Chapter 2: The Advent of Śrī Gaurāṅga

জয় জয় মহাপ্রভু শ্রীগৌরসুন্দর। জয় জগন্নাথ-পুত্র মহা-মহেশ্বর॥ ১॥ জয় নিত্যানন্দ-গদাধরের জীবন। জয় জয় অদ্বৈতাদি-ভক্তের শরণ॥ ২॥ ভক্তগোষ্ঠী-সহিত গৌরাঙ্গ জয় জয়। শুনিলে চৈতন্যকথা ভক্তি লভ্য হয়॥ ৩॥ পুন ভক্ত-সঙ্গে প্রভু-পদে নমস্কার। স্ফুরুক্‌ জিহ্বায় গৌরচন্দ্র-অবতার॥ ৪॥

Translation. All glory, all glory to Mahāprabhu Śrī Gaurasundara! All glory to the son of Jagannātha, the Supreme Lord of lords! All glory to Him who is the very life of Nityānanda and Gadādhara! All glory to Him who is the refuge of Advaita and the other devotees! All glory, all glory to Gaurāṅga together with the assembly of His devotees! By hearing the story of Caitanya, devotion is attained. Again I offer obeisance at the Lord's feet, together with the devotees — may the account of Gaurachandra's descent manifest upon my tongue.

Explanation.

Mahā-maheśvara — "the supreme Maheśvara." The Śvetāśvatara-śruti calls the Supreme Brahman the supreme Maheśvara of all the various controllers (īśvaras): "tam īśvarāṇāṁ paramaṁ maheśvaram — Him who is the supreme controller of all controllers" (Śvet. 6.7). By śruti and smṛti, Śrī Kṛṣṇa alone is that Supreme Brahman; and since Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself has descended in the form of Śrī Gaurāṅga, Gaura too is the supreme Maheśvara of all controllers, mahā-maheśvara. (Variant readings exist for both halves of this verse and the fourth verse; the sense is unaffected.)

Nityānanda-Gadādharera jīvana — Śrī Gaurasundara is the very life-breath of Śrī Nityānanda and Śrī Gadādhara. Advaitādi-bhaktera śaraṇa — He is the shelter (refuge) of Śrī Advaita, Śrīvāsa, and the other devotees.

Bhakta-goṣṭhī — the Lord's devotees, His associates (parikaras). Here the author offers his cry of victory, his homage, to Śrī Gaura together with His associates. Śunile caitanya-kathā bhakti labhya haya — by hearing the accounts of Śrī Caitanya's pastimes, devotion is attained. Here the glory of hearing Gaura's pastime-accounts is proclaimed. Kavirāja Gosvāmī has said the same: "Even one who understands nothing of it, simply by hearing it again and again — ah, how wondrous is the character of Caitanya! Love for Kṛṣṇa will arise in him; he will come to know the way of rasa; merely by hearing, the greatest good will come to him" (Cc. 2.22.76). This is the very nature of Gaura's story: even without understanding it, if it is heard with faith, pure devotion can still arise in the heart, and from that, love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa can be born.

Because the Supreme Brahman, the Lord Himself (svayaṁ-bhagavān), Śrī Gaurachandra is a self-manifest reality (svaprakāśa-tattva), His name, form, qualities, and pastimes are all non-different from Him — and hence without His mercy, no one, by dint of learning or personal talent alone, could ever perceive or describe His name, form, or pastimes. But His mercy becomes accessible once the mercy of His devotee is obtained. For this reason, at the outset of describing Gaura's birth and related pastimes, the author begins from this very payar and, over the following several verses, offers obeisance at the feet of Śrī Gaura and His devotees, praying for their mercy so that he may narrate Gaura's story. Gaurachandra-avatāra — the account of Gaura's descent (appearance), or the account of the pastimes of Gaura, descended into the universe.

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Before the numbered notes begin, the commentator sets out, in a single summary paragraph, everything this chapter will cover: the reason for the Lord's descent; the dharma of Kali-yuga; the appearance of Gaura's associates at Navadvīpa and other places; their eventual gathering together at Navadvīpa; the reason Gaura's associates appeared even in lands bereft of the Gaṅgā and of harināma; the pre-eminence of Navadvīpa; the social condition of Navadvīpa at the time of Gaura's descent; the sorrow felt by the devotees on seeing the soul's outward-turned nature; Advaita Ācārya's worship of Kṛṣṇa, undertaken for the sake of bringing about Kṛṣṇa's descent to remove the world's outward-turnedness, and Śrī Caitanya's appearance in answer to his roar of prema; the appearance of Śrī Nityānanda; the appearance of Śrī Caitanya in Śacī's womb; the demigods' hymn of praise to that womb; the birth-pastime, which occurred at the time of a lunar eclipse; the prophecy of the Lord's maternal grandfather, Nīlāmbara Cakravartī; the great festival of the Lord's birth; and the glory of the appearance-days of Śrī Caitanya and Śrī Nityānanda.

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V.5. Jaya jaya śrī-sevā-vigraha Nityānanda — "All glory to Śrī Nityānanda, the form of service!" That Balarāma and Nityānanda are one and the same, without difference, has already been clearly stated at payar 1.1.159. That Balarāma manifests Himself as the manifold paraphernalia of Kṛṣṇa's service, and renders service to Kṛṣṇa in that way, was shown at śloka 1.1.14. Because He has taken form (vigraha) as the very instruments of service, He is called sevā-vigraha; and because He is supremely beautiful precisely in that form of service, He is called śrī-sevā-vigraha. Since Balarāma is śrī-sevā-vigraha, His non-different essential form, Śrī Nityānanda, is likewise śrī-sevā-vigraha: as Balarāma He serves Śyāma-Kṛṣṇa, and as Śrī Nityānanda He serves Gaura-Kṛṣṇa. Nor is it only as instruments of service that Balarāma-Nityānanda serve Kṛṣṇa — in His own personal form, too, He renders the service of assisting Śyāma-Kṛṣṇa's and Gaura-Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, and He also renders the service of singing Their glory; and it is on account of His consummate skill and absorption in all these services that He is called śrī-sevā-vigraha. Alternatively, sevā-vigraha may mean "the form who is served" by the devotees — in which sense it indicates that, just like Gaura, Nityānanda too is the object of the sādhaka's worship. As Narottama-dāsa Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has sung: "Only when Nitāi's mercy is won will Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa be found in Vraja — worship, then, the feet of Nitāi."

V.6. Avijñāta-tattva — "whose truth no one knows": these two, the Lord and His devotee. The two Lords, Śrī Caitanya-prabhu and Śrī Nityānanda-prabhu, and Their devotees — Their associates. Because Nitāi-Gaura are self-manifest realities (svaprakāśa-tattva), no one can know Their truth by his own power; and because Their associate-devotees, too, are transcendental to māyā, ordinary people cannot fathom their truth either. Tathāpi kṛpāya tattva karena suvyakta — yet, though unknowable to the world, by Their own mercy They make Their truth fully manifest, for the welfare of the world.

V.7. This verse states that, apart from anyone else, even Brahmā himself cannot know the truth of Śrī Kṛṣṇa without Kṛṣṇa's own mercy. In support of this a verse of the Bhāgavata is now quoted.

Śloka (Bhāgavata 2.4.21).

