Introduction to chapter 18

This chapter describes how Mahāprabhu expressed a desire to enact the pastimes of Vraja, the Lord’s order to Sadāśiva and Buddhimanta Khān to arrange the necessary costumes, the Lord’s assigning who will dress as whom, the Lord’s declaration regarding who is qualified to see the dance, Advaita Prabhu and Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita’s expression of their disqualification for seeing the dance, the Lord’s awarding everyone the qualification to see the dance, the Lord and the devotees’ arrival at the house of Candraśekhara for enacting the dance, some Vaiṣṇavas’ dressing in costumes, the Lord’s dancing in the dress of the supreme goddess (ādyā- śakti), the purpose behind His dressing as the supreme goddess, Gadādhara’s dancing in the dress of Ramā, the devotees’ offering of prayers, everyone’s crying in separation at the end of night, the Lord’s breast-feeding of all the devotees in the mood of a mother, and the effulgence pervading the house of Candraśekhara for seven days.

One day Mahāprabhu expressed to the devotees a desire to enact the pastimes of Vraja and ordered Sadāśiva and Buddhimanta Khān to arrange various items such as conchshells, bodices, silk saris, and ornaments. He also designated which associate would wear which dress. When on the Lord’s order Buddhimanta Khān arranged the required costumes, the Lord became extremely pleased. In the course of expressing to the devotees His desire to dance as Lakṣmī, the Lord said, “No one other than self-controlled persons are qualified to see this dance.” Upon hearing these words from the Lord, all the devotees became distressed. When Advaita Prabhu and Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita expressed their inability to see the dance because they were not in control of their senses, Mahāprabhu smiled and said that on that particular day, they would all be self-controlled yogis qualified to see the Lord’s dancing. By the Lord’s mercy, they would not be bewildered.

To enact this pastime, Mahāprabhu and His associates assembled at the house of Candraśekhara. Mother Śacī, Viṣṇupriyā, and the family members of the assembled Vaiṣṇavas were all brought there to see the Lord dance as Lakṣmī. When the devotees heard the Lord’s instructions on how to dress, they became overwhelmed with ecstasy. Śrī Advaita Ācārya as an expert jester began dancing in various ways, Mukunda as an expert singer began to sing the glories of Kṛṣṇa, and Haridāsa as a constable with a stick in his hand began to caution everyone to be prepared to see the Lord dance in the dress of Lakṣmī. Śrīvāsa came on stage dressed as Nārada and indicated his actual identity by introducing himself as Nārada, who travels throughout innumerable universes. He explained that he had just gone to Vaikuṇṭha to see Kṛṣṇa, but found that everything there was vacant. When he then heard about Kṛṣṇa’s advent in Nadia, he left there and came to Navadvīpa, where he entered the pastime of the Lord’s dancing in the dress of Lakṣmī.

Mother Śacī and the wives of the Vaiṣṇavas became absorbed in ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa as they watched Śrīvāsa’s wonderful dramatic enactment of pastimes. When mother Śacī fell unconscious in ecstasy on seeing the attractive form of Śrīvāsa, all the assembled chaste ladies revived her by chanting Kṛṣṇa’s names in her ear. In this way everyone inside and outside the house became overwhelmed with ecstatic love and forgot themselves. Meanwhile, inside the house Viśvambhara dressed Himself as Rukmiṇī. Absorbed in her mood and considering Himself the daughter of the King of Vidarbha, He recited a verse from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam describing the contents of the letter Rukmiṇī sent to Kṛṣṇa. With tears in His eyes, He pretended to write a letter on the ground with His finger.

Upon hearing this verse, the Vaiṣṇavas began to cry and chant the name of Hari in ecstasy. After passing about three hours of drama in this way, Gadādhara and Brahmānanda came on stage in the mood and dress of Vraja damsels. Gadādhara then began to dance in ecstatic love as Ramā, the goddess of fortune. Meanwhile, Mahāprabhu as the supreme goddess and Nityānanda as an elderly grandmother came on stage. According to their respective sentiments, some saw the Lord as Kamalā, some saw Him as Lakṣmī, some saw Him as Sītā, and some saw Him as Mahāmāyā.

Even those who saw the Lord throughout their life were unable to recognize Him. What to speak of others, even mother Śacī was unable to recognize the Lord. At that time, by the Lord’s mercy, everyone felt as if He was their mother, so they became overwhelmed with ecstatic love.

No one could understand what mood the Lord was dancing in, but after hearing His various statements, various persons felt He was dancing in the mood of Rukmiṇī, Mahācaṇḍī, or Śrī Rādhā. In this way He taught everyone about the characteristics and glories of His various energies. When the Lord was dancing as the supreme goddess, Nityānanda fell unconscious to the ground and all the devotees began to cry loudly in ecstatic love. After a while Viśvambhara took the Deity of Gopīnātha on His lap and in the mood of Mahā-Lakṣmī sat down on the throne. By the order of the Lord, the devotees offered Him various prayers and begged for His merciful glance. When the Vaiṣṇavas and their chaste wives noticed that dawn had broke, they could not maintain their composure out of lamentation. On seeing the Vaiṣṇavas cry, the Lord, as the mother of the universe, began to breast-feed them. As a result, all their miseries were vanquished and they became intoxicated with the mellows of ecstatic love.

By the Lord’s inconceivable potency, the house of Candraśekhara Ācārya was brightly illuminated for seven days. As a result of that, people were unable to look at it. When people inquired about the cause of this, the Vaiṣṇavas simply smiled and did not reveal anything.