fold of Gaudiya Vaisnavism. He adopted the personal conception of God. He went so far to say, “Oh my dear Lord, I was absorbed in nyaya. I was absorbed in logic and reasoning and the impersonal viewpoint of philosophy but by Your mercy now, I have come to this divine conception of Radha Krsna prema seva in Vrndavana.”
Now I look back at the day of quibbling over Sanskrit and logic and nyaya. And at those times I was just eating dry oil cakes. Oil cakes, may be you don’t know so much. Aren’t familiar. But when they process mustard seeds or any type of seeds. They put through a press. They take mustard seed or sesame whatever and they put through some press. It is called the expeller. To expel the oil from the seed. Lots of heat is there and lots of pressure. Some grinding type of wheel or whatever. And they grind these seeds in this press and they press out the oil. So they squeeze all the oil. Thousands and thousands of kilos and kilos of mustard seeds. They get all the mustard seed oil out. They expel the oil from the seed.
And when all the oil is extracted from it what is left is some spent product and just some greenish, kind of a dry, wrinkly thing and they sell that in the market, it is called oil cake. And people buy it. It is kind of a dark brown, non-discreet color, army green brown type of a thing. And it is completely dry. They say it is oil cake, but there is no oil in it. Just dry. It is like compressed saw dust, compacted saw dust, there is no rasa, there is no oil, there is no juice, there is nothing in it. And that they sell and it is used to feed animals. Especially cows, they buy it for feeding cows or whatever. And they mix it with little water and reconstitute it and mix it with bhusa. Bhusa means dry wheat stock after they harvest the wheat. Then the stock dries out. It is straw basically, dry straw. They chop it up in the machine and mix it with this useless oil cake. It creates filler, roughage, cellulose and may be very minute amounts of nutrients there. And then the cow eats and feels, “Yes I had a good meal.” Lots of dry straw and little bit of oil cake and water. And sometimes a sprinkle of wheat flour. Sprinkle of atta, this is the basic fare for the cow around India.
So Sarvabhauma was saying, “I was chewing on dry oil cakes and now You have given me this nectar of Krsna consciousness.” So that Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya became very endeared to Lord Caitanya. He became one of the great devotees of the Lord. He was one of the leading exponents of Gaudiya Vaisnavism in Orissa. And all his followers who numbered in thousands, they joined his conversion to Gaudiya Vaisnavism, they followed his example.
So Lord Caitanya loved him very dearly and very much appreciated his association, He would regularly would take prasadaam in his house.
So Lord Caitanya is saying because you are connected, Amogha, as son-in-law of that Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. Because of your connection with Sarvabhauma, I also love you. And not only that, the maids and the dasas and dasis. Grihe dasa. Grihe dasi.The servant, the maid servants, the male and female servants in the house of Sarvabhauma, because they are connected with him, they are also very dear to Me. And not only that, even the kukura, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s kukura, his dog. Apparently outside of his compound wall, there were one or two dogs hanging around getting some Jagannatha prasadaam once in a while. Their names were ramu and shamu. May be, I don’t know. Some names they have.
So because they were connected with Sarvabhauma. Then, a friend of yours is a friend of Mine. These dogs are your friend? Ok. You are My friend, so now these dogs are also My friend. So this is the Vedic viewpoint, this whole idea of extended family. Extended family, joint family means extension of love. Love goes on and on expands like a ray of light passing through the sky, it goes on and on. So you see that there is an injunction when a kanya, a virgin daughter is given in charity to another family and becomes a lawful wife of some other man’s son. Then she is instructed, it is patni dharma, that she has to serve her husband and serve her father-in-law and her mother-in-law and her brothers-in-law and her sisters-in-law and all of the new family members that she now lives with and moves. She is supposed to serve them and love them and care for them just like her own immediate family members.
So this is how she has to spread her love and extend her love, not just extend it to her husband but to all the members of the new family. So Lord Caitanya in a similar way He has his extended family. Lord Caitanya’s immediate relationship through guru-siysa relationship, his siksa or his siksa disciple Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. So that is his immediate relationship, guru-sisya-sambandha.
But the love that the guru has for the sisya is also being extended to the maidservants of the sisya and the dog of the sisya. Even the dogs living in the outside compound of the house of Sarvabhauma, they are appreciated.
