Verse 1.2.35

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.2.35:

ভব-রোগ-বৈদ্য শ্রী মুরারি-নাম যাঙ্র ‘শ্রীহট্ট’ এ-সব বৈষ্ণবের ‘অবতার’ ॥ ৩৫ ॥

भव-रोग-वैद्य श्री मुरारि-नाम याङ्र ‘श्रीहट्ट’ ए-सब वैष्णवेर ‘अवतार’ ॥ ३५ ॥

bhava-roga-vaidya śrī murāri-nāma yāṅra ‘śrīhaṭṭa’ e-saba vaiṣṇavera ‘avatāra’ || 35 ||

bhava-roga-vaidya sri murari-nama yanra ‘srihatta’ e-saba vaisnavera ‘avatara’ (35)

English translation:

(35) They, along with Śrī Murāri Gupta, who cures the living entities of their material disease, all took birth in Śrīhaṭṭa.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The word bhava-roga refers to the disease of material life. In other words, bhava refers to the material miseries born of attachment to one’s home. In this connection one should refer to Jīva Gosvāmī’s Laghu- toṣaṇī commentary on the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.51.53).

Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has referred to Murāri Gupta as a vaidya, or doctor. By doing so, he indicated that Murāri exhibited great compassion on the living entities who have been averse to the Lord since time immemorial by destroying the seed of nescience and thus curing their disease of rebelliousness. Śrī Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has never referred to Murāri Gupta as a doctor of simply the material body. The incarnation of Vyāsadeva and prime example of one recording the activities of the Lord and His devotees has thus confirmed that it is totally prohibited, hellish, and inauspicious to consider Lord Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas as belonging to a particular caste and mode of nature. They are in fact transcendental spiritual beings.

The words vaidya śrī murāri refer to Śrī Murāri Gupta, the writer of the celebrated book Śrī Caitanya-carita. He appeared in a doctor’s family in Śrīhaṭṭa and later became a resident of Śrī Navadvīpa. He was elder to Śrīmān Mahāprabhu. In his house the Lord exhibited His form of Varāha (Madhya-khaṇḍa, Chapter 3), and during the Lord’s mahā-prakāśa pastimes the Lord revealed to him His form as Rāma (Madhya-khaṇḍa, Chapter 10). Once in the house of Śrīvāsa, when Murāri Gupta saw both Nityānanda and Gaurasundara, he offered his obeisances first to

Mahāprabhu and then to Nityānanda Prabhu. Seeing this, Mahāprabhu told him, “You have violated proper etiquette by offering obeisances first to Me.” Later that night the Lord appeared to him in a dream and glorified the position of Nityānanda. Early the next day Murāri offered obeisances first to Nityānanda and then Mahāprabhu. This pleased Mahāprabhu, who then gave him His chewed betel nut remnants. One day Murāri offered fried rice to Mahāprabhu, and the next day the Lord displayed His pastime of having indigestion from eating that indigestible rice. The Lord therefore came to Murāri Gupta for treatment and drank water from his waterpot, saying, “This is the only remedy.” Another day, when Śrīmān Mahāprabhu accepted a four-armed form in the house of Śrīvāsa, Murāri manifested the mood of Garuḍa. The Lord then sat on his shoulders and exhibited His opulent pastimes.

Once Murāri considered that when the Lord disappeared, separation from Him would be unbearable, so he decided to give up his body while the Lord was still present in this world. The Lord, who is the Supersoul, forbade him from this act (Madhya-khāṇḍa, Chapter 20). On another occasion, Murāri offered prayers to the Lord when He accepted the form of Varāha in Murāri’s house (Antya-khaṇḍa, Chapter 4). His humble entreaties are found in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Chapter 11, verses 152 to 158. His attachment to Lord Rāmacandra is mentioned in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Chapter Fifteen, verses 137 to 157.

The words vaiṣṇavera ‘avatāra’ indicate that the Vaiṣṇavas belong to Goloka. They do not possess gross or subtle designations. These residents of Goloka appear in this material world for the benefit of the living entities. The Vaiṣṇavas accept gross and subtle bodies to bewilder the demons and accomplish some task; those bodies are not their constitutional forms. If fruitive workers consider a Vaiṣṇava low-class because of his external appearance, this improper vision makes them offenders. Everyone within eight hundred thousand miles from where a Vaiṣṇava appears or incarnates in this world is freed from all material

conceptions. They then become relieved from the misunderstandings of considering the Vaiṣṇavas as born in a particular caste, as belonging to a particular creed or āśrama, as being simply ordinary scholars, or as being objects of mundane enjoyment. The real sadhus who worship Śrī Hari and give proper respect to the demigods and brāhmaṇas never fall under the clutches of demonic vehement karmis by disrespecting the Vaiṣṇavas and thereby cleansing and widening their path to hell.