Introduction to chapter 5

This chapter describes Mahāprabhu’s journey from Śāntipura to Śrīnivāsa’s house in Kumārahaṭṭa, the Lord’s meeting with Śivānanda Sena and Vāsudeva Ṭhākura, the benediction awarded to Śrīvāsa, the Lord’s arrival at the house of Śrī Rāghava Paṇḍita in Pānihāṭi, His meeting with the devotees there, the Lord’s visit to Varāhanagara and awarding the designation Bhāgavata Ācārya to a particular devotee brāhmaṇa Bhāgavata reciter, the Lord’s return to Nīlācala, Pratāparudra’s intense eagerness to meet Mahāprabhu, the King’s observation in a dream that Lord Jagannātha and Lord Gaurasundara are nondifferent, the King’s meeting with the Lord in a flower garden and humble prayers to the Lord, the Lord’s order to Nityānanda and His associates to go to Bengal and preach, Śrī Nityānanda’s preaching love of God in Bengal and His pastimes of delivering the fallen souls, and the chapter ends with an introduction of Śrī Nityānanda’s associates and the author’s humble presentation of himself as the last servant of Śrī Nityānanda.

From Advaita’s house in Śāntipura, Śrī Gaurasundara went to the house of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita in Kumārahaṭṭa, and devotees such as Śivānanda Sena and Vāsudeva Datta Ṭhākura came there to meet the Lord in Śrīvāsa’s house. At the meeting between Vāsudeva Datta Ṭhākura and Mahāprabhu, Mahāprabhu narrated the glories of Vāsudeva Datta. Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita and his brother Rāmāi were very dear to Mahāprabhu on account of their unlimited services like performing saṅkīrtana, reciting Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and performing dramas. One day Mahāprabhu asked Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita why he didn’t endeavor at all to feed and cloth his extensive family. How would he maintain their livelihood? In reply, Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita said that he did not wish to go anywhere to earn money, for whatever was destined would certainly happen. Then Mahāprabhu said, “Śrīvāsa, you should take sannyāsa.”Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita replied, “I cannot do that.” Mahāprabhu said, “Then how will you maintain your family members?”Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita clapped his hands and counted, “One, two, three.” Mahāprabhu asked him the meaning of this, and Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita said, “If I do not get any food even after fasting for three consecutive days, then I will tie a heavy pitcher to my neck and jump into the Ganges.” As soon as Mahāprabhu heard Śrīvāsa’s words, He roared loudly and said, “Even if Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, happens to beg, you will not be affected by poverty. Did you forget My words in Bhagavad-gītāthat anyone who thinks of Me without deviation (ananyāś cinta), I supply what they lack and preserve what they have? For someone who is personally maintained by the supreme maintainer of the entire universe, what anxiety will he have for food and cloth? I give you the benediction that even if you sit at home, all ingredients for Kṛṣṇa’s service will automatically come to you.” Mahāprabhu then ordered Rāmāi to continually serve his elder brother and exalted Vaiṣṇava Śrīvāsa.

From Śrīvāsa’s house, Mahāprabhu went to Rāghava Paṇḍita’s house in Pānihāṭi, where wany devotees gathered to see the Lord. The Lord privately instructed Rāghava Paṇḍita to see Himself (Śrī Gaurasundara) and Nityānanda as nondifferent, and He ordered Makaradhvaja Kara to serve Śrī Rāghava Paṇḍita. Thereafter Mahāprabhu went from Pānihāṭi to a house in Varāhanagara belonging to a particular devotee brāhmaṇa who was expert in reciting Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. On hearing his recitation of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the Lord became especially pleased and awarded him the designation Bhāgavata Ācārya.