প্রাদুরাসীৎ পুরস্তান্মে সরস্বত্যাত্মলক্ষণা। প্রচোদিতা যেন পুরা সা মে ঋষীণাম্‌ ঋষভঃ প্রসীদতাম্‌। বিতন্বতাজস্য সতীং স্মৃতিং হৃদি॥

Translation. (Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, on the eve of answering Mahārāja Parīkṣit's question, said:) He who, in the beginning of creation, unfolded within Brahmā's heart the memory of how to create — He, moved by whom, the Vedic word bearing His own defining marks (sva-lakṣaṇā sarasvatī) first arose from Brahmā's very mouth — may that Supreme Lord, best of all who bestow true knowledge, be gracious unto me.

Explanation. At the end of every kalpa (that is, at the end of each of Brahmā's "days"), every world down to Svarloka is destroyed, and at the start of the next kalpa all of them must be created anew; yet in every kalpa the creation follows the same pattern as in the kalpa before (see the Bhūmikā's Introduction, section 4, page 10 there). When, at the start of a new kalpa, Brahmā once again turned his thoughts to creation, he found that he had forgotten how he had created in the previous kalpa; he had also known the Veda in that previous kalpa, but that too he had forgotten, and try as he might he could not recall it. He then took to meditating on the Lord. Pleased by that meditation, the Lord granted him a vision, instructed him in the process of creation, and revealed the words of the Veda within his heart. "He who, through the heart, inspired the first poet (Brahmā) [Bhāg. 1.1.1]"; "He who first fashioned Brahmā and delivered the Vedas unto him" (Śvet. 6.18); "He who first fashioned Brahmā and taught him the sciences" (Gopāla-tāpanī 1.4) — from all this it is known that even Brahmā cannot know of the previous creation, nor of the Veda he once knew, without the Lord's mercy. The same holds for Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī: when Mahārāja Parīkṣit asked him to describe Kṛṣṇa's creation-pastime, Śukadeva, before answering, prayed for Śrī Kṛṣṇa's favor — meaning that only if Kṛṣṇa becomes pleased and bestows His mercy could Śukadeva possibly describe the pastime of creation; otherwise not. And this though Śukadeva himself was one "established in the Word-Brahman and the Supreme Brahman" — supremely learned in the Vedic scriptures, consummately skilled in their exposition, and possessed of direct realization of the Supreme Brahman: "You are indeed established in the Word-Brahman and in the Supreme Brahman" (Bhāg. 2.4.10, Parīkṣit's own words to Śukadeva). Ṛṣīṇām ṛṣabhaḥ — those who are seers of truth (tattva-darśī) are called ṛṣis; being seers of truth, they alone can truly impart the truths enjoined by the Veda to others, and are hence the real bestowers of knowledge. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is called the ṛṣabha — the best, the most excellent — of even such ṛṣis. The reason is this: Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Brahman, the one object known by the entire Veda, has from beginningless time, as effortlessly as His own breath, manifested the four Vedas — Ṛg, Yajur, Sāma, and Atharva — together with the fifth Veda, the Itihāsas and Purāṇas. "This Ṛg-veda, Yajur-veda, Sāma-veda, and Atharvāṅgirasa, the Itihāsa, and the Purāṇa are the very breath of this great Being" (Bṛhad. 2.4.10); "Itihāsa and Purāṇa are the fifth of the Vedas" (Chānd. 7.1.2). The Veda is nothing but His own utterance: "the Veda is Your very own word in form," as Śrīdhara Svāmī glosses the phrase "tava vedaḥ" in Bhāg. 11.20.4. Hence Śrī Kṛṣṇa alone is the author of the Veda and Vedānta, and being their author He alone is their true knower — He alone knows the secret purport of the Veda and Vedānta. Kṛṣṇa Himself has told this to Arjuna: "By all the Vedas I alone am to be known; I am the author of Vedānta, and I alone am the true knower of the Veda" (Gītā 15.15). Since Kṛṣṇa alone is the knower of Veda and Vedānta, no one else can know the Veda's secret or the truths it declares unless He mercifully reveals them. Therefore even those who, by His mercy, have attained the vision of truth and become ṛṣis regard Him as their ṛṣabha, their most excellent and most worshipable one.

V.8–11. These verses give the substance of the preceding śloka. Nābhi-padma — Brahmā's birth from the navel-lotus of Garbhodakaśāyī Nārāyaṇa. (A variant reading of the second half of verse 10 gives: "then he knew all truths, and their condition.") Achintya, agamya kṛṣṇa-avatāra-līlā — "inconceivable, inaccessible are Kṛṣṇa's avatāra and pastimes": the truth of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and His avatāras and pastimes, lie beyond the reach of the world's mundane intellect, beyond thought (achintya), beyond access (agamya). In support of this a further Bhāgavata verse is now quoted.

Śloka (Bhāgavata 10.14.21 — from Brahmā's prayer in the Brahma-vimohana-līlā).

কো বেত্তি ভূমন্‌ ভগবন্‌ পরাত্মন্‌ যোগেশ্বরোতীর্ভবতস্ত্রিলোক্যাম্‌। ক্ব বা কথং বা কতি বা কদেতি বিস্তারয়ন্‌ ক্রীড়সি যোগমায়াম্‌॥

Translation. In the pastime of Brahmā's bewilderment, Brahmā, praising Śrī Kṛṣṇa, said: O unlimited one (bhūman), O Lord full of six opulences (bhagavan), O indwelling Self of all (parātman), O Yogeśvara — all-pervading through Your own inherent yoga-power, true in all three times! When You spread forth Your great potency, Yogamāyā, and engage in pastime — ah, how astonishing! — who in all the three worlds can know where, how, for what reason, how many times, or when those pastimes of Yours manifest? That is, no one at all is capable of knowing this.

V.12–13. These two verses give the substance of the śloka just quoted.

V.14. Though no one can truly know for what purpose Śrī Kṛṣṇa descends into the universe, this much is nevertheless made known through the statements of the Bhāgavata and the Gītā. The author now says: I shall state, quoting the words of the Gītā and the Bhāgavata, why the Lord descends.

Śloka (Gītā 4.7–8, Śrī Kṛṣṇa's words to Arjuna).

যদা যদা হি ধর্মস্য গ্লানির্ভবতি ভারত। অভ্যুত্থানমধর্মস্য তদাত্মানং সৃজাম্যহম্‌॥ পরিত্রাণায় সাধূনাং বিনাশায় চ দুষ্কৃতাম্‌। ধর্মসংস্থাপনার্থায় সম্ভবামি যুগে যুগে॥

Translation. Śrī Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna: O Bhārata! Whenever there is a decline of dharma enjoined by the Veda, and a rise of adharma opposed to the Veda, at that time I manifest Myself. For the protection of the righteous, who observe Vedic dharma, and for the destruction of evildoers, and for the establishment of Vedic dharma, I descend, age after age.

Explanation. For what purpose the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa descends into the universe is thus told in these two Gītā verses. He descends for the accomplishment of three purposes: the protection of the pious, the destruction of evildoers, and the establishment of dharma. Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises, He descends. But what exactly is meant by dharma and adharma? "Dharma is that which is enjoined by the Veda; whatever is contrary to it is adharma" (Bhāg. 6.1.40). Śrīdhara Svāmī, commenting on this Bhāgavata verse, writes: "Dharma is that which is enjoined, prescribed, by the Veda — that is, established on the authority of the Veda. From this it follows both that whatever rests on Vedic authority is dharma, and that whatever is dharma rests on Vedic authority — this states both its essential nature and its proof. As Jaimini has said: 'that which is characterized by injunction (codanā) is dharma.' And as Kumārila Bhaṭṭa explains: 'both [dharma and its opposite] are established by the same rule, through the twin authority of scriptural statement.' Though the essential nature and defining mark of adharma are not separately touched upon [in that Bhāgavata verse], they may be inferred from its being spoken of in terms of punishment: its opposite — that which is forbidden by the Veda — is adharma, and the proof of that lies in the Vedic prohibition itself." From all these scriptural statements and from Svāmīpāda's own words it is understood: whatever is enjoined by the Veda, whatever rests on Vedic authority, is dharma; and whatever is not enjoined by the Veda, does not rest on Vedic authority, and is contrary to the Veda, is adharma. The Veda is the Supreme Brahman's, the Lord Himself's, own utterance (see the explanation of the earlier verse, Bhāg. 2.4.21, above); there can be no possibility of error, illusion, or any such fault in His word. "Illusion, error, deceit, and defect of the senses — the Lord's word is free of all these faults" (Cc. 2.17.102). Hence it is wholly reliable.

Moreover, the chief aim of religious practice (dharmānuṣṭhāna) is release from the bondage of saṁsāra — from birth and death — and the attainment of the Lord. "Having attained Me, O Kaunteya, one is never born again" (Gītā 8.16, Kṛṣṇa's words). Without worshipping Śrī Kṛṣṇa, release from the clutches of māyā, or liberation, cannot be had. "This divine potency of Mine, made of the guṇas, is difficult indeed to cross beyond; but those who take refuge in Me alone cross over this māyā" (Gītā 7.14, Kṛṣṇa's words). And the giver of the fruit of religious practice is likewise Kṛṣṇa alone: "The fruit [of action belongs to the Lord] because that alone is reasonable" (Brahma-sūtra 3.2.38). Hence it is Kṛṣṇa alone who knows by which practice one may attain Him, or gain release from the bondage of saṁsāra, and He has declared this Himself in the Veda, His own word. Therefore whatever is enjoined by the Veda is dharma, and its opposite is adharma. Whatever is not supported by the Veda's own statement — any particular person's mere assertion — cannot form the real foundation of any dharma; such an assertion can have no ultimate value and cannot be relied upon, for the only proof of that person's statement is the person himself, and he is not beyond error and illusion. If he says, "I am a liberated soul," what is the proof of that very statement? And if someone other than the Supreme Brahman Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the one bestower of liberation, says of another, "So-and-so is a liberated soul," what value has that statement either? If one whose view is not sanctioned by the Veda says, "By conduct in keeping with my own opinion I have become liberated," such a statement, too, can have no value. It is true that certain manifestations of Godhead have, at the Lord's own command, propagated doctrines — āgamas — contrary to the Veda: Śrī Kṛṣṇa's command to Śiva was precisely this — "Deluding people by your own āgamas, turn them away from Me, and conceal Me, so that the successive creation may proceed" (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 62.31) — and Śiva, in keeping with this, propagated his own āgamas. All such Śaiva āgamas, and the dharma founded upon them, being contrary to the Veda, are, in truth, adharma; the Brahma-sūtras too, beginning "patyur asāmañjasyāt," declare that the doctrines founded on the Śaiva āgamas are contrary to the Veda (see Mañjarī 15.9). In the world at large, many things are propagated and followed in the name of dharma; which of them is truly dharma and which truly adharma must be determined solely by the defining marks of dharma and adharma stated above. Some, exercising their own intellect, contrive various arguments and fanciful "spiritual interpretations" of Vedic and Veda-following scriptural statements, and try thereby to show even Veda-contrary doctrines to be sanctioned by the Veda — but they seem to forget that the Veda, being the Supreme Brahman's own word, is self-evidently authoritative (svataḥ-pramāṇa), the very crown of all proofs; and that this self-evident authority of the Veda's statements is preserved only when they are understood in their primary or direct sense. When, with the help of one's own contrived arguments — and, where even those arguments fail to secure the desired conclusion, with the help of imagined figurative meanings — one tries to interpret the Veda's statements, the Veda's own self-evident authority is lost, and the authority of one's contrived argument takes its place instead; the true meaning of the Veda's statement is thereby missed entirely. Hence, when the direct sense of the Veda's statement lends no support to some doctrine, no amount of so-called "spiritual" or argument-based reinterpretation can wash away that doctrine's contrariness to the Veda — that is, its being, in truth, adharma as the Veda itself declares.

From all this discussion, then, it is understood that whatever is enjoined by the Veda is dharma. But the Veda enjoins dharma of several kinds — dharma leading to enjoyment (bhukti), dharma leading to liberation (mokṣa), and the supreme dharma (parama-dharma). Bhukti means the enjoyment of happiness and comfort in this life, and of the pleasures of heaven and the other higher worlds in the life to come. The karma-kāṇḍa portion of the Veda enjoins this enjoyment-yielding dharma — the performance of Vedic sacrifices, the observance of one's prescribed duties, and so on. But this enjoyment is not eternal. That the happiness and comfort of this life are impermanent, everyone knows; the happiness of the heavenly worlds in the next life is impermanent as well. One remains in the heavenly worlds only so long as the merit accumulated through ritual observance lasts; once that merit is exhausted, one must return again to the mortal world and take birth once more — one must return even from Svarga, Janaloka, Tapoloka, Maharloka, and even from Brahmaloka (Satyaloka) itself. "All the worlds up to Brahmā's own abode are subject to return, O Arjuna, but having attained Me, no one is ever born again" (Gītā 8.16). Following the path of the karma-kāṇḍa alone, one cannot cross beyond the ocean of material existence; hence one falls, again and again, into the grip of birth, old age, and death. "Those who take the boats of sacrifice, however unsteady, [imagining they will cross the ocean of saṁsāra by them,] again and again meet with old age and death" (Muṇḍaka 1.2.7). And yet, for those who consider such enjoyment to be the highest good, the Veda has prescribed this dharma of enjoyment, and its practice is enjoined as their duty as well — for it keeps them within the fold of Vedic conduct, and it is possible that, by some good fortune, reflecting on the impermanence of such fruits, the desire for a truly eternal fruit may one day awaken in them. Were they not held within the fold of Vedic observance, they might, driven by the urge for enjoyment, be swept away on a current of unrestrained license. It is according to the difference of qualification (adhikāra-bheda) that the Veda speaks of different kinds of dharma.

However this may be, for those who have no greed for the enjoyments obtainable through the karma-kāṇḍa, and who long for release — for liberation from the ocean of material existence, from the clutches of māyā — the Veda has taught the dharma leading to liberation: desireless action (niṣkāma-karma), the path of Vedic knowledge (jñāna-mārga), the path of yoga, and so forth. But liberation, too, is attained only through worship of Śrī Kṛṣṇa: "This divine potency of Mine, made of the guṇas, is difficult indeed to cross beyond; but those who take refuge in Me alone cross over this māyā" (Gītā 7.14). Liberation does have the quality of eternality, and one does attain a real and lasting happiness in it. And yet even this is not the object intrinsically bound up with the soul's own essential nature (svarūpānubandhī). From the Bṛhadāraṇyaka-śruti we learn of that object, and of that dharma, which is intrinsically bound up with the soul's own essential nature. From the statements of that śruti at 1.4.8 and 2.4.5 it is known that the soul's relation to the Supreme Brahman is one of dearness (priyatva) — the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Self, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the soul's one true dear one, and, dearness being by its very nature reciprocal, the soul is dear to Him as well. Hence the śruti says: "One should worship the Self alone as the dear one" (Bṛhad. 1.4.8) — meaning, one should worship or serve that Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Self, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, precisely as one's dear one. The purport of worshipping or serving Kṛṣṇa as one's dear one is service whose sole aim is Kṛṣṇa's happiness; in this there is no room to seek anything for oneself, neither enjoyment nor liberation. This alone is the soul's svarūpānubandhī duty (see the extended discussion at Mañjarī 16.2). The dharma, enjoined by the Veda, through whose cultivation this is attained, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam calls the "supreme dharma" (parama-dharma), and this alone is the dharma that the Bhāgavata itself is meant to teach. "Dharma, expelling all pretense (kaitava), is here set forth as the supreme good of the saintly, who bear no envy..." (Bhāg. 1.1.2) — "In this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the supreme dharma, free of all pretense, to be practiced by envy-free saintly persons, is set forth." That dharma in which there is no desire for the four aims of dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa, but only the desire for the Lord's pleasure — that alone is the pretense-free supreme dharma (Śrīdhara Svāmī's commentary).

Sambhavāmi yuge yuge — Śrī Kṛṣṇa has said that, for the accomplishment of the aforesaid purposes, He descends age after age — in every yuga. Yet He does not descend in His own personal form in every single yuga. Within a single day of Brahmā, He descends in His own form but once. "The complete Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the son of the king of Vraja, eternally sports with Vraja in Goloka; within a single day of Brahmā He descends but once and manifests His pastimes" (Cc. 1.3.4–5; see the discussion at Mañjarī 12.2). Within a single day of Brahmā there are a thousand Satya-yugas, a thousand Tretā-yugas, a thousand Dvāpara-yugas, and a thousand Kali-yugas; and among these four thousand yugas, the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa descends in His own personal form but once — in a single Dvāpara. In the other yugas He does not descend in His own personal form, but descends in the form of the various yugāvatāras; and since these yugāvatāras, too, are His own expansions, their descent is, in essence, His own descent as well.

V.15–17. These three verses give the substance of the preceding Gītā verses. (For "pravabatā," a variant reading "pravalatā" ["the ascendancy of adharma"] is also found.)

V.18. The dharma of Kali-yuga is hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. It is to proclaim this dharma of the age that Śacīnandana Gaurasundara has descended in the present age. In truth, the proclamation of the dharma of the age is the yugāvatāra's own function; but when the Supreme Godhead Himself descends, all the other manifestations of Godhead — including the yugāvatāra proper to that age — remain present within Him, since the yugāvatāra does not descend separately. Hence the very Supreme Godhead who descends in that age also proclaims, incidentally, the dharma of that age. In the present Kali-yuga, the Supreme Godhead Śacīnandana has, in just this incidental way, propagated nāma-saṅkīrtana. Since the yugāvatāra proper to this Kali-yuga will not descend separately — the Supreme Godhead Śacīnandana Himself being due to descend — He Himself, though only incidentally, must also propagate this age's dharma of hari-saṅkīrtana. This is the reason for the statement, "for this purpose has [He] descended," and so forth. (See the explanation of the following ślokas 5–6 below.)

V.19. The construction of this verse: "The Bhāgavata declares that Gaurachandra, the very essence of all truths, has descended for the sake of [establishing] kīrtana." Sarva-tattva-sāra — an epithet of Gaurachandra: the essence of all truths, the furthest boundary of the Supreme Truth, is Gaurachandra Himself. In support of this a Bhāgavata verse is now quoted.

Śloka (Bhāgavata 11.5.32, from Karabhājana Ṛṣi's answer to King Nimi).

কৃষ্ণবর্ণং ত্বিষাকৃষ্ণং সাঙ্গোপাঙ্গাস্ত্রপার্ষদম্‌। যজ্ঞৈঃ সঙ্কীর্তনপ্রায়ৈর্যজন্তি হি সুমেধসঃ॥

Translation. O Mahārāja Nimi! In this way the devotees, in Dvāpara-yuga, offer their praises and worship to the Lord of the universe [as described in the preceding verse]. Now hear how, in Kali-yuga too, according to various Veda-conforming tantric injunctions, the devotees worship the Lord of the universe. Those of true intelligence worship, chiefly through saṅkīrtana, that manifest form of Godhead who, though Himself kṛṣṇa-varṇa (of Kṛṣṇa's own hue, or one who describes/glorifies Kṛṣṇa), is tviṣā akṛṣṇa — not dark in His outwardly visible complexion — and who is accompanied by His own limbs and sub-limbs serving as His weapons and associates.

Explanation. In the Tretā-yuga past, when the nine great yogīndras — Kavi, Havi, and the others — came to the assembly of Mahārāja Nimi (King Janaka), Nimi received them with due honor and put nine questions to them, each of which one of them answered in turn. The last question was this: among the four yugas of the present cycle — Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali — which form of Godhead is worshipped in each, and what is the mode of that worship? Yogīndra Karabhājana answered this question. Having described the worshipable Deity and mode of worship for Satya and Tretā, he went on to describe those of Dvāpara — in Dvāpara the worshipable Deity is Śyāma Bhagavān; those seeking the Supreme Truth worship that dark-hued form of the Lord by the path of Veda and āgama together (vaidikena āgamikena ca mārgeṇa, Śrīdhara Svāmī), praising Him with words such as "namas te vāsudevāya," and so on. Karabhājana then said: "Mahārāja! I have described the object and mode of worship for Dvāpara. Now hear also of the object and mode of worship for the present Kali." So saying, in the verse beginning "kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam," he described Kali's worshipable Deity and its worship. Nānā-tantra-vidhānena — according to the injunctions of various tantras. In connection with the description of Dvāpara's worship, Bhāg. 11.5.28 says "vedatantrābhyām" — Śrīdhara Svāmī glosses this: "by the path of Veda and āgama together" — here Svāmīpāda takes "tantra" to mean āgama, and this āgama must be Veda-conforming āgama, Veda-conforming tantra; otherwise it could not be reconciled with the Vedic path. Any tantra external to the Veda is at odds with the Veda; Vyāsadeva himself, in the Brahma-sūtra "patyur asāmañjasyāt" and the sūtras following it, has shown the Veda-contrary āgamas or tantras to be inconsistent with the Veda. Hence the tantra the Bhāgavata speaks of here cannot be a Veda-contrary tantra — it must be a Veda-conforming tantra, a Pāñcarātrika tantra. (See the Bhūmikā, section 58, for the defining marks of Veda-conforming and Veda-contrary tantras.) The śloka beginning "kṛṣṇaṁ" is now taken up for discussion.

This śloka describes the object of worship in the present Kali-yuga, and the mode of that worship. Its second half — "yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ" — tells of the mode of worship, while its first half, in the three terms "kṛṣṇa-varṇam," "tviṣā akṛṣṇam," and "sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam," describes the very identity of the object worshipped. Of these, the two words "kṛṣṇa-varṇa" and "tviṣā akṛṣṇa" tell us who this worshipable Deity is — that is, which particular manifestation of Godhead He is. In considering the meaning of these two words, one thing must be borne in mind: a thing is recognized by its specific defining mark (viśeṣa-lakṣaṇa), not by a mark common to many things. If one says merely "a four-footed animal with a tail," a cow is not thereby identified — a horse, too, has a tail and four feet; only when a specific mark such as the dewlap is mentioned is a cow properly identified. The dewlap (the swinging fold of skin at the throat) is the specific mark of a cow. Likewise, the worshipable Deity of Kali-yuga also has one specific defining mark: "channaḥ kalau" — that is, the form of Godhead worshipped in Kali is one whose own true complexion is concealed (channa, from the root chad, "to cover"), covered over by another hue. Each of the words "kṛṣṇa" and "tviṣā akṛṣṇa" admits of several possible meanings, but only those meanings that yield this specific mark of concealment are to be accepted — otherwise the true identity of Kali's worshipable Deity cannot be known. A full discussion cannot be undertaken here; those wishing to see it may consult Mañjarī, Chapter 3. Here only a brief discussion is given, noting only those meanings by which the sense of concealment is obtained.

Kṛṣṇa-varṇa admits of two meanings. One: He whose complexion (varṇa) is kṛṣṇa (dark) — He who is dark-hued. The other: kṛṣṇaṁ varṇayati iti kṛṣṇa-varṇaḥ — He who describes (varṇana, glorifies) Kṛṣṇa's name, qualities, form, and pastimes. And the acceptable sense of "tviṣā akṛṣṇa" is: He whose complexion (tviṭ) — that is, His outwardly visible hue — is akṛṣṇa, not dark. (Tviṭ means luster or complexion, from which comes tviṣā.) Combining the two possible senses of "kṛṣṇa-varṇa" with this sense of "tviṣā akṛṣṇa," the phrase "kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam" means: He who is Himself kṛṣṇa-varṇa (dark) yet whose outwardly visible complexion is not dark, and who also describes/glorifies Kṛṣṇa's name, form, and so forth — this is kṛṣṇa-varṇa, tviṣā akṛṣṇa. Here the sense of concealment is obtained, since His own true complexion is dark, yet His outwardly visible complexion is not dark — His own dark hue is covered over by some other, non-dark complexion. But who could this be? Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Godhead Himself, is kṛṣṇa-varṇa, and the ordinary yugāvatāra of Kali-yuga is also kṛṣṇa-varṇa. Is this, then, the ordinary yugāvatāra of Kali (that is, the one who descends in every single Kali-yuga)? No. Is it the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself? There is no scriptural evidence anywhere that the yugāvatāra ever descends concealed in some other hue; hence this "kṛṣṇa" of the verse cannot be the yugāvatāra Kṛṣṇa. "There were [before] three complexions of Mine — white, red, and yellow; now, in this age, I have taken on a dark complexion" (Bhāg. 10.8.13) — from this verse it is known that in certain Kali-yugas the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself descends in His own personal form but in a golden hue; there is no evidence anywhere that He descends in any other hue in His own personal form. Golden is not the same as dark — it is a non-dark hue. Thus it becomes clear that in certain Kali-yugas the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa descends in a golden — a non-dark — hue, His golden complexion covering over His own natural dark or Śyāma hue. Hence from the phrase "kṛṣṇa-varṇa, tviṣā akṛṣṇa" it is understood that the worshipable Deity identified in this verse for the present Kali-yuga is the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, but with His own dark complexion covered over by a golden one — and He, moreover, describes and glorifies Śrī Kṛṣṇa's own name, qualities, form, and pastimes. The meaning of "sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam" is now examined.

Sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣada — He who is accompanied by His own limbs and sub-limbs functioning as weapons and associates. That is, the limbs and sub-limbs of that golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead just described themselves perform the function of weapons and of associates. Certain avatāras destroy demons by means of weapons; but this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead destroys no demon by any weapon — it is by His limbs and sub-limbs alone that He accomplishes the destruction of demon-hood (asuratva) — that is, the mere sight of Him dispels a demon's demonic nature. Moreover, when the Lord descends into the universe, He causes His own associates (pārṣadas, parikaras) to descend as well, and they assist in His pastimes. This golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead, too, descends together with His associates, who assist Him in His pastimes concerning the world; but His own limbs and sub-limbs perform this function as well — the mere sight of His limbs and sub-limbs, that is, of Him, assists His work concerning the world. How so? This is now explained.

The Muṇḍaka-śruti and the Maitrāyaṇī-śruti both speak of this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead. Thus: "When the seer beholds the golden-hued (rukma-varṇa) Creator, the Controller, the Person, the source of Brahmā [the Veda], then, become wise, shaking off both merit and sin, free of all taint, he attains the supreme state of equality [with the Lord]" (Muṇḍaka 3.1.3; see the discussion of this and the Maitrāyaṇī verse at Mañjarī, Chapter 2). This śruti passage speaks of one golden-hued (rukma-varṇa) Supreme Godhead. Rukma-varṇa means golden, of a golden hue — the hue of gold is itself golden. The moment anyone attains His sight (darśana), all of that seer's previously accumulated karmic reactions — down to demon-hood itself — are utterly destroyed at the root, and he at once attains prema. That this golden-hued Supreme Godhead descends into the universe is likewise known from this same śruti passage, and it is precisely in order to bestow prema for Vraja, through the gift of His own sight, that He descends. Hence His task concerning the world is the bestowal of prema. His sight — that is, the sight of His limbs and sub-limbs — grants prema to anyone at all; hence His limbs and sub-limbs perform the very function of His associates. And likewise, the mere sight of Him, or of His limbs and sub-limbs, dispels even a demon's demonic nature; hence His limbs and sub-limbs perform the very function of weapons — for it is by weapons that demons are ordinarily destroyed. His limbs and sub-limbs — that is, He Himself — destroy demon-hood, but do not destroy the demon's life; for that very demon, once his demon-hood is dispelled, goes on to attain prema. This is one wondrous distinguishing feature of this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead. The phrase "sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣada" thus expresses precisely the purport of the Muṇḍaka and Maitrāyaṇī śruti passages.

A word may now be briefly said about the "golden hue" of this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead. It is stated in the fourth chapter of the Ādi-līlā of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta that in the pastimes of Vraja, three desires are ever alive in Śrī Kṛṣṇa's heart: the desire to taste His own sweetness [as Śrī Rādhā tastes it]; the desire to know the greatness of Śrī Rādhā's love; and the desire to experience the happiness Śrī Rādhā feels in tasting that sweetness of His. Of these three desires, the desire to taste His own sweetness is the principal one. For Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, as two separate persons, the fulfillment of this trio of desires is impossible; hence arose Śrī Kṛṣṇa's intense longing to become the very abode of Rādhā's love. But just as bringing light requires bringing the flame itself, so too, in order to take on Rādhā's love, the acceptance of Rādhā's very body becomes indispensable — that is, the union of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Rādhā in a single body becomes essential. And to fulfill this desire of her beloved, Śrī Rādhā, too, has given herself accordingly: she stands enfolding, with her own golden or fair-complexioned limbs, the dark limbs of her beloved Śrī Kṛṣṇa. By Rādhā's golden limbs, Kṛṣṇa's dark, Śyāma limbs become fully covered over. Hence the outwardly visible complexion — the luster — of this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead under discussion has become golden, non-dark (see the extended discussion at Mañjarī 1.20–21). From this it is understood that the tasting of His own sweetness as Vrajendranandana is this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead's own svarūpānubandhī task. Incidentally: in the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma-stotra, the word "hemāṅgaḥ" in the phrase "suvarṇa-varṇo hemāṅgo varāṅgaś candanāṅgadī" (127.92) is also indicative of the essential nature of this very golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead. Hemāṅga — He whose limbs are of a golden hue; gold's hue is golden (see the discussion of the Mahābhārata verse at Mañjarī 9.1).

