Verse 1.17.17

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.17.17:

প্রাকৃত-লোকের প্রায বৈকুণ্ঠ-ঈশ্বর লোক-শিক্ষা দেখাইতে ধরিলেন জ্বর ॥ ১৭ ॥

प्राकृत-लोकेर प्राय वैकुण्ठ-ईश्वर लोक-शिक्षा देखाइते धरिलेन ज्वर ॥ १७ ॥

prākṛta-lokera prāya vaikuṇṭha-īśvara loka-śikṣā dekhāite dharilena jvara || 17 ||

prakrta-lokera praya vaikuntha-isvara loka-siksa dekhaite dharilena jvara (17)

English translation:

(17) In order to instruct people, the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha displayed a fever like an ordinary person.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The sac-cid-ānanda body of Viṣṇu, who is the controller of māyā, is

never subjected to transformations like happiness and distress as experienced by ordinary mortal beings. One who will consider the fully sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha of Śrī Caitanyadeva as equal to that of an ordinary living entity will certainly sink in the mire of grave offenses.

Fearing that living entities who are forced to accept the fruits of their material activities, who are qualified for being punished by Yamarāja, and who are subjected to bewilderment and death would consider their mundane bodies spiritual and that prākṛta-sahajiyās would consider themselves transcendentally liberated Vaiṣṇavas, the Lord, in order to prohibit this and instruct people, enacted the pastime of suffering from fever, as generally experienced by godless living entities. In order that ignorant persons bewildered by māyā would become more illusioned by seeing these pastimes of Śrī Gaurasundara, and to exhibit the insignificance of their bewildered intelligence, Gaurasundara voluntarily accepted the affliction of fever.