Verse 1.11.1

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.11.1:

জয জয মহা-মহেশ্বর গৌরচন্দ্র বাল্য-লীলায শ্রী-বিদ্যা-বিলাসের কেন্দ্র ॥ ১ ॥

जय जय महा-महेश्वर गौरचन्द्र बाल्य-लीलाय श्री-विद्या-विलासेर केन्द्र ॥ १ ॥

jaya jaya mahā-maheśvara gauracandra bālya-līlāya śrī-vidyā-vilāsera kendra || 1 ||

jaya jaya maha-mahesvara gauracandra balya-lilaya sri-vidya-vilasera kendra (1)

English translation:

(1) All glories to Śrī Gauracandra, the Lord of lords. In His childhood He was the reservoir of scholastic pastimes.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The phrase vidyā-vilāsera kendra is explained as follows: The lack of proper philosophy or knowledge is called avidyā. Although some people claim that to achieve knowledge of an incomplete object is vidyā, real knowledge is found only in knowledge of the Supreme Lord, who is complete. Although knowledge of Brahman and Paramātmā aspects of the Absolute Truth is part of spiritual knowledge, in a comparative study of

spiritual knowledge they are both limited and incomplete. The age for primary education of an ordinary human being is known as bālya, or childhood. The enactment of educational pastimes that we find in the pastimes of Gaurasundara at that age are like the childhood activities of the spiritual world. The arrangement for learning and teaching children’s literatures like grammar, the principle subject of language books, is simply based on giving and taking mundane knowledge. With the help of these children’s literatures one can enter into and realize knowledge regarding transcendental sound. Although different languages born from the research of mankind are meant for bringing one to knowledge of the Supreme, they are not actually directing one to knowledge of the Supreme. Ordinary people could not observe even a tinge of spiritual education in the educational pursuits of Śrī Gaurasundara in His childhood pastimes. Since Gaurasundara concealed Himself at that time, many people had no opportunity to see Him as the central figure of all spiritual knowledge. Although the objects of the external world, which act as servants of sensual knowledge, did not benefit the living entities through Śrī Gaurasundara’s studying grammar or teaching language, from the intellectual point of view He was nevertheless certainly present in each word as the Supersoul.