The second half of the verse under discussion, beginning "yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyaiḥ," is now examined. Saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajñaiḥ — through offerings whose chief mode is saṅkīrtana (worship of Kali's golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead ought to be performed thus). In his commentary, Śrīpāda Viśvanātha Cakravartī writes: "saṅkīrtana-prāyaiḥ — chiefly by saṅkīrtana." On the word saṅkīrtana, Śrīpāda Jīva Gosvāmī writes: "Saṅkīrtana is that singing, chiefly for Śrī Kṛṣṇa's pleasure, of the sort that delights Him, undertaken by many gathered together" (Krama-sandarbha). When many people gather together and, for Śrī Kṛṣṇa's pleasure, sing that song which is pleasing to Him — the song of the name, form, qualities, and pastimes of that golden-complexioned Kṛṣṇa — this is called saṅkīrtana. It is by such saṅkīrtana-chief offerings that this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead ought to be worshipped. Vrajendranandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the very object (viṣaya) of Śrī Rādhā's love for Kṛṣṇa, not its abode (āśraya). As the golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead, He has become that very abode of love. But the joy of tasting love as its abode is a million times greater than the joy of tasting it merely as its object (see Mañjarī 1.19). As already stated, Kali's worshipable golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead is none other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa united with Śrī Rādhā in a single form — the combined form of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa; hence He is the very abode of Rādhā's undivided treasury of prema. His svarūpānubandhī activity, too, is the tasting of the sweetness of His own Vrajendranandana form — the sweetness of His own name, form, qualities, and pastimes — and in tasting, as the abode of Rādhā's love, the sweetness of the name, qualities, form, and pastimes of the Vrajendranandana-svarūpa, He feels boundless bliss. The purport of worshipping Him is to bring Him pleasure. Whichever devotee sings, in His presence, the name and qualities of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, that devotee alone can awaken in Him a pleasure surpassing all else — for the tasting of Śrī Kṛṣṇa's name and qualities is precisely this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead's own most cherished, svarūpānubandhī activity. Hence it is said, "yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyaiḥ," and so on — those who worship this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead chiefly through saṅkīrtana are su-medhāḥ, possessed of the finest intelligence.

The point of saying "saṅkīrtana-chief offering" is this: other kinds of offerings may exist too, but saṅkīrtana is the chief one, because Kali's worshipable golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead takes His greatest delight precisely in saṅkīrtana. Even were no other offering present, He would feel boundless joy from saṅkīrtana alone — just as, in the ordinary world, a hungry person, even without any delicacies, feels the deepest satisfaction from plain rice alone, whereas delicacies without rice give him no real satisfaction; in just the same way, this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead, ever eager to taste the qualities and form of Kṛṣṇa, feels no special pleasure in any offering that lacks saṅkīrtana.

That this golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead spoken of in the verse under discussion — and in the Mahābhārata, the Muṇḍaka-śruti, and the Maitrāyaṇī-śruti — is none other than Śacīnandana Śrī Gaurāṅga, Kavirāja Gosvāmī has shown in the fourth chapter of the Ādi-līlā of his Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (an extended discussion is also given in the book Mahāprabhu Śrī Gaurāṅga [Mañjarī]). Śrīla Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura has already told us, in the preceding payars 18–19 and the following payar 20, that the Lord's avatāra took place for the sake of propagating saṅkīrtana. How is this so? It is now explained.

Those who wish to please Kali's worshipable golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead Gaurasundara must perform saṅkīrtana — the saṅkīrtana of Kṛṣṇa's name and so forth; hence the very desire to please Gaura will, of itself, cause saṅkīrtana to spread among them, and through their influence, among others as well. The chief cause of this is the appearance of the golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead Śrī Śacīnandana Himself, for it is only because He has descended that the opportunity for His worship arises, and it is for the sake of that worship that nāma-saṅkīrtana is propagated. It is therefore not unreasonable to say that His descent took place for the very purpose of propagating nāma-saṅkīrtana. That He is the golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead spoken of in the "kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam" verse has already been shown; hence what Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura says at payars 18–20 — that Śrī Caitanya's avatāra took place for the sake of propagating saṅkīrtana — is entirely correct. Indeed, since the tasting of the sweetness of the name and qualities of Vrajendranandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead Gaurasundara's own svarūpānubandhī activity — which He tastes even in the unmanifest abode — He would have no need to descend into the universe merely for that purpose. He descends into the universe for the welfare of Kali-afflicted souls, specifically for the propagation of nāma and prema among Kali-afflicted souls without discrimination. Hence, though the propagation of nāma and prema may not be the principal purpose so far as He Himself is concerned, when the world's welfare is taken into account, it is understood that this propagation is indeed principal — so far as the purpose of His descent, considered in relation to the world, is concerned, the primacy of propagating the holy name cannot be denied. It is for this very reason that the author has said, "for the sake of kīrtana has the avatāra of Gaurachandra [taken place]" (payar 1.1.19).

The verse "kṛṣṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam" speaks of the worshipability of the golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead Gaurasundara, and from this His eternality — His being true in all three times — is also known, since there is no purpose in worshipping something impermanent. Śruti, too, has said: an impermanent object of worship cannot yield the permanent. "That eternal (dhruva) reality cannot be attained through impermanent (adhruva) means" (Kaṭha 1.2.10). Nor is it the case that Śrī Gaura descended for the very first time only after the past Dvāpara-yuga, in the present Kali. The verse "āsan varṇās trayo hy asya" (Bhāg. 10.8.13) states clearly that the golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead had descended even before the past Dvāpara. And as already noted, the golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead is spoken of in the Muṇḍaka and Maitrāyaṇī śrutis as well. That the Veda, and the śruti contained within the Vedānta, are eternal — beginningless, not of human authorship — Vyāsadeva has stated in his Brahma-sūtra: "and therefore also its eternality" (Brahma-sūtra 1.3.29). Since the Veda is eternal, the golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead of whom the Veda speaks must likewise be eternal — beginningless, true in all three times. It is for this reason that Yogīndra Karabhājana has spoken of His worshipability.

Śrī Rādhā is the sole possessor of the undivided treasury of prema-bhakti, and hence the crown-jewel of all devotees. It is Śrī Kṛṣṇa united with her who is the golden-complexioned Supreme Godhead Gaurasundara; hence in Gaurasundara, too, that undivided treasury of prema-bhakti is present, and for this reason He too is filled with the mood of the devotee (bhakta-bhāva). In this devotee's mood — the Vaiṣṇava mood — He has likewise performed many pastimes.

V.20. In Kali-yuga, harināma-kīrtana is the one and only dharma for everyone. "The name of Hari, the name of Hari, the name of Hari alone — in Kali there is no other way, no other way, no other way" (Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa). Sarva-dharma — the one dharma common to all: to the jñānī, the yogī, and the devotee alike. (For "sarva-dharma" a variant reading "sarva-yajña" is also seen — meaning that among all paths of practice, jñāna, yoga, karma, and the rest, the one common offering or rite is hari-saṅkīrtana. See the commentary at payar 1.1.109.)

V.21. Sarva-parikare — together with all His associates. Whenever the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa or Śrī Caitanya descends into the universe, He always descends together with His full complement of associates.

V.22. Āge — before the Lord's own descent. Mānuṣa-bhitara — among human beings.

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V.23–24. Ananta — Balarāma. Virañci — Brahmā. Yata avatārera — the complete company of associates and intimate companions (āptas) of every avatāra [took birth as devotees, to accompany the Lord's own avatāra]. (For "pāriṣada āptagaṇa" the variants "pāriṣada bhaktagaṇa" and "sevaka sarva-jana" are also found.) Bhāgavata-rūpe — in the form of devotees. Kṛṣṇa se jānena, etc. — only Śrī Kṛṣṇa (or the golden-complexioned Kṛṣṇa) knows which of Brahmā, Śiva, and the rest took birth as the partial manifestation (aṁśa) of which eternal associate, becoming included within that associate.

V.25–26. In which places the Lord's associates took birth is told in these two verses; exactly which associate was born in which place is told in the subsequent payars 27–39.

V.33. Buḍhana — a village in the district of Jessore (Yaśohara). (For "ihā-sabhāra prakāśa," the variant "hoilā ihānā parakāśa" is found; ihānā means "these persons.")