In this way the Lord stayed in various devotees’ houses in each of the villages along the banks of the Ganges in Bengal and performed kīrtana and dancing and fulfilled the desires of everyone, then He again went to Nīlācala and stayed at the house of Kāśī Miśra. On hearing that Mahāprabhu had returned to Nīlācala, King Pratāparudra came to Purī from his capital of Cuttack and displayed intense eagerness to see the Lord as he made special requests to Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and other devotees to arrange for him to meet the Lord. When the devotees saw the King’s intense eagerness, they advised him to watch the Lord’s dancing from a hidden place. But when the King saw saliva frothing from the Lord’s mouth, dust on the Lord’s body, and other symptoms Mahāprabhu displayed while dancing in transcendental madness, he was unable to understand Mahāprabhu’s transcendental ecstatic transformations and after falling asleep with a doubtful mind he saw in a dream that the body of Śrī Jagannātha was also covered with saliva and dust. When the King tried to touch Śrī Jagannātha in the dream, Jagannātha cautioned him by saying, “Your bodily limbs adorned with sandalwood pulp mixed with musk are never fit to touch My body covered with saliva and dust.” At that moment King Pratāparudra saw Śrī Caitanyadeva sitting in the same place where Jagannātha had been sitting and His body covered in the same way with saliva and dust. As the King attempted to touch Him, Śrī Gaurahari said to Pratāparudra, “Since you have aversion for Me in your mind, why do you want to touch Me?” As the King woke up, he became extremely repentant and realized that Śrī Gaurasundara was nondifferent from Śrī Jagannātha.

One day as Mahāprabhu was sitting in a flower garden with His associates, King Pratāparudra came and offered obeisances to the Lord by falling flat like an uprooted banana tree and symptoms of ecstatic love manifested in the body of the King. The King then began to speak to the Lord with utmost humility. The Lord showered His merciful benediction on the King and told him that He came to Nīlācala only for the sake of Rāya Rāmānanda, Sārvabhauma, and Pratāparudra. He also told the King that he should not reveal the actual identity of the Lord, who was enacting the pastimes of a covered incarnation, for as long as the Lord was present on this planet. The Lord then offered the garland He was wearing to the King and gave him permission to leave.

One day in Nīlācala, Śrī Mahāprabhu called Nityānanda to a solitary place, and while discussing with Him about the preaching of pure devotional service in Bengal, the Lord sent Nityānanda along with His associates to Bengal to fulfill His mission there. During their journey to Bengal the eternally perfect Vraja associates of Śrī Baladeva Nityānanda manifested their self-evident sentiments of Vraja. Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu went to the house of Rāghava Paṇḍita in Pānihāṭi, where Nityānanda heard a kīrtana performed by the expert kīrtana leader Mādhava Ghoṣa and became absorbed in wonderful ecstatic love. As Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu climbed on the throne of Lord Viṣṇu, the devotees headed by Rāghava Paṇḍita performed the Lord’s abhiṣeka ceremony. When Nityānanda Prabhu ordered Rāghava Paṇḍita to quickly bring a garland of kadamba flowers, Rāghava Paṇḍita saw that by the will of Śrī Nityānanda many kadamba flowers had blossomed out of season in the lime tree situated in his courtyard. Rāghava Paṇḍita prepared a garland from those kadamba flowers and offered it to Nityānanda. Shortly thereafter, the ten directions were suddenly filled with the aroma of damanaka (Artemisia indica) flowers, and Nityānanda explained that Śrī Gaurasundara had put on a garland of damanaka flowers and come from Nīlācala to hear the kīrtana. Then Nityānanda and His associates all manifested transformations of ecstatic love. Śrī Nityānanda stayed in Pānihāṭi for three months and exhibited various pastimes of devotional service. Lord Nityānanda Prabhu used to decorate His body with various ornaments.

Along with His associates, Nityānanda visited the houses of the devotees situated on both sides of the Ganges. The children were showered with His mercy.