So Lord Caitanya is telling that to Amogha, “Listen, you are beating your cheeks because you think that with your mouth you offended Me by saying a wrong thing during lunch time. But I will tell you that you are actually very dear to Me, I love you dearly despite of your minor infraction or transgression against Me. I love you dearly because you have a relationship with My beloved devotee Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. Not only that, I love Sarvabhauma’s servants, his house dog and what to speak of his own relatives like the son-in-law.”
Now first Lord Caitanya is stating, “Its alright, I love you very dearly and because I love you, I am also going to accept you as one of My disciples. Because when you love someone, you give them good teachings. You may be chastise them, sometimes you correct them or sometimes you give them some beneficial instructions. This is the show of love.
Love doesn’t always mean rewarding, love also punishment. Parents sometimes punish the child and at other times they reward the child. But at all times the good interest of the child is in the heart of the mother and father. Parents are not envious of the child or angry with the child. They only have the best interest of the child in the mind and heart. So whatever they do is for the good of the child, for the promotion and progress of the child in the normal course of life so that he grows up to be very healthy and happy and balanced educated individual.
So Lord Caitanya now is telling Amogha, “I have accepted you.” Love me, love my dog. I love your relative, My beloved devotee. Now because I love you, I forgive, I forgive your transgression against Me. Your aparadha, your sandhu ninda against Me. But now to further show My love, I am going to instruct you.”
So here in this sequence, in this small anecdote, Lord Caitanya is exhibiting, giving a practical demonstration of the philosophy of Siksastakam. In Siksastakam Lord Caitanya is teaching trnad api sunicena taror api sahisnuna amanina manadena kirtaniya sada harih. He says, “We should think of ourselves lower than the straw in the street and be more tolerant than a tree. And be ready to give all respect to others and not expect their respect in return. So this is speciality of the tree of Lord Caitanya. After speaking the verse in Sanskrit, Lord Caitanya gives a purport in His own Bengali language in the Antya Lila.
So Amogha says therein, “O Lord Caitanya why are You using this analogy of tree in this verse, tolerant than a tree.” And He says, “Yes, now listen. The tree is very tolerant, it tolerates scorching heat in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. And not only that, it always gives. No matter how much the tree is personally suffering due to climatic inconvenience, the tree is always giving. It gives shade in the summer with its branches. And in the winter when the man is very cold, then the tree, although it is shivering and freezing and suffering so much, carrying heavy weights of ice and snow, the wood cutter comes and cuts the branches of the tree in order to heat his house and cook for his family. So I don’t say. No. No. Please don’t cut my branches. Don’t cut my limbs. I say yes you take. You need my wood. You need to cook your food and heat your house. So you be happy, you be comfortable, you be happy, let me suffer.
I am suffering as anyone would suffer if you cut their arms off. I am also suffering by cutting my arms and I am also suffering in this freezing cold. So you are cutting my arms off to heat your house and cook your food. So you are getting great comfort from me and causing me so much pain and so much distress and I continue to suffer in this freezing cold while you are inside your house, nice and cozy and warm by the heating quality of my arms which you have cut off. But I don’t complain.
Do you ever hear a tree complain? O you took my arms, you cut my limbs. Doesn’t complain! Gives. Always gives. This is the extreme definition of tolerance. Tolerance is one thing. Alright I tolerate. You insulted me. You critized me. You bit me. You talked about me behind my back and you spread so many false rumors about me. And you did so many terrible things to me. Ok, I tolerate. I won’t get back at you. And that’s one level of tolerance. But that’s not the level, that’s not taught by the tree. A higher level. A transcendental level of tolerance that Lord Caitanya is speaking of, and encouraging us to follow and develop this mood.
“Ok, you are doing all the bad things to me, let me do some good things to you. Let me praise you, let me do some service to you, and give some gifts to you or whatever. Be positive towards you.”