V.34. Śrī Nityānanda's appearance took place at the village of Ekacakā, in Rāḍha-deśa — in the present-day district of Bīrbhūm. Rāḍha-mājhe — in the land of Rāḍha, "that portion of Bengal bounded by the Gaṅgā to the north and east, by Orissa to the south, and by the Dārukeśvara [river] to the west" — that is, the portion of present-day Bengal lying west of the Gaṅgā. The ancient name of Rāḍha was Suhma or Prāgdeśa; in the Buddhist age it was called Rāṭha, whence Rāḍha. Northern Rāḍha lies north of Bardhamān and Kalna; the tract to its south is called Southern Rāḍha (see Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna).

V.35–36. Śrī Nityānanda's father's name was Śrī Hāḍāi Paṇḍita, and His mother's name was Padmāvatī.

Payar text (verses 37–41).

সংগোপে দেবতাগণে কৈলেন তখন॥ ৩৭ মহা জয়জয়ধ্বনি পুষ্পবরিষণ। সেই দিন হৈতে রাঢ়মণ্ডল-সকল। নীলাচলে যার সঙ্গে একত্রে বিলাস॥ ৩৯ পুনঃপুন বাঢ়িতে লাগিল সুমঙ্গল॥ ৩৮ গঙ্গাতীর পুণ্যস্থান সকল থাকিতে। তিরোতে পরমানন্দ-পুরীর প্রকাশ। বৈষ্ণব জন্ময়ে কেন শোচ্য দেশেতে?॥ ৪০ আপনে হইলা অবতীর্ণ গঙ্গাতীরে। সঙ্গের পার্ষদ কেনে জন্মায়েন দূরে?॥ ৪১

Translation. At that moment the assembled demigods, in secret, showered flowers and raised a great cry of victory. From that very day, all the region of Rāḍha-maṇḍala began, again and again, to increase in auspiciousness. In Tirhut (Tirabhukti) appeared Śrī Paramānanda Purī — he who, at Nīlācala, shared his life in the Lord's company. [Now a question is raised:] While there remain so many sacred places along the very bank of the Gaṅgā, why should a Vaiṣṇava take birth in an unfortunate, "lamentable" land? The Lord Himself descended on the bank of the Gaṅgā — why, then, should the associates of His company take birth so far away?

Explanation.

Śrī Nityānanda, essentially non-different from Balarāma of Vraja, is sarva-pitā, "the father of all" — for it is from Balarāma that the creation of the entire universe first arises; hence, considered in terms of ultimate truth, Balarāma — and therefore Śrī Nityānanda — is the father of all, and can have no father of His own, nor could He possibly have one. Yet since He performs human-like pastimes (nara-līlā), just as in the past Dvāpara He appeared through the agency of Vasudeva, so in this Kali He has appeared through the agency of Hāḍāi Paṇḍita — accepting Hāḍāi Paṇḍita as His father. Mūle — considered in terms of the ultimate truth. Pitā-vyāja — vyāja means a pretext, a guise. The Lord-principle Śrī Nityānanda was not born from Hāḍāi Paṇḍita in the way an ordinary conditioned soul is born from a father. How the human-pastime Lord manifests His birth-pastime when descending into the universe has already been explained in connection with the word "jagannātha-sutāya" at the commentary on payar 1.1.2. But ordinary people, not knowing this, imagine that Śrī Nityānanda took birth from Hāḍāi Paṇḍita exactly as a conditioned soul takes birth from a father — this is what is meant by "pitā-vyāja," the guise of fatherhood. That is, though Śrī Nityānanda has, in the ultimate truth, no father as an ordinary worldly father, He appeared having made Hāḍāi Paṇḍita known to the world as His own father; the underlying reality remains hidden behind the world's ordinary way of understanding. Kṛpā-sindhu bhakti-dātā śrī-vaiṣṇava-dhāma — these are all epithets of Śrī Nityānanda in His form as Balarāma. Balarāma (and hence Nityānanda), being the root-principle of devotion itself, is the root abode or shelter of Vaiṣṇava-hood or devotee-hood — the very abode of Vaiṣṇavism. Of Balarāma, too, the Bhāgavata (10.2.5) says: "in the seventh [womb, Rohiṇī's,] is the Vaiṣṇava abode [Śeṣa]."

V.39. Tirote — in Tirhut (Tirabhukti); the present-day districts of Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, and others once formed part of Tirhut. Śrīpāda Paramānanda Purī appeared at a certain place in Tirhut; he was the disciple of Śrīpāda Mādhavendra Purī.

V.40. Puṇya-sthāna — a place that is itself sacred and which confers sanctity; sacred because it lies on the bank of the Gaṅgā, the purifier of the fallen. Śocya-deśa — a lamentable or impure land. (Variant readings "puṇyāśraya" and "puṇya-grāma" are also found; puṇyāśraya means "a place that, lying along the Gaṅgā, is itself a shelter of sanctity and of the bestowal of sanctity.")

Payar text (verses 42–52).

যে দেশে পাণ্ডব নাহি গেলা কদাচিত॥ ৪২ সে সব জীবেরে কৃষ্ণ বৎসল হইয়া। মহা-ভক্ত সব জন্মায়েন আজ্ঞা দিয়া॥ ৪৩ সংসার তারিতে শ্রীচৈতন্য-অবতার। আপনে শ্রীমুখে করিয়াছেন অঙ্গীকার॥ ৪৪ শোচ্য দেশে, শোচ্য কুলে, আপন-সমান। জন্মাইয়া বৈষ্ণব সভারে করে ত্রাণ॥ ৪৫ যে দেশে যে কুলে বৈষ্ণব অবতরে। তাহার প্রভাবে লক্ষ-যোজন নিস্তরে॥ ৪৬ যে স্থানে বৈষ্ণবগণ করেন বিজয়। সেই স্থান হয় অতি পুণ্য-তীর্থময়॥ ৪৭ অতএব সর্ব-দেশে নিজ-ভক্তগণ। অবতীর্ণ কৈলা শ্রীচৈতন্যনারায়ণ॥ ৪৮ নানা-স্থানে অবতীর্ণ হৈলা ভক্তগণ। নবদ্বীপে আসি সভার হইল মিলন॥ ৪৯ নবদ্বীপে হইব প্রভুর অবতার। অতএব নবদ্বীপে মিলন সভার॥ ৫০ নবদ্বীপ-হেন গ্রাম ত্রিভুবনে নাঞি। যাহি অবতীর্ণ হৈলা চৈতন্যগোসাঞি॥ ৫১ অবতরিবেন প্রভু জানিঞা বিধাতা। সকল সম্পূর্ণ করি থুইলেন তথা॥ ৫২

Translation. Even in a land where the Pāṇḍavas themselves never once set foot, Kṛṣṇa, out of His own parental affection for the souls there, ordered great devotees to take birth. Śrī Caitanya's avatāra was undertaken to deliver conditioned souls, and He has Himself, from His own mouth, promised this. In an unfortunate land, in an unfortunate family, He causes a Vaiṣṇava — one equal to Himself — to be born, and thereby delivers everyone there. In whatever land, in whatever family, a Vaiṣṇava takes birth, by his influence millions of leagues around are delivered. Wherever Vaiṣṇavas make their sojourn, that place becomes itself a place of the highest sanctity, a tract of pilgrimage. It was for this very reason that Śrī Caitanyanārāyaṇa caused His own devotees to appear in every land. Having thus descended in many different places, the devotees came together, gathering at Navadvīpa. Since the Lord's own avatāra was to take place at Navadvīpa, it was there that they all assembled. There is no village like Navadvīpa in all the three worlds — it was there that Caitanya Gosāñi descended. Knowing that the Lord was about to descend, the Creator (Vidhātā) had already made that place complete with every excellence.

Explanation.

V.42. This verse states the defining mark of a "lamentable" land: a land where there is no Gaṅgā, no harināma, and to which even the Pāṇḍavas never went — such a land alone is śocya, impure.

V.45. Āpana samāna — equal to the Lord Himself. "The saintly are My very heart, and I am the heart of the saintly; they know nothing but Me, and I know nothing but them" (Bhāg. 9.4.68, the Lord's own words). From this it is known that the sādhus, the Vaiṣṇavas, are equal to the Lord in the aspect of dearness. And they are equal to Him, too, in the aspect of worshipability — worthy of worship exactly as He is. "Not even a brāhmaṇa learned in all four Vedas is dear to Me if he lacks devotion, whereas even an outcaste who is My devotee is dear to Me. To that devotee-outcaste alone should gifts be given, and from him alone should one accept; he is to be worshipped exactly as I am worshipped" (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 10.91, the Lord's own words).

V.46. For "vaiṣṇava" the variant "bhāgavata" (a devotee of the Lord) is also found. Nistare — attains deliverance, crossing over.

V.47. Vijaya — going, sojourning.

V.48. Śrī-caitanya-nārāyaṇa — see the commentary at payar 1.1.109.

V.51. From this verse onward, the glory of Navadvīpa is described. Yāhi — the place, that is, Navadvīpa.

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V.53. Eko gaṅgā-ghāṭe — at each single ghāṭa of the Gaṅgā (a variant gives "at each and every ghāṭa, hundreds of thousands"); here "lakh" (hundred thousand) simply signifies a very great multitude.

V.54. Trividha vayasa — the three ages: childhood, youth, and old age (a variant reads "vividha vayase," "of various ages"). Eko jāti lakṣa lakṣa — within a single caste of Navadvīpa alone, hundreds of thousands of people of every age. Sarasvatī-dṛṣṭipāte — by the merciful glance of the goddess who presides over knowledge (a variant gives "prasāde," "by the grace of"). Mahādakṣa — supremely accomplished; no one there was dull-witted, as the following verse illustrates.

V.55–56. Kakṣā — debate, disputation. Vidyārasa — the very delight of learning, made possible only by the consummate skill of Navadvīpa's teachers.

V.57. Ataeva — since Navadvīpa was full of countless teachers supremely skilled in instruction, students came there from every land to study. Paḍuẏā — a student, a seeker of learning. Nāhi samuccaya — the number of students could not be reckoned; innumerable. Samuccaya — a total, a sum.

V.58. From this verse the condition of ordinary society begins to be described. Ramā-dṛṣṭipāte — by the merciful glance of the goddess Lakṣmī. Sarva-loka sukhe vase — every inhabitant of Navadvīpa lived in comfort and ease; no one lacked for food or clothing. Vārtha kāla yāya, etc. — though everyone lived in comfort, their time (their very lives) passed in vain, for they were intoxicated only with bodily pleasure; no one had any regard for the true, transcendental goal of human life. Vyavahāra-rase — in the flavor of worldly affairs.

V.59. Prathama kalite — in the very first portion of Kali-yuga itself. Bhaviṣya-ācāra — conduct of the kind the scriptures foretell will prevail only in the last, degraded part of Kali-yuga. It is stated in Bhāgavata 12.3 that when Kali becomes fully powerful, people will become slaves of belly and genitals, and no one will worship the Lord at all.

V.60–61. The ordinary people of that time did not even know what dharma truly meant (see the commentary on Bhāg. 6.1.40 above for the defining mark of dharma). They took the singing of Maṅgala-caṇḍī's songs through the night, and the worship of Manasā, to be dharma itself — the former undertaken for worldly good fortune, the latter for protection from snakebite; neither has any transcendental value. Dambha kari — with great pomp and ostentation. Viṣahari — Manasā (a variant reads "kuṇḍete," "in a pot," referring to the pot in which Viṣahari was worshipped). Puttali karaẏe, etc. — the author's precise intention here is not entirely clear. Puttali ordinarily means a doll or puppet; in olden times some wealthy persons would celebrate mock "weddings" of dolls, spending lavishly on the occasion — whether this vain expenditure on doll-weddings is meant here cannot be said with certainty. Variant readings "pātali," "pātani," "pātāni" are also found, referring to the old custom of two people formally "pledging" friendship (sometimes called "bakula-phula pātāna" or "bandhutva-pātāna"), on which occasion, too, wealthy people would spend great sums — whether this is what is meant is likewise uncertain. Alternatively, "puttali" may refer to an image or idol of Viṣahari/Manasā herself; even today, in some places, wealthy people have images of Manasā and her attendants made at great expense. Whatever the precise reference, the author's point is that certain people displayed their own vanity through such wasteful expenditure.

V.62. Vibhāya — in marriage.

V.63. Bhaṭṭācārya — one learned in Mīmāṁsā and Nyāya logic (Śabda-kalpadruma). Cakravartī — probably one learned in the karma-kāṇḍa scriptures. Miśra — an eminent paṇḍita. Grantha-anubhava — grasp of the true inner sense of a text. Anubhava means continuous, connected knowledge (Śabda-kalpadruma); hence "grantha-anubhava" means a coherent, well-considered understanding of everything stated from the beginning to the middle to the end of a text, taken together — without which one cannot know a text's real purport and purpose.

V.64. Those who lack this "grasp of the text" spoken of in the preceding verse become bound in Yama's noose by teaching scripture, and those they teach become bound likewise. The reason for saying so is this: the study of Nyāya-śāstra teaches the methods of logical argument and how to detect a flaw in an argument, but this knowledge is not the sole aim of studying Nyāya. Its real purpose is to ascertain, by flawless reasoning grounded in the Veda and Veda-conforming scripture, the object taught by the Veda — the transcendental truth, the goal and the means to it. Those who lose sight of this purpose find their study of Nyāya-śāstra reduced to mere dry argument (śuṣka-tarka), devoid of any connection with the Lord. Such dry argument does nothing to remove the soul's beginningless outward-turnedness from God — indeed, it only increases that outward-turnedness and its consequences, tightening the bonds of māyā ever further. The same holds for the scriptures belonging to the Veda's karma-kāṇḍa: these are prescribed for those who know nothing beyond bodily pleasure, yet their aim is not merely the impermanent enjoyment obtainable through karma-kāṇḍa observance. Even from the impermanent fruit obtained through such observance, there is a chance that even desire-driven persons may develop faith in the Veda, and curiosity as to whether the Veda speaks of anything eternal; and should such curiosity arise through some good fortune, there is a further chance that they may, in time, come to learn that the ultimate goal of all scripture is bhakti rooted in pleasing Hari. Those who lack the "grasp of the text" spoken of in the previous verse cannot come to know that the ultimate goal of karma-kāṇḍa is Hari-pleasing devotion; they remain intoxicated only by impermanent enjoyment, and both they and those who, out of faith in them, become likewise intoxicated only by the impermanent fruits they teach, find no means of release from the bondage of māyā — that is, from the torment of Yama. This is exactly what the author states in this verse. Yama-pāśe bandhi — bound with rope (pāśa) by Yama's messengers. Mare — suffers a death-like torment; or, bound in Yama's noose, meets death. (A variant gives "sarva-bandī," meaning "bound in every respect.")

V.65. Nā bākhāne — does not expound. Yuga-dharma kