Chapter XXVII - The Master's last year on earth

Thus did the Master in love-madness for Krishna lament night and day. Jagadananda Pandit was very dear unto Him, and was every year sent by Him to Nadia to console his forlorn mother Shachi. "Go to Nadia", so the Master charged Jagadananda, "convey my salutation to mother, touch her feet on my behalf. Tell her to remember that I go there daily (in the spirit) to bow to her. That I have taken the sannyasi's vow leaving her service only shows that I am mad and have really undone all dharma. Mother! pardon this fault of mine. I am obedient to thee, I am thy son. It is at thy bidding that I am living at Niláchal. I cannot leave thee while life remains to me." The Master presented to His mother (at the Puri's suggestion) the consecrated cloth that He had received at the Gopa-lilá with choice prasád of Jagannáth. He was the crowning example of filial piety, for even though a sannyasi He served His mother.

After receiving an enigmatic message in verse from the Acharya Goswámi (of Shantipur) through Jagadananda when he returned to Puri, the Master plunged into a deeper trance. His ecstasy at Krishna-separation was doubled. He raved frantically day and night, identifying Himself with Radha. Suddenly imagining that Krishna was leaving Brindában for Mathura, He (in the character of Radha) was seized with dizziness and developed madness, mourning deliriously while clasping the neck of Rámánanda and addressing Swarup as one of the sakhis (i.e., Radha's companions). He repeated the verse which Radha had spoken to Vishákhá (her handmaid) and held forth on it.

Thus did Gauránga weep, saying, "Alas! alas for Krishna! where hast thou gone?" Swarup and Rámánanda consoled Him in many ways, singing joyous songs, which calmed Him a little.

These lamentations were carried on to midnight. Then Swarup laid the Master to bed in His room. Rámánanda left for his home, and Govinda lay down at the door of the room. Love for Krishna was thrilling the Master's heart; He awoke and began to sing the Name; the pang of separation convulsed His heart, and He began to rub His face against the wall; His face, cheeks, nose were all lacerated, but in the vehemence of ecstasy He knew not of the blood streaming down.

All night He battered His face thus. Swarup, noticing the groaning sound, lighted a lamp, entered the room and saw His face. In intense grief the two brought Him back to His bed and soothed Him. Swarup asked, "Why didst thou do this?" The Master answered, "I could not contain myself in the room in my [love] anxiety. I rushed in search of the door in order to go out very soon. I could not find the door and only knocked my face against the four walls. It was torn, it bled, but still I could not go out."

Then, Swarup in anxiety took counsel of the other bhaktas next day and made Shankar Pandit sleep in the Master's room, nursing His feet. In fear of Shankar He could not leave the room nor knock His face against the walls. These feats Raghunath-das has described in his Chaitanya-staba-kalpa-briksha.

One Baishakh night, when it was full moon, the Master went with His bhaktas to visit the great Jagannáth-vallabh park. The trees and creepers were in full bloom as at Brindában, the green parrots, bees and cuckoos were discoursing [love]. The Zephyr was blowing laden the scent of flowers, and freshening made the tree-tops dance. Under the bright moonlight the plants and creepers blazed in a silvery sheen. Spring pervaded the atmosphere. The sight threw the Master into a rapture. He bade the stanza Lalita labanga latá [of the Git-Govinda, canto ix. verse 6] be sung, and moved up and down dancing with His followers. Passing thus from tree to tree, He came under an Ashoka tree and lo! he beheld Krishna standing there. He rushed to meet Krishna, who disappeared laughing. The Master, losing Krishna after having caught sight of him, fell down in a faint. The odour of Krishna's person filled the garden; it took away the Master's senses, it maddened Him, and He began to sing and hold forth on the verses that Radha, enamoured of the scent of Krishna's body, had addressed to her sakhi.

Swarup and Rámánanda sang, the Master danced in rapture, and thus the night wore on to dawn.

