Chapter 2 - Family and Elders

The Advent of Sri Chaitanya was preceded by the appearance of a numerous body of pure devotees in different parts of the country who joined Him at Nabadwip in due course and became incorporated in His Activities. This galaxy of the stars of the first magnitude occupies the foreground of the picture that it is our purpose to offer. Sri Chaitanya is unintelligible without intimate knowledge of the doings of His associates. He is expressed in the only intelligible form in the lives of His associates. He is expressed in the only intelligible form in the lives of His bona fide devotees. These devotees were not so many imitators of Sri Chaitanya. Each of them has a great, living, individual personality; each serves Sri Chaitanya in his own way and helps to demonstrate the quality of unbounded catholicity and endless variety of manifestation in individual personalities of our only eternal function. The conduct of these devotees is even more instructive than the Transcendental Activities of Sri Chaitanya Himself Whom it was the function of these great souls to express by serving the Absolute Truth identical with the Personality of Sri Chaitanya under every form of circumstance and every manner of disposition, by the method of incorporated, subordinate service.

The Vaishnava authors always offer the esoteric view of those events. When Godhead Himself comes down into this world, He does not come un-attended by His eternal associates and Divine paraphernalia. They accompany Him to this world. The transcendental realm of the ‘White Island’ is the Eternal Divine Abode of Sri Chaitanya Who is identical with Sri Krishna and presents the Divinity’s Own Benevolent Nature dominating over all other Divine Qualities.

The Lord Sri Krishna-Chaitanya dwells in the White Island, as does Krishnachandra in Braja, with all His elders, kindred, associates and complete entourage. When Sri Chaitanya deigns to come down into this world, He comes in His Fullness, with all His elders, associates, servitors and realm. His advent is, therefore, preceded by the appearance of His elders. All these are a part and parcel of Himself and are in fact the extension of His own Divine Self. It is by their reciprocal means that the Lord manifests His own Full Personality. What the Lord is in His supermanifest Nature cannot and need not be known to any one except Himself. Others need know the Lord only to the fullest extent and in the fullest manner in which He chooses to manifest Himself to them individually. By the manifestation of Godhead to the individual soul, the later is fully satisfied and, as a matter of fact, such an individual does not desire, nor does he think it necessary to know anything more, not merely for the time being but for all time.

The jiva to whom Godhead reveals Himself sees the same Divine manifestation everywhere and always, in His infinity of aspects. His cherished Divinity is to him verily an endless Ocean of perfect and exquisite bliss, free from every species of unwholesomeness, imperatively requiring his perennial loving service by His perpetual manifestations. The appearance of the Lord is for the purpose of making His devotees happy by affording them the Sight of Himself. The establishment of religion and the destruction of demons who appear as the enemies of Godhead do not require the Personal Appearance of Supreme Godhead Sri Krishna Himself. These functions can be, and as a matter of fact are ordinarily, performed by the Vishnu Avataras, or sometimes even by the favoured among the pure jivas, by His command. The establishment of the samkirtana of Krishna, which is the Divine Dispensation of this Kali Age, is effected by the Avatara for the Age, and it would not be necessary for Godhead to come down into this world for this purpose alone.

But there is a function which cannot be delegated, viz., that of pleasing the devotees. Love for Himself can neither be conferred nor be satisfied by anything short of Himself. It was for the purpose of bestowing, on fallen jivas, love for Himself in the perfect form that is found only in Goloka, that Sri Krishna, wearing the devotional mood and grace of Sri Radhika, appeared in this world in His Eternal Identical Form of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, with all His associates, elders and servitors eternally manifest in the ‘White Island’, the realm of Krishna’s boundless and causeless Mercy.

In Braja Sri Radhika sets the model for the highest service of Krishna. In the ‘White Island’ it is Sri Krishna Himself who performs the function of teaching all individual souls how Sri Radhika serves Sri Krishna in Braja, by putting on Sri Radhika ‘s grace and devotion in order to enable Himself to serve Sri Krishna after the manner of Sri Radhika in Her highest Mood, viz., during Her separation from Sri Krishna. The service that is rendered by Sri Radhika manifests itself in this world in Braja at the close of the Dvapara Age. But in its direct manifestation it is not at all understood by mortals. It is only the Lord Himself Who can bestow this perfect loving devotion to Himself even on souls that are averse to Him on principle and thereby enable them to realize the true meaning of such pure devotion.

