Introduction to chapter 1

This chapter describes Mahāprabhu’s transformations of ecstatic love after His return from Gayā-dhāma, His activities of explaining to His students all words in relation to Kṛṣṇa, and His instructions on the congregational chanting of the holy names of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

After returning from Gayā-dhāma, the Lord began to manifest ecstatic symptoms resulting from feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa while describing the glories of Gayā. The Lord described topics regarding the holy place to the devotees. This chapter includes descriptions of the Lord’s meeting with devotees headed by Śrīvāsa, Śrīmān, Gadādhara, and Sadāśiva at the house of Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī; their astonishment and crying on seeing the Lord’s ecstasy in separation from Kṛṣṇa; the Lord’s visit to the houses of Gaṅgādāsa Paṇḍita and Mukunda Sañjaya; mother Śacīs anxiety for her son and her prayers to Kṛṣṇa on His behalf; the Lord’s explanation to His students that the name of Kṛṣṇa is the only purport of all words and scriptures; the Lord’s taking bath in the Ganges; the Lord’s glorification to His mother, while eating, that all scriptures are related to Kṛṣṇa; the Lord’s description of the godless conditioned soul’s pathetic condition within the womb; the Lord’s explanation to His students that everything is related to Kṛṣṇa; the Lord’s boasting during His conversation with Gaṅgādāsa Paṇḍita that His explanations on the scriptures are incomprehensible to logicians; the Lord’s manifestation of ecstatic symptoms upon hearing Ratnagarbha Ācārya recite with devotion a verse in glorification of Kṛṣṇa; the Lord’s explanation to His students that verbs are the energies of Lord Kṛṣṇa; the Lord’s blessing and the students’ crying when the Lord thereafter bids them goodbye; the author’s lamentation on remembering all these pastimes of Gaura; and, finally, the Lord’s instructions to His students on the process for performing kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana.