Chaitanya Bhagavata

by Bhumipati Dāsa | 2008 | 1,349,850 words

The Chaitanya Bhagavata 1.9.20, English translation, including a commentary (Gaudiya-bhasya). This text is similair to the Caitanya-caritamrita and narrates the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, proclaimed to be the direct incarnation of Krishna (as Bhagavan) This is verse 20 of Adi-khanda chapter 9—“Nityananda’s Childhood Pastimes and Travels to Holy Places”.

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.9.20:

গোকুল সৃজিযা তথি আনেন কৃষ্ণেরে মহামাযা দিলা লৈযা ভাণ্ডিলা কংসেরে ॥ ২০ ॥

गोकुल सृजिया तथि आनेन कृष्णेरे महामाया दिला लैया भाण्डिला कंसेरे ॥ २० ॥

gokula sṛjiyā tathi ānena kṛṣṇere mahāmāyā dilā laiyā bhāṇḍilā kaṃsere || 20 ||

gokula srjiya tathi anena krsnere mahamaya dila laiya bhandila kamsere (20)

English translation:

(20) They created a Gokula, and Kṛṣṇa was taken there and exchanged with Mahāmāyā, thereby tricking King Kaṃsa.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The pastimes mentioned in this verse are described in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.3.51-52) as follows: “When Vasudeva reached the house of Nanda Mahārāja, he saw that all the cowherd men were fast asleep.

Thus he placed his own son on the bed of Yaśodā, picked up her daughter, an expansion of Yogamāyā, and then returned to his residence, the prison house of Kaṃsa. Vasudeva placed the female child on the bed of Devakī, bound his legs with the iron shackles, and thus remained there as before.” The words dilā laiyā—“gave and took” refer to the point of view of Yaśodā, the resident of Vraja. In this drama the child playing Yaśodā gave the child playing Mahāmāyā to the child playing Vasudeva and took the child playing Kṛṣṇa from him.

Another reading of this passage is laiyā diyā—“took and gave,” which would then refer to the point of view of Vasudeva, the resident of Mathurā prison. In that case the child playing Vasudeva took the child playing Mahāmāyā from the child playing Yaśodā and gave the child playing Kṛṣṇa to her.

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