This explanation of the real purpose of the advent of Sri Chaitanya is fully corroborated by the Scriptures and by the Activities of Sri Chaitanya Himself. When godhead Himself appears in this world, all His secondary Manifestations automatically merge in Him. It was in this wise that there were born among men, by the command of Godhead, in advance of His own Appearance, the kindreds, associates and servitors of the Lord.

Sri Ananta, Siva, Brahma, the Rishis and all the relations and associates of every divine Avatara were born and their prototypes. some of them appeared in Nabadwip, some inChattagram, Srihatta, some were born in Rahr, in Odra, and the West. the devotees descending into this world from their transcendental realm appeared in various places, and, coming up subsequently to Nabadwip, were there joined together around the Person of the Lord. All the Vaishnavas were born in Nabadwip, except a few who appeared elsewhere.

The Elders who were first to appear were Sri Sachi, Sri Jagannath, Sri Madhabendra Puri, Sri Keshava Bharati, Sri Isvara Puri, Sri Advaita Acharya, Sri Pundarik Vidyanidhi, Sri Thakur Haridas, Sri Upendra Misra, father of Sri Jagannath Misra, with his seven sons, Sri Nilambar Chakravarti, father of Sri Sachi Devi, Sri Sri Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Gangadas Pandit, Sri Murari Gupta, Sri Mukunda and others.

Our records show that a certain Brahmana of Western India, bearing the name of Sri Madhukar Misra, a devotee of Sri Sri Narayana, for some unknown reason, came to Sylhet and settled there. Sri Upendra Misra was the second son of Sri Madhukar Misra. Sri Upendra Misra was a Vaishnava, a great scholar, wealthy and possessed of an abundance of good qualities. Sri Upendra Misra was the father of seven sons,—(1) Kamsari, (2) Paramananda, (3) Jagannath, (4) Sarbeswar, (5) Padmanabh, (6) Janardan, and (7) Trilokanath. Sri Jagannath Misra, one of the seven sons of Sri Upendra Misra, migrated from Sylhet to Nabadwip, the emporium of all learning of the Age. The title of Sri Jagannath Misra, earned by his shastric scholarship, was Purandara.

At Nabadwip Sri Purandara Misra espoused Sri Sachi Devi, the eldest daughter of Sri Nilambar Chakravarti. With the intention of dwelling in the neighbourhood of the sacred stream of the Bhagirathi, that has issued from the Feet of Vishnu, in the company of high-born Sri Sachi Devi, who was the embodiment of devotion to Vishnu, pure-hearted magnanimous Purandara Misra settled in Sri Mayapur in the central ‘Island’ of the City of Nine Islands.

Sri Chandrasekhar Acharya was the maternal uncle (mother’s sister’s husband) of Sri Chaitanya. Sri Murari Gupta, the author of Sri Chaitanya Charit, belonging to a Vaidya family of Sylhet, had migrated to Nabadwip. He was senior in years to Sri Chaitanya. Sri Pundarik Vidyanidhi, also known as ‘Premanidhi, and ‘Acharyanidhi,, had his paternal home in the village of Mekhala about fourteen miles to the north of the town of Chittagong, where his sacred ‘seat’ still exists. His partner’s name was Ratnavati. His father was Vaneswar (or Suklambar) Bhatta and his mother’s name was Ganga Devi. He was the disciple of Sri Madhabendra Puri and was himself accepted as his Guru by Sri Gadadhar Pandit Goswami. Sri Chaitanya called Pundarik Vidyanidhi ‘father’ and bestowed on him the name of ‘Premanidhi’ indicative of servitorship of Godhead. Sribas and his younger brother Sri Rama left their home at Sri Mayapur and removed to Kumarhatta after Sri Chaitanya’s renunciation of the world.