So this is the example Lord Caitanya is showing here in His interchange with Amogha, the aparadhi. Alright, at the time Amogha was offending Lord Caitanya during prasadaam at Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s house. And Sarvabhauma chased him with a stick, to chase away the offender from the lunch engagement. Lord Caitanya was laughing. He was simply laughing, “All this is very funny. Ok, I don’t take any offenses; it’s a very funny scene. This old man chasing his son-in-law down the street with stick. It is a very humorous site to Me. It’s not really a very big thing. Nothing to worry about. So He was laughing. He was relishing. So Lord Caitanya tolerated it and He forgave it. But now we see that not only did He tolerated it. And He is actually saying, “I tolerated it because I love you because of your connection with My beloved devotee Sarvabhauma. But now to show you even tolerance I am going to give you something. Not only did I not react. And tit for tat. You harmed Me or you offended Me. I didn’t choose the course of retaliation by harming you or offending you, or speaking badly of you. I rather tolerated with a laugh. I said, ok, very funny, no problem. But then providence could not tolerate. My Bhagavan, My Prananatha, My Jagadisa, Iswara, He could not tolerate offense to Me. So He punished You, I didn’t. God struck you down with Cholera. He wanted to kill you on the spot with Cholera. Because this is a just punishment. In the eyes of God this was a just punishment for your heinous offense against Me. But I forgive you. I am coming personally to you. I am laying My golden hand on your chest. And I am saying, how has such envy come to you? How has such matsarya come to you? Your heart is param pavitra? You are a brahmana, your heart should be supremely pure. O my dear friend, I forgive you. I tolerate whatever you said.”
So in the next verse you see, He is not only tolerating but He is giving all the fruits. From the next verse it shows how Lord Caitanya is exemplifying this trnad api verse. As tolerant as a tree. Tolerating and giving gifts at the same time. Its like the children in the summer time, they climb the tree and they sit under the tree and they eat their lunch. They sit under the tree and they take advantage of the tree. Nice cooling shade under the tree, they enjoy very nicely, they sleep there. Then one boy looks up and says, “Look look, at the top of the tree there are some apples. Come on boys, lets go.” And they start climbing up the tree and as they climb up the tree, they break up some branches. Even when they are playing they hang up one branch and it breaks as they hang and the tree tolerates. And the tree tolerates and then they go out and grab and take the fruits and throw them down at their friends and they all eat the sweet apples sitting under the tree. And the tree is tolerating the summer but distributing all its fruits freely, not asking, “O please give me some payment, please do something good for me. Ok break my branches. Play on me. Bend me. Take my fruits, be happy. Everyone be happy.”
So Lord Caitanya is tolerating and distributing His fruits by saying
Text 285
aparādha' nāhi, sadā lao kṛṣṇa-nāma
eta bali' prabhu āilā sārvabhauma-sthāna
SP: "Amogha, always chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and do not commit any further offenses." After giving Amogha this instruction, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Sārvabhauma's house."
MS: Mahaprabhu said, “Amogha always chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, sadā lao kṛṣṇa-nāma. Always take the holy name of Krsna. Do not commit any further offenses, aparādha' nāhi. So here Lord Caitanya giving guru siksa, guruagya. So this is mercy, tolerating and giving gifts and mercy. The tree tolerates and gives. So Mahaprabhu tolerated and gave. Such mercy. He gave him the most important instruction one could ever receive, avoid aparadha and take the holy name incessantly. kirtaniya sada hari. Sadā lao kṛṣṇa-nāma.
After giving Amogha this instruction Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to Sarvabhauma’s house.
Text 286
prabhu dekhi' sārvabhauma dharilā caraṇe
prabhu tāṅre āliṅgiyā vasilā āsane
SP: Upon seeing the Lord, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya immediately caught hold of His lotus feet. The Lord also embraced him and sat down.
MS: Upon seeing Lord Caitanya Sarvabhauma immediately caught hold of His feet, dharilā caraṇe. The Lord lifted him up and embraced him and then sat down.
Text 287
prabhu kahe,–amogha śiśu, kibā tāra doṣa
kene upavāsa kara, kene kara roṣa
SP: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu pacified Sārvabhauma, saying, "After all, Amogha, your son-in-law, is a child. So what is his fault? Why are you fasting, and why are you angry?
MS: Mahaprabhu pacified the distressed Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya by saying, “After all, Amogha, your son-in-law is a sisu. Like sisukumar. He is a sisu. Sisu means child. “He is only a child. So what is his fault? Why are you fasting and why are you angry? Because he was so disturbed. Mahaprabhu said, “kene upavāsa kara, kene kara roṣa.
Why have you given up food?
Because we heard that, he wanted to kill himself because of his offense of his son-in-law. He wanted to kill him, and of course that would be murder of a brahmana which is forbidden and sinful, against the sastra. So then he decided to fast to death. Upavasa which is also slowly killing oneself. But he chose that course of action because it is more suffering if you die of starvation then you just kill yourself, shoot your brains off with a shot gun. You suffer for a second. BOOM!!! But if you die of starvation, that is a very painful death. Dying of starvation is very painful.