 

The Last Charge To The Apostles

Thrilled with delight, the Master spoke, "Listen, Swarup and Rámánanda Ray! the supreme healer in this iron age is sankirtan of the Name. It is [equivalent to] the Vedic sacrifice, and the true sacrificer in it is rewarded with Krishna's feet. Sankirtan enables us to conquer sin and the world; it creates purity of soul, all kinds of bhakti and devotional practice. Chant the Name at meals, in bed, here there and every where. It is not restricted to a particular place or time, it works everywhere. It bears the name of sarva-shakti (omnipotent).

"Listen, Rámánanda, to the way in which the Name should be recited in order to conceive a passion for it. The devotee, if high of rank, should regard himself as lowly like the grass. He should learn patience from the tree, which does not cry out even when it is cut down and which does not beg for water even when it is perishing of drought, but on the other hand gives away its possessions to all who ask of it, bears sun and rain itself but protects others from them. The Vaishnav, however high, should be free from pride; he should venerate all forms of life as animated by Krishna. Take Krishna's Name thus, and you will be inspired with prem."

As He spoke He was filled with growing meekness of spirit and began to beg for pure bhakti at Krishna's hands. The true devotee, as is the law of love, holds that he has not even a particle of faith in Krishna! "Lord! I ask not for wealth or followers or the gift of poesy. Give me in birth after birth only unreasoning instinctive devotion to God."

In utter lowliness of spirit He proclaimed Himself a worldly-minded creature and prayed to be inspired with a slave's devotion (dásya bhakti). "O Nanda's son! Have pity on this thy servant sunk in the dread ocean (of the World)! Look on me as a particle of dust on thy lotus-feet!" Next, He was seized with the anxiety of humility and begged of Krishna, "Without the wealth of thy love my life is poor and futile. Make me thy slave and give me the treasure of thy love as my wages."

Then came the mood of melancholy-humility:

"My eyes are running with tears like the rainy sky. A moment is as long to me as an aeon. The absence of Govinda (Krishna) has made the universe empty to me!"

In this way He recited His own eight Sanskrit verses on the different moods of bhakti and expounded them all. For twelve years He thus tasted the sweets of Krishna-love day and night with His two friends. These acts of His are endless, even a thousand narratives cannot arrive at their end. Therefore, I bow my head and conclude His lilás here. I bow at the feet of all my Vaishnav hearers and end my history of Chaitanya's acts.

The last scene (translated from the Chaitanya-mangal of Jayananda, p. 150):

When dancing at the Bijayá of the Car festival in the month of Ashárh, His left toe was suddenly pierced by a brick [lying on the road]. When Adwaita left for Bengal, the Master secretly told him [of His coming disappearance]. With all His followers He sported in the water of the Narendra tank [for the last time]. On the sixth day of the moon, the pain in His toe grew severer, and He was forced to take to His bed in the garden. Here He told the Pandit Goswámi that He would leave the earth next night at 10 o clock. Celestial garlands of many-coloured flowers were thrown on Him from the unseen. Celestial singers (vidyádhar) began to dance on the highway. The gods began to cry out, "Bring the heavenly chariot!" The Master mounted into Vishnu's car with the figure of Garuda on its spire. His material body lay behind on the earth, while He went to Vaikuntha (Vishnu's heaven). Many of His servants killed themselves by serpent-bite. Meteors and thunderbolts fell on the earth. At the news Nityánanda and Adwaita Acharya, Vishnupriya and Shachi swooned away. Purushottam and other servitors of the Master grew speechless at His departure.

Nityánanda consoled the disciples and vowed before them, "We will keep the Name alive. We will make all men down to the Chandáls, Vaishnavs. We will not differentiate [low] castes like the Chandáls or Muslims, but will give them all love and bhakti and make them all dance [with us] at kirtan. We will make the realms of Bengal and Orissa blessed." The Vaishnavs shouted applause at his words.