Sri Nityananda Prabhu, the Associated Facsimile of Sri Chaitanya, made His appearance in the village of Ekchakra in the country of Rahr, not far from Mollarpur station of the E.I. Railway, within the modern district of Birbhum. Hadai Pandit or Hadai Ojha, the father of Nityananda, was a good Brahmana from Mithila, resembling Vasudeva in the immaculate purity of his nature. The name of the wife of Hadai Pandit was Padmavati. Nityananda made His appearance in this world on the tithi which is ever hallowed by His birth, that corresponds to the thirteenth day of the bright fortnight of the month of Magh. As a child, Nityananda startled all the neighbours by being constantly occupied in the company of His associates in rehearsing the events of the Avataras of Vishnu. The details of these childish pastime have been reverentially preserved. Their nature may be briefly indicated.

He made His playmates form themselves into the assembly of gods. One of the boys, representing the Earth, having complained to it of her unbearable sufferings under the crushing weight of iniquities, those children who acted as members of the assembly of gods repaired to the bank of the adjoining river and there prayed to the Lord Who rests in the Ocean of Milk. One of the boys, hid behind the tree, gives this reply of Godhead to their prayer, ‘I will soon be born in the Home of Vasudeva at Mathura’. Sometimes personating the Divine Avatara of the Dwarf, Nityananda affected to deliver Bali. On another occasion He would fall into a swoon acting the part of Lakshmana in the Lila of Godhead’s Avatara as Sri Ramachandra hit by the powerful dart of Indrajit. Then one of the boys, acting the part of Hanuman, hastened to procure the required curative herb from the Gandhamadana Mount and by that means effected His recovery. Such pastimes of the little Boy amazed all beholders who could not account for this extraordinary conduct of the little Child. Twelve years were passed in these pleasant activities under the roof of His parents.

Nityananda set out on His long travel to all places of pilgrimage at the age of twelve. The incident that immediately led to this long pilgrimage is thus stated. A certain sannyasin became a chance-guest at the house of Hadai Pandit. He begged of Hadai Pandit to give Nityananda to him; and, in order not to transgress against the rule laid down by the Shastras, Hadai Pandit found himself obliged, against his own wish, to hand to the sannyasin the Darling of his heart Who was much more to him than even his own life. The grief of the parents, in being thus parted for good from their Child of twelve, knew no bounds. The nature of the renunciation of the world for the sake of Godhead must on no account be confounded with renunciation for any other purpose, which latter is an unpardonable and clear dereliction of one’s duty. The renunciation exhibited by Godhead and His devotees redounds to the good of the whole world, and, most of all, of those very persons who appear, to the superficial observer, to be the greatest sufferers by their abandonment.

Lord Nityananda, after thus leaving His parental home, traveled to all the tirthas. in company of the sannyasin, till the twentieth year of His age. The places He thus visited include Bakreswar, Vaidyanath, Gaya, Kasi, Prayag, Mathura, Brindabana, Hastinapur, Dwaraka, Siddhapura, Matsyatirtha, SivaKanchi, Vishnu-Kanchi, Kurukshetra, Bindu Sarobar, Pravaasa, Sudarsantirtha, Tritakup, Vishala, Brahmatirtha, Chakratirtha, Prati-Srota, Naimisharanya, Ayodhya, Sringaharpur, Kausiki, Pulastasrama, Gomati, Gandaki, Mahendragiri, Haridwar, Godavari, Benvatirtha, Sri Parbata, Sri Ranganatha, Harikshetra, Rishabha-Parbata, Kritamala, Madura, Tamraparni, Malay-aparbata, Badarikasrama, Gokarna, Surparaka, Kanyakanagara, Nirbindha and all the countless holy sites. He journeyed to all those places in order to sanctify them by His visit.

At the conclusion of this long pilgrimage Nityananda enacted the Lila of obtaining the only reward of pilgrimage in the shape of attainment of the privilege of the companionship of the true devotee, in as much as He now Joined Sri Madhabendra Puri, ‘the first shoot of the Purpose Tree of Loving Devotion’ from whom He accepted His initiation into spiritual life (or, according to some, He accepted His initiation from Sri Lakshmipati, the Guru of Sri Madhabendra Puri). The meeting with His Guru is thus described by Sri Ghanasyam Thakur, the writer of Bhakti Ratnakar: ‘Lakshmipati, so famous in the school of Madhya, the owner of all good qualities, most dear to the Lord of Sri Lakshmi Devi, partook of his meal obtained by begging, interspersed with Krishna-talk, at the house of that Brahmana.