So he said, “Alright, I will kill myself, although it may be against the sastras. I am going to kill myself by fasting. Because I feel that my son-in-law Amogha has caused intense pain to my beloved Lord by this ninda, this aparadha. And I want to take the reaction of that pain onto myself and I want to die a most painful death by fasting until death.” This is the most painful way to die. To die of starvation. Very painful. “So I want to counteract that grievous sin of my son-in-law by suffering the most incredible pain, killing myself by fasting.”
So Lord Caitanya is saying, “Why are you doing this? Why are you fasting like this? He is just a sisu, he is just an innocent boy, he doesn’t know better.” Of course he is married to Shati, the daughter of Sarvabhauma, he is not such a sisu. Sisu means five year old boy. He is a grown up man. Obviously. But Lord Caitanya is showing so much compassion and such a broad view! “Ah he is only a child, he doesn’t know anything, he doesn’t know better.”
So Lord Caitanya says, what is his fault? Kene dosa.
Text 288
uṭha, snāna kara, dekha jagannātha-mukha
śīghra āsi, bhojana kara, tabe mora sukha
SP: "Just get up and take your bath and go see the face of Lord Jagannātha. Then return here to eat your lunch. In this way I shall be happy.
MS: “Come on Sarvabhauma, just get up and take your bath, get fresh. Look you are all worried about this thing and excited. Now take a cold shower, get refreshed. Go see Jagannatha mukha. Dekhi Jagannatha mukha. See the blissful smiling beautiful face of Jagannatha and then you will forget all your troubles.”
And that is a fact. If you have any troubles in the world, go look at Jagannatha for a few hours and see how happy you become. Jagannatha means hasya natha. He is the Lord of happiness, the Lord of laughter. He is always smiling. God is always smiling. Did you ever see Jagannatha frowning?
It is not like Greek tragedy. They have two masks. Two masks to represent the Greek drama. There is the smiling mask and frowning mask. This is tragedy. This is life. Life is full of dualities. Material life is full of happiness and distress, sukha and dukha, joy and sorrow. This is the Greek drama. The sign of Greek drama, these two win masks.
So He is saying, “dekha jagannātha-mukha” Jagannatha is always smiling, hasya natha. The Lord of smiles. The Lord of happiness. Have a happy day. What do they say? Have a happy day? They used to have these stickers all around the place. Smile. And have Jagannatha’s face on them. And they would stick them all over. Everywhere. Sankirtan and what not!
So He is saying, get fresh, wash away your troubles, have a nice bath, go see Jagannatha and then come back and have some Jagannatha mahaprasada, take your lunch, and in this way I shall be happy.
In other words Lord Caitanya is saying, “Mora sukha, I will be very happy to see you become happy. And if you follow My instructions, you will become happy.” Take a bath, take a snana, become fresh, take Krsna darsan, take prasada, then anand. No more problems, no more difficulties. Clean the body by taking a bath, clean the mind by seeing the Lord and clean the heart by taking prasada. Ceto darpana marjanam. All things cleansed, clean the physical body by snana and pani. Clean the eyes and mind by seeing the pavitra darsan of Jagannatha’s smiling face. And clean the heart by Jagannatha mahaprasada.
mahaprasadae govinde namah brahmani vaisnave…
So this was a very nice prescription of Lord Caitanya, we can think of this whenever we are feeling unhappy and we feel some anger. Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, he was fasting. So the cure for fasting is eating. He was fasting for several days, upavasa. So Lord Caitanya said, forget the upavasa, śīghra āsi, bhojana. Forget the upavasa, upavasa means no food. Forget the fasting, go eat immediately, śīghra āsi, bhojana. Immediately take bhojana, immediately eat some bhoga. Immediately eat something. Go first take a bath.
So we can think also if we are not feeling well. We are feeling downtrodden or distressed, take a bath. Take a fresh bath and become fresh. Because water is purifying. Krsna says in gita, of purifiers I am the wind, it is very purifying. But water is also purifying. Just contact with water purifies. So take a bath, fresh, nice, cool water and the body feels very fresh. And when the body feels fresh then the mind feels something fresh.
But even then, although the body is fresh, the mind may have some distress, then take darsan of Krsna. So beautifully dressed, beautiful tulsi mala and flower mala and nice smiling face and fragrance, incense, everything. And it is very refreshing for the mind. And then you sit down take prasada. What a perfect combination to remove any anxiety. What a perfect prescription to remove all distress. Take a bath, become sattvic, clean. Clean clothes, take the Lord’s darsan and honor His wonderful sanctified foodstuffs, mahaprasadaam. And if that doesn’t work then take rest.