One day Śrī Nityānanda went to the house of Śrī Gadādhara dāsa. In the course of this narration there is a description of Śrī Gadādhara Dāsa’s eternal mood as a gopī. Śrī Nityānanda took the Bāla-gopāla Deity from Śrī Dāsa Gadādhara Prabhu’s temple and embraced put Him to His chest. When Śrī Nityānanda heard Śrī Mādhavānanda’s song describing the dāna-khaṇḍa-līlā, the pastimes of taking taxes, symptoms of ecstatic love manifested in His body. In Gadādhara dāsa’s village lived one Kazi, who was very envious, cruel, and opposed to kīrtana. One day while intoxicated by love of God, Dāsa Gadādhara Prabhu fearlessly went at night to the house of the Kazi while chanting the name of Hari and said, “Where is that fellow Kazi? He better chant the name of Kṛṣṇa quickly, or I will break his head.” When the Kazi came before Dāsa Gadādhara and asked why he was coming to the house of an atheist like him, Dāsa Gadādhara replied, “During the incarnation of Śrī Caitanya and Nityānanda everyone in the world has chanted the name of Kṛṣṇa, only you have remained aloof. I have come to make you chant the name of Hari.” The Kazi replied, “Gadādhara, you go home today, I will chant the name of Hari tomorrow.” On hearing the Kazi say the name Hari, Gadādhara said, “Why tomorrow? You have already chanted the name of Hari.” At this point the author describes various wonderful symptoms of love of God manifested by the associates of Śrī Nityānanda. Thereafter Nityānanda with His associates departed for Navadvīpa to see mother Śacī, and on the way they stayed at Purandara Paṇḍita’s temple in Khaḍadaha. While describing at this point the most wonderful transformations of loving devotional service manifested by Śrī Caitanya’s servant Murāri Paṇḍita, the author then refutes the sinful activities of the so-called servants of Śrī Caitanya who independently identify themselves with pride as followers of Śrī Advaita. After spending a few days at Khaḍadaha, Śrī Nityānanda and His associates went to the village of Saptagrāma and took bath there at the Triveṇī bathing ghāṭa on the banks of the Ganges. He stayed on the bank at the Triveṇī in the house of Uddhāraṇa Datta, and He inspired the entire mercantile community to worship Kṛṣṇa by preaching the holy names of Kṛṣṇa from door to door. Even godless Yavanas took shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Nityānanda, the deliverer of the fallen souls.

After some time Śrī Nityānanda came to Śrī Advaita’s house in Śāntipura. Śrī Advaita Ācārya offered prayers to Nityānanda Prabhu, and then the two spent the entire day in great ecstasy discussing topics of Kṛṣṇa. From Śāntipura, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu went to Navadvīpa and went straight to Śrīdhāma Māyāpur to meet mother Śacī. Śrī Nityānanda and His associates enjoyed ecstatic kīrtana pastimes in Navadvīpa and enacted pastimes of delivering the fallen souls. In this connection the author describes an incident involving a dacoit of Navadvīpa. In Navadvīpa there was a particular young brāhmaṇa, who was the leader of the dacoits. That leader of dacoits saw the opulent ornaments on the body of Śrī Nityānanda and desired to steal them. Thinking in this way, he began to travel with Nityānanda with a desire to steal His ornaments.

Realizing that Śrī Nityānanda was living alone at the house of Hiraṇya Paṇḍita, that leader of dacoits along with his fellow dacoits waited at night fully prepared in a solitary place near the house of Hiraṇya Paṇḍita. They began to contemplate who would take which ornament of Nityānanda. But by the will of Śrī Nityānanda, the dacoits soon fell asleep. When they woke early the next morning to the sound of the crows, they hastily hid their weapons at some place and returned to their respective home while blaming each other. On the next night the dacoits first worshiped goddess Caṇḍī with great pomp by offering her wine and flesh, and after collecting various weapons and wearing kavacas, or protective amulets, they surrounded the house of Nityānanda at the dead of night. But contrary to their expectations they found innumerable, fully prepared, fierce-looking soldiers who were constantly chanting the name of Hari were guarding the house of Nityānanda. They became greatly astonished to see this and after making various arguments among themselves they concluded that there is no hope of their success on that particular night and left. When on the third night the dacoits entered into the residence of Śrī Nityānanda, they immediately lost their sight and started falling into filthy pits and thorny bushes. At that moment Lord Indra began to shower heavy rain and storm there by making the lives of the dacoits miserable. After this incident the leader of the dacoits had a change of heart, so he took shelter at the lotus feet of Nityānanda and prayed for his own deliverance while offering prayers to Nityānanda. Śrī Nityānanda bestowed mercy on the leader of the dacoits by forbidding him to again engage in sinful activities while misusing his independence. Moreover, Śrī Nityānanda delivered other dacoits through this leader of the dacoits. In this connection the author describes the glories of Nityānanda’s mercy, His preaching of the holy names throughout Navadvīpa, His frequent visits to Kulīyā on the other side of the Ganges, the characteristics of Śrī Nityānanda’s associates, a brief introduction of some of Nityānanda’s associates, and himself as the last servant of Nityānanda and the son of Nārāyaṇī devī, a recipient of Caitanya’s mercy.