Nityananda in the Form of Bala-Rama showed Himself to Lakshmipati under the guise of a dream:

‘A certain Brahmana boy has come to this village in the garb of a super-ascetic; He will be your disciple; make Him your disciple by means of this mantram, and He spoke the mantram into his ear.’

Nityananda on meeting him repeatedly said to the sanyasin: ‘Do thou deliver Me by initiation by the mantram.’ After initiation Nityananda was given the Brahmachari’s name of ‘Svarup’ and has accordingly been sometimes called ‘Nityananda-Svarup’ both by Sri Brindabandas Thakur as well as by Srila Kaviraj Goswami. Sri Nityananda subsequently made His way to Nabadwip where He joined Sri Chaitanya.

Thakur Haridas made his appearance in this world in about the year 1451 A.D. (1372 Sh.), thirty-five years before the Advent of Sri Chaitanya, in the village of Budhan in the district of Jessore. He came of a Muhammedan family and in some manner, of which we do not possess any trustworthy record, obtained very early in life the mercy of a Vaishnava who initiated him into the religion of all souls. He, thereupon, left his parent’s house and his kin, and came to Benapole where he made a small hut and lived therein. His method of worship consisted in repeating, constantly and with a loud voice, the holy mahamantram of the sixteen Names of Godhead. He recited the maha-mantram three lakhs of times every day. For this purpose he cut himself off completely from every form of worldly association. It was not long, however, before his practice found a malicious opponent in a local landholder of a most villainous character, of the name of Ramachandra Khan. Ramachandra Khan was as foolish as he was wicked and was incited to adopt the infamous method, described below, by the representations of a fanatical section of the Hindu residents of the locality who felt themselves scandalized by a Muhammedan presuming to adopt their language in taking the name of Godhead in the manner that could pierce even the ear-holes of such a great personage as Ramachandra Khan!!

Ramachandra Khan did not believe that a person in the full bloom of early youth could have really no attachment for woman. He accordingly deputed a shameless harlot of great beauty, whom he subsidised for the purpose, to employ her seductive arts to compass the ruin of the young devotee.

This abandoned woman continued to offer herself regularly at the solitary hut of devotion of Thakur Haridas for three successive nights. She was kept waiting for the whole night by Thakur Haridas by the assurance that he would attend to her request after the utterance of the quota of the Names that he was under obligation to take daily, was completed. Towards the close of the third night that harlot, whose mind had been completely changed by listening to the Holy Name of Godhead from the lips of the great saint who was so completely unmindful of those irresistible charms of a young woman that are the cause of ruin of so many so-called Rishis of all ages and conditions, fell prostrate at the feet of Thakur Haridas and, with a contrite and chastened heart, implored him to enable her to worship Godhead in the pure manner that he himself did. The woman opened her heart frankly to Thakur Haridas and told him all about the infernal conspiracy and also of her own past life which had been utterly sinful.

Haridas said to her that she was fit to take the Holy Name of Godhead, and he accordingly initiated her into the life of the pure service of Krishna. Haridas then advised her to give away all her treasure to the pious Brahmanas and devote herself to the worship of Krishna by constantly uttering His Name living apart from all other people in the solitary hut which he had built for his own worship. Thereupon, bestowing his own hut on that woman, Thakur Haridas left Benapole for good. That harlot became thenceforward a most renowned devotee of Krishna.

From Benapole Thakur Haridas proceeded to Chandpur eastward of Saptagrama, the residence of the father of the future Raghunathdas Goswami who was at this time a little boy. The name of Raghunath’s father was Gobardhan Mazumdar. Hiranya was the elder brother of Gobardhan. They were employed under Sultan Hussain Shah to collect the revenues of Saptagrama, which totaled twenty lakhs of rupees of which twelve had to be remitted to the Royal Treasury, the collectors being entitled to retain for themselves the balance of eight lakhs. They were consequently among the richest persons of that time. Thakur Haridas put up with Balaram Acharya of Chandpur who was the priest of Hiranya and Gobardhan. The boy Raghunath Das frequently visited Thakur Haridas. This was the cause of his obtaining the mercy of Sri Chaitanya later on.

At the request of Balaram Acharya, Thakur Haridas once presented himself at the gathering of Brahmanas in the halls of Hiranya and Gobardhan who were patrons of Brahmanas and pious persons. The Thakur was well received by both brothers. Presently, evidently in view of the practice of the Thakur, the assembly began to praise the taking of the Holy Name, some maintaining that the Name destroys sin, others contending that the Name confers deliverance from the bondage of the world. Thakur Haridas said that those secondary results are effected by the dim reflection of the Name. The effect of the Name Himself is to arouse love to the Feet of Krishna. Emancipation is the trivial effect of the dim reflection of the Name.

A Brahmana by the name of Gopa1 Chakravarti, who was employed by Hiranya Mazumdar in connection with the remittance of revenues to Gauda and who happened to be present, felt greatly chagrined to hear these statements of Thakur Haridas and asked the assembly not to be led away by the ridiculous effusions of an impostor, acting the part of a sadhu to deceive ignorant people, by endorsing the view that emancipation, which is not attainable in crores of births on the path of knowledge of the Brahman, is gained by the mere dim glow of the Name. This, he said, was impossible and intolerable.

When Thakur Haridas, with great calmness, quoted the Scriptures to show that emancipation, resulting from the dim glow of the Name, is trivial and is not accepted by devotees even when it becomes available to them, the Brahmana’s anger was so much inflamed by this exhibition of firmness that he shouted to Thakur Haridas that if he failed to prove from the Scriptures that emancipation results from the dim glow of the Name, was he prepared to have his nose cut off? The Thakur intimated his readiness to submit to the bet proposed, whereupon all the assembled people and especially Balaram Acharya strongly condemned the outrageous conduct of Gopal, and all of them, including Hiranya and Gobardhan, begged the forgiveness of the Thakur for the insult that had been openly offered to him in their presence. Thakur Haridas observed that Gopal’s anger was due to his ignorance of the Scriptures and he was, therefore, not to blame; and saying this, he left the place, resuming the loud chant of the Name of Krishna. It is recorded that for this offense Gopal Chakravarti was afflicted with the worst form of leprosy in the course of three days and his nose fell off in consequence, and that although the Thakur so readily forgave him, his offense was not pardoned by Godhead.

From Chandpur Thakur Haridas made his way to Santipur and presented himself at the house of Sri Advaita Acharya. The latter was very much encouraged by the appearance of Haridas and provided him with a suitable place for his devotional practices by finding out a cave in a retired part of the bank of the Ganges.

Thakur Haridas lived in this cell and had his daily meal at the house of Advaita with whom he could talk about Krishna. Haridas expressed his fear that the conduct of Advaita in feeding him daily with the most unreserved hospitality might bring social troubles to him, he being a Muhammedan by birth. Sri Advaita Acharya, in answer to this, formally offered to Thakur Haridas the meal cooked for the occasion of the anniversary of the sradha ceremony of his departed father, that had to be given to the Brahmanas according to custom, with the remark that ‘by feeding you, crores of Brahmanas are truly fed’.

It is said that the Thakur Haridas was tempted a second time by a woman while he was staying at the cave at Santipur, and that this time the woman was no less than Maya herself, the deluding power of Godhead, whose solicitation, which no jiva, from Brahma downwards, can resist, produced on Haridas the only effect of increasing still further his ardent devotion to the Feet of Krishna. Mayadevi sought and obtained the gift of the Name of Krishna from Thakur Haridas in lieu of her effort to test the sincerity of the devotion of Haridas.

From Santipur Thakur Haridas made his way to the village of Fulia which was the residence of a strong community of Brahmanas. Fulia is situated three miles to the east of Santipur. Thakur Haridas lived here in a cell on the bank of the Bhagirathi as at Santipur and chanted aloud the maha-mantram of sixteen Names of godhead three lakhs of times every day. The Muhammedans who lived in the neighbourhood were incited by the Brahmanas of Fulia to complain to the Kazi about the behaviour of Haridas, which, they pointed out, was bound to produce a most undesirable effect on the prestige of the Muhammedan community and religion.

The Kazi took this seriously and had Haridas brought to the presence of the Governor for trial. He was at first treated with great respect and allowed to visit the prison as he desired to converse with the prisoners. The prisoners, who did not expect in their midst a saint who was treated with respect by the keepers, thought he might obtain their release from captivity. They accordingly pressed round him and begged him to intercede with the Governor for their liberation. The Thakur in reply congratulated them on their captivity and wished that their state of bondage might be prolonged. This filled the prisoners with dismay.

Haridas hastened to remove their mistake by explaining what he meant. He said that they were forcibly kept away from the pursuit of worldly objects in their state of captivity. This gave them a respite for the worship of Godhead. Because Godhead cannot be worshipped when one’s mind is engrossed in the affairs of this world. They should avail themselves of this opportunity, so mercifully placed in their way, of turning their thoughts to Godhead; so that, having acquired the taste for such life, even after they were set free, they might continue to serve Godhead in the midst of the various temptations of the world. He did not really desire the prolongation of their state of captivity in the ordinary sense.

When Thakur Haridas was produced before the Governor for his trial, he was offered a good seat in the court and the Governor pleaded, with every appearance of sincere good will, that he should revert to his own society, its customs and religion.

Thakur Haridas replied:

‘A man follows the path that appears to him to be the best. This is the dispensation of Providence. Under this law a man born in a high Brahmana family sometimes embraces the Muhammedan religion. And although he was born in a Muhammedan family, God has been merciful to him and has shown him the path of the highest good. This path he intends to follow. If such conduct appears to the Governor to be deserving of punishment, he is prepared to undergo any consequences that it may involve.’

The Governor then began to revile Vishnu and threatened to punish Thakur Haridas with severe whipping till he would be forced to give up the heinous course.

Thakur Haridas simply replied:

‘Even if he is actually cut to pieces he would never for a moment cease to utter the Name of Hari with his mouth.’

The Governor, at the instance of the Kazi, now carried out his threat by ordering Thakur Haridas to be whipped in twenty-two market-places of amua Mulk. This barbarous order was duly executed. When Thakur Haridas appeared to be dead, the ruffians who had been employed to cudgel him, tried to throw his body into the Ganges. It is said that they failed to lift the body with all their efforts. This frightened the Governor and his aiders and abettors in this horrible sin.

The Governor now spoke kind words to Haridas. He was convinced that Haridas was a real Pir (holy man) and not a cheat as he had taken him to be. He was sorry for what he had done and even begged his forgiveness. He then ordered his men to liberate Haridas and assured him of immunity from all further molestation on his part, desiring him to do as he liked. Thakur Haridas returned to his cell at Fulia, undaunted by this terrible proof of the implacable vindictiveness of his opponents.

On another day a snake-charmer was giving a display of his art at the house of a wealthy resident of Fulia to the accompaniment of dance and music. Thakur Haridas happened to arrive on the spot and taking his stand on one side watched the performance which was a representation of a Feat of Sri Krishna, viz., the quelling of the serpent Kaliya.

Overpowered by the associations awakened in him by the sacred theme, Thakur Haridas fainted away, and, when he was helped to regain his consciousness, himself joined in the dance, exhibiting all the external signs of the eight satvika perturbations. The snake-charmer stopped his performance, and, with palms joined in the attitude of reverence standing motionless on one side, gazed with awe on the devotional activities of Thakur. This mood of Haridas was, however, soon over; and, after he had stopped, the snake-charmer resumed his musical performance. Those present were so moved by the occurrence that they devoutly took the dust of the feet of Thakur.

A Brahmana, who happened to be in the crowd and had watched the whole affair, thought of acquiring a cheap reputation for sanctity by imitating the satvika perturbations of Haridas that he had witnessed. He accordingly affected to swoon away and forthwith began to sing, dance, laugh and shiver, in imitation of Thakur Haridas.

The snake-charmer now behaved in a most strange manner. He, who had been so quiet and respectful towards Thakur Haridas, suddenly fell upon the unlucky Brahmana with great fury and began to belabor him, with a cudgel that he snatched from one of his men, in a most merciless fashion. That Brahmana, unable to bear the severe thrashing, took to his heels in a very short time. On being asked by the spectators the reason of his strange and violent conduct towards the Brahmana, the snake-charmer replied that he had beat the Brahmana, because by his hypocritical exhibitions he was trying to bring into contempt the conduct of the revered Thakur Haridas.

Another Brahmana of Fulia opposed the practice of chanting loudly the Name of Hari by Haridas on the ground that it was against the Scriptures. He denied that Haridas, who was born of a Muhammedan family, had any right to dabble in the philosophy and religion of the Hindus; that this very fact of a Muhammedan posing as a teacher of the Scriptures of the Hindus, portended the appearance, long before its appointed time, of the worst period of the Age of evil. ‘This impostor has the effrontery of procuring the best food by begging from door to door, presuming to teach the Shastras to respectable people! If his explanation regarding chanting of the Name of Hari with a loud voice, is not found in the Scriptures, his nose ought to be cut off., Accosted by the infuriated Brahmana in the above fashion Thakur Haridas with a smile left the place to chant loudly the Name of Hari. That Brahmana also met with the condign punishment of his offense by being smitten with the small-pox in the course of a few days, that cost him his nose.

Thakur Haridas now made his way to Nabadwip and there joined the congregation of the small group of Vaishnavas that was gradually forming round the figures of Sri Advaita acharya, who had settled there as a teacher with his own Academy (tol) and Sribas Pandit who lived close to the Academy of Sri Advaita Acharya. At this time Thakur Haridas constantly traveled to different parts of the country with the object of preaching the kirtana of Hari to the people. Shortly after his arrival at Nabadwip, he joined Sri Chaitanya as one of His most devoted associates.

Sri Advaita Acharya, who was the acknowledged leader of the small Vaishnava community of Nabadwip at the time of the Appearance of Sri Chaitanya, was a person of vast erudition, possessed of great wealth and occupied a position of the highest respect in the society of Nabadwip. He appears to have been originally a native of the village of Nabagram in some as yet unidentified part of Bengal. He subsequently settled at Santipur, whither he had come in course of a pilgrimage that he had undertaken after the departure of his parents from this world. At Santipur he married Sri Sita Devi. Sri Advaita Acharya met Thakur Haridas for the first time at Santipur where he offered him the meal on the occasion of the annual funeral ceremony of his departed father, instead of giving the same to the Brahmanas by seminal birth as is the custom of the smartas.

Advaita built a small house at Nabadwip where he set up his Academy (tol) in which he taught different branches of the Shastras. Advaita Acharya soon acquired the reputation of being one of the most eminent Professors of Nabadwip who upheld in all his teachings the pre-eminence of the principle of unalloyed devotion to Krishna, which he conclusively established by the evidence of the whole body of the Scriptures. This marked him out from among the host of the other Brahmanas who also taught the Scriptures at Nabadwip.

Sri Advaita Acharya, in conformity with his teaching, was a devout worshipper of Krishna. He did not perform his worship with the elaborate ceremonials that characterized its development in the Dvapara Age. He worshipped Krishna with the offerings of the spray of tulasi, most beloved of Krishna, and the sacred water of the Ganges which issued from His Feet. This simplicity of worship a concomitant of the philosophy of pure, transcendental devotion which he expounded in his Academy. He wanted to keep the pure devotion to Krishna distinct from the lifeless rituals of the elevationists and liberationists. Advaita worshipped Krishna with the pure devotion of unclouded cognition and with the specific purpose of moving Krishna to come down into the world to re-establish the Eternal Religion. The Advent of Sri Chaitanya is attributed by all His devotees to the sincere and ardent invocations of Sri Advaita Acharya. That Advaita Acharya’s prayers and worship brought about the appearance of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna-Chaitanya in this world, has been repeatedly declared by Sri Chaitanya Himself.

The Academy of Sri Advaita Acharya was the regular meeting place of all the Vaishnavas of whom the foremost was Sribas Pandit who lived close to Advaita, not far from the House of Sri Jagannatha Misra.

Sri Advaita Acharya belonged to the community of Sri MadhvAcharya which is one of the four authorized Vaishnava communities. He was the disciple of the famous Madhabendra Puri, the spiritual preceptor of Sri Nityananda, Sri Iswara Puri and several other elders of Sri Chaitanya.

Madhabendra Puri is regarded by the most illustrious followers of Sri Chaitanya as ‘the first tender shoot of the mighty Tree of Transcendental Love represented by Sri Chaitanya Himself in its full growth’. There is to be found no trace of the amorous love for Krishna in the School of Madhva prior to Madhabendra Puri. The disciplic succession of the followers of Sri Chaitanya, through Madhabendra Puri, is to be found in Sri Gauraganoddesa, Sri Prameyaratnavali, the works of Sri Gopalguru Goswami, and also in the Bhaktiratnakar.

The line of succession is as follows:

KRSHNA Brahma Narada Vyasa Suka Madhva Padmanabha Nrihari Madhaba Akshobhya Jaya Tirtha Jnanasindhu Dayanidhi Vidyanidhi Rajendra Jayadharma Purusottama Brahmanya Vyasa Tirtha Lakshmipati Madhabendra Puri Nityananda Iswara Puri Advaita Sri CHAITANYA

We reserve the detailed discussion of the esoteric implication of the spiritual disciplic succession for a future chapter in connection with the doctrine of Sri Chaitanya.

The following particulars regarding Sri Madhabendra Puri are found in Sri Chaitanyacharitamrita. He went, unattended by any other person, to Sri Brindavana. on his arrival there, as he was seated under a tree on the bank of the pool (kunda) of Govinda, Sri Krishna appeared to Madhabendra as a cowboy under the guise of offering him milk for appeasing his hunger. Led by a dream Madhabendra then installed the Divine Form of Gopala on the Gobardhana Mount. His sojourn to Puri to fetch camphor and sandal for Gopala and the episode of Kshira-chora Gopinath will be described later. At Mathura, Madhabendra Puri accepted the alms of cooked food from a Sanoria Brahmana, whose touched water is not accepted by high class Smartas, in violation of the smarta practice which errs by applying caste rules to the devotee of Godhead and its notions of ceremonial cleanliness to food accepted by Krishna (maha-prasad).

Madhabendra Puri rebuked Ramachandra Puri for his disrespect to himself, his spiritual preceptor, and blessed Iswara Puri for his whole-hearted devotion to his preceptor by expressing the hope that he might attain to love for Krishna. Sri Madhabendra Puri’s utterance at his disappearance is cherished by all pure devotees. ‘It runs thus: ‘Thou Lord, Who art ever melted to kindness towards the humble, when wilt Thou, O Lord of Mathura, be seen by me? My heart, Dearest, sad for not beholding Thee, grows delirious. Oh! What shall I do now?’

Sri Iswara Puri came of a Brahmana family belonging to the village of Kumarahatta (near Halishahar Station of the E. B. Railway) and was the most beloved disciple of Sri Madhabendra Puri. Sri Madhabendra Puri, being satisfied with his devotion, blessed him saying, ‘May you attain loving devotion for Krishna.’ Sri Chaitanya did him the favour of receiving initiation in the tenlettered mantra from him at Gaya. Govinda and Kashiswara Brahmachari, disciples of Sri Iswara Puri, joined Sri Chaitanya at Puri on the disappearance of Sri Iswara Puri.

The attitude, which the reader is expected to take up towards the associates of Sri Chaitanya, is put tersely in the opening verse of Sri Chaitanyacharitamrita. “Sri Krishna-Chaitanya is Godhead Himself as is indicated by His Name Who means the Self-conscious Principle, Krishna.

Godhead sports in six Divine Forms, viz., as:

1. Krishna,
2. the Two Preceptors,
3. the Devotees,
4. the Avataras
5. the Manifestations, and
6. the Powers.

In other words, the Spiritual Preceptors are Chaitanyadeva; the devotees such as Sribas, etc., are also Chaitanyadeva; the Avataras are Chaitanyadeva; and the Powers are also Chaitanyadeva Who is himself Krishna’s Own Cognitive Self, the Subjective Divine Personality Whose Essence is Pure Cognition. We shall discuss these truths in greater detail in the succeeding chapters.

I have tried briefly to put before the reader some of those considerations the substantive truth of which has to be realized by the disciple in order to be fit for studying profitably the holy narrative of the career of Sri Chaitanya.

I cannot do better than conclude this chapter with the cautious words of Thakur Brindabandas, ‘Know for certain that the Activities of Chaitanyachandra, by listening to which the heart is purified, manifest themselves only by the grace of the devotees of Godhead. Who can know the Deeds of Chaitanya that are the hidden secret of the Vedas I write only what I have heard from the lips of the devotees. I make my obeisance at the feet of all the Vaishnavas. May there be no offense committed by me by such an attempt.’