That usually follows prasadaam anyway and after that when you wake up, “Oh I was troubled? I don’t remember.” If you have any difficulty or trouble, O its been so hard, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, its so hard work, the boss, the work load, the people, the customers, the family. Ok now, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, ok then what is the solution? Sunday love feast of ISKCON temple around the world, worldwide and take the mahaprasada and chaka chak. Akantha puriya. Akantha puri means eat up to the neck, then all your troubles are forgotten. It’s Prabhupada’s formula. Nice formula.
So this is a nice command, order, this is guru agya. The disciple is Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya and he is been acting somewhat independently, choosing to fast as a response to his son-in-law’s aparadha to Lord Caitanya. And now the guru, the siksa guru has come on the scene. “So listen forget it, take your bath, break your fast, become clean, fresh cloth, take darsan of Jagannatha, honor some prasadaam, you will feel much better. This is My order.”
Text 290
prabhu-pada dhari' bhaṭṭa kahite lāgilā
marita' amogha, tāre kene jīyāilā
SP: Catching hold of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's lotus feet, Bhaṭṭācārya said, "Why did You bring Amogha back to life? It would have been better had he died."
MS: Catching hold of Mahaprabhu’s feet Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya said, “Why did you bring Amogha back to life, it would have been better if he was dead.”
Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya is really persistent. He is not exactly trnad api sunicena, he is not so tolerant, he is really holding onto his. They say a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. So this is the fine example of that that Sarvabhauma, Lord Caitanya is trying to convince him against his will. “Forget about your son, take prasada, it is ok, he is only a sisu, he is just a child, it is not a big thing.” He says, “Yes, ok, You say all that. And ok You forgive him and You are blessing him but I still think he should be dead. I thought he should be dead yesterday and two days ago when he got Cholera and I thought O very good, this is Krsna’s mercy and now You are forgiving him, but I still think he should be dead.” So this is a perfect example of a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.
So now Mahaprabhu again tries to use the same line of argument. But tries to increase the intensity of the argument by saying
Text 291
prabhu kahe,–amogha śiśu, tomāra bālaka
bālaka-doṣa nā laya pitā, tāhāte pālaka
SP: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Amogha is a child and your son. The father does not take the faults of his son seriously, especially when he is maintaining him.
MS: It is a very beautiful Bengali. prabhu kahe,–amogha śiśu, tomāra bālaka bālaka-doṣa nā laya pitā, tāhāte pālaka
Listen Sarvabhauma, Amogha is a child, again sisu, and he is your son, tomāra bālaka. He is your balaka. He is your son. The father does not take the faults of his son seriously, especially when he is maintaining him.” Palaka. Palana means maintainer. I want to be a palya dasi manjari, a protected maidservant. I want to be maintained by Radharani, I want to be protected by Radharani. So the term is called palya dasi.Dasi means maidservant.
That’s our only ambition. Our only ambition is to be a protected maidservant of Radharani. Nothing else! Blow out any other idea or conception. Blow it out. Kick it out. Don’t even think about it. Yes, I accept this unequivocally without any argument. Yes Radharani, I want to be your eternal palya dasi. I want to be your protected maidservant. I want to be protected and maintained by You eternally. Enslaved in Your divine service in the grooves of Vrndavana. Nothing else. Nothing more and nothing less.
Text 292
ebe 'vaiṣṇava' haila, tāra gela 'aparādha'
tāhāra upare ebe karaha prasāda
SP: "Now that he has become a Vaiṣṇava, he is offenseless. You can bestow your mercy upon him without hesitation."
MS: Mahaprabhu said, “Now that your son-in-law has become a Vaisnava, he is offenseless. You can bestow your mercy upon him without your hesitation.” So by Mahaprabhu’s mercy, he had become a Vaisnava. So that means apparently, beforehand, Amogha, like his father-in-law was some type of brahmana. He was an Orissan brahmana and he was of the advaitana sampradaya. A smarta brahmana, like his father-in-law. So now he by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, by the touch and instructions of Lord Caitanya…Lord Caitanya says aparadha nahi sarva lao Krsna nama. That was his initiation. You could say initiating him or upgrading him to Vaisnavism. Lord Caitanya said, “Stop all your aparadhas.” Because being a smarta and being a Mayavadi is basically a position of aparadha towards Krsna. Directly or indirectly. Lord Caitanya said, “Stop all your aparadhas and take the holy name of the Lord, sada lao Krsna nama.
So this is Vaisnava. Vaisnava, he worships the Lord. He does not offend the Lord. He does not offend the Lord’s devotees and sada lao Krsna nama. He is always taking the name of Krsna, Kirtaniya sada hari, Satatam kirtanyanto mam yatantasya ca drda vrta, Krsna says in (Gita 9.14) that a Vaisnava, a devotee of the Lord, is always chanting the name of the Lord in kirtan and drda vrta. And he has a very strong and determined vow to always serve the Lord, moment to moment, day to day. This is a Vaisnava. He is a worshiper and servant of Visnu.
So by Lord Caitanya’s merciful instruction and contact, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s son-in-law Amogha had been transformed and converted to the Vaisnava conception. He had been elevated to the Krsna conception.
So now Caitanya Mahaprabhu is enlightening Sarvabhauma to that fact. “As you became converted from that dry logician. You were a dry logician. An advaitana. A dry logician. A smarta. As you, previously received My mercy and became a param Vaisnava. I have given that same mercy to your son-in-law. So now he is also like you. He is also Vaisnava. So please, he is offenseless. So please bestow your mercy on him. Don’t be so harsh. Don’t wish that he is dead. Don’t keep holding onto this idea. I wish he were dead. I wish he were dead. I wish he were dead. Ok, forget it. It’s over. Wake up. Hey Sarvabhauma! Wake up. The dream is over. Amogha is ok now. I forgave him. He is not an aparadhi anymore. His aparadhas are finished. He is a Vaisnava. He has taken the holy name. It’s over. Be kind to him. Forgive and forget. Show your mercy to him. Without hesitation, tahare upahare abi jara prasada. Show your prasada.” So this is Lord Caitanya’s inducement to Sarvabhauma. Be merciful. Show your Vaisnava mercy. krpata, tendency to be merciful.
Text 293
bhaṭṭa kahe,–cala, prabhu, īśvara-daraśane
snāna kari' tāṅhā muñi āsichoṅ ekhane
SP: Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya said, " Please go, my Lord, to see Lord Jagannātha. After taking my bath, I shall go there and then return."
MS: Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya said, “Please go My Lord to see Lord Jagannatha. After taking my bath, I shall also go there and then return.”
Text 294
prabhu kahe,–gopīnātha, ihāñi rahibā
iṅho prasāda pāile, vārtā āmāke kahibā
SP: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then told Gopīnātha, "Stay here and inform Me when Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya has taken his prasāda."
MS: Mahaprabhu then told Gopinatha, “Stay here and then inform me when Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya has taken his prasada.”
Text 295
eta bali' prabhu gelā īśvara-daraśane
bhaṭṭa snāna darśana kari' karilā bhojane
SP: After saying this, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to see Lord Jagannātha. Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya completed his bath, went to see Lord Jagannātha and then returned to his house to accept food.
MS: After saying this Mahaprabhu went to take darsan of Lord Jagannatha. Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya completed his bath and he went to see Jagannatha and returned to his house to accept food as per the order of Lord Caitanya.
Text 296
sei amogha haila prabhura bhakta 'ekānta'
preme nāce, kṛṣṇa-nāma laya mahā-śānta
SP: Thereafter, Amogha became an unalloyed devotee of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He danced in ecstasy and peacefully chanted the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
MS: Amogha became an unalloyed devotee of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Hari bol! Miracle. Miracle worker. Lord Caitanya. He was on the verge of death, stricken down by Cholera because of his heinous offense against the Lord. And by the all merciful hand of doya. Sri Krsna Caitanya doyamoya. By Doyal Caitanya’s causeless mercy, He had forgiven him and turned him into an ekanta bhakta. Ek anta, only one end. Ekanta bhakta means he has no other objective. His only aim and objective is bhakti – devotion, love, service to the Lord, moment to moment. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace. prabhura bhakta 'ekānta' He became an ekanta bhakta of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And what was the result of that? Amogha was dancing in ecstasy. preme nāce, kṛṣṇa-nāma laya mahā-śānta
.He became mahā-śānta. Very very peaceful, very purified. Calm in his mind. Very calm and pacified. No envy, no anger, no greed, no enemies, no antagonism in his mind. He was taking the holy name. prema nache, and dancing in love. He became an unflinching, ekanta, unflinching devotee of the Lord.
Prabhupada says in the translation, unalloyed devotee. And in the word for word it says, “He became an unflinching devotee. And dancing in ecstasy, prema nache, dancing in love of Krsna.
Text 297
aiche citra-līlā kare śacīra nandana
yei dekhe, śune, tāṅra vismaya haya mana
SP: In this way, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu performed His various pastimes. Whoever sees them or hears of them becomes truly astonished.
MS: In this way Mahaprabhu performed His various pastimes. Whoever sees the various pastimes of Lord Caitanya or hears them being described becomes truly astonished. vismaya haya mana. The mind fills with astonishment. Are you all astonished? Are you all feeling very astonished by hearing these pastimes.
Text 298
aiche bhaṭṭa-gṛhe kare bhojana-vilāsa
tāra madhye nānā citra-caritra-prakāśa
SP: Thus Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu enjoyed eating in Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya's house. Within that one pastime, many wonderful pastimes were manifest.
MS: Thus Mahaprabhu enjoyed eating at Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s house. Within that one pastime, many wonderful pastimes were manifested, nānā citra-caritra-prakāśa.
Text 299
sā sārvabhauma-prema yāṅhā ha-ilā vidita
rvabhauma-ghare ei bhojana-carita
SP: These are the peculiar characteristics of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's pastimes. Thus the Lord ate in Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya's house, and in this way Sārvabhauma's love for the Lord has become very well known.
MS: These are the peculiar characteristics of Śrī Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes. And thus the Lord ate at Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s house and in this way Sarvabhauma’s love for the Lord has become very well known. And there is one purport here by Srila Prabhupada, he quoting a book called Śākhā-nirṇayāmṛta
amogha-paṇḍitaṁ vande
śrī-gaureṇātma-sātkṛtam
prema-gadgada-sāndrāṅgaṁ
pulakākula-vigraham
MS: I offer my obeisances unto Amogha pandita who is accepted by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. As a result of this acceptance pandita Amogha was always merged in the ecstatic love and he manifested ecstatic symptoms such as choking of the voice and standing of the hairs on his body.
Text 300
ṣāṭhīra mātāra prema, āra prabhura prasāda
bhakta-sambandhe yāhā kṣamila aparādha
SP: Thus I have related the ecstatic love of Sārvabhauma's wife, who is known as the mother of Ṣāṭhī. I have also related Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's great mercy, which He manifested by excusing Amogha's offense. He did so due to Amogha's relationship with a devotee.
MS: Thus I have related the ecstatic love of Sarvabhauma’s wife who is known as the mother of Shati. I have also related Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s great mercy which He manifested by excusing Amogha’s great offense. Mahaprabhu did so due to Amogha’s relationship with a devotee.
Purport, Amogha was an offender because he blasphemed Lord Caitanya. As a result he was about to die of Cholera. Amogha did not receive an opportunity to be freed from all offenses after being attacked by this disease. But Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya and his wife were very dear to the Lord. Because of their relationship with Lord Caitanya, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu excused the offender Amogha. Instead of being punished by the Lord, Amogha was saved by Lord Caitanya’s mercy. All of this was due to the unflinching love of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Externally Amogha was Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s son-in-law and he was being maintained by Sarvabhauma. Consequently if Amogha were not excused, his punishment would have directly affected Sarvabhauma. Amogha’s death would have indirectly brought about the death of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya.
So this story is also an example of mercy above justice. The justice was, he made a sever offense and God was justly punishing him by striking him down with Cholera with the intention of killing him. This was the justice. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. But the mercy above justice, the mercy of Lord Caitanya interceded and overturned the will of providence. Providence had one will but Lord Caitanya being a most merciful expression of a devotee, acting as a most merciful devotee. The mercy of a devotee can overturn the will of God because the mercy of the devotee is greater than the will of God.
So this story also shows that point, mercy above justice. And of course there is another principle, love above power which we discussed.
Text 301
śraddhā kari' ei līlā śune yei jana
acirāt pāya sei caitanya-caraṇa
SP: Whoever hears these pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu with faith and love will attain the shelter of the Lord's lotus feet very soon.
MS: Whoever hears these pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu with faith and love will attain the shelter of Lord’s lotus feet very soon. acirāt, acirena means very quickly, śraddhā kari' with faith.
So this concludes the story of Lord Caitanya delivers Amogha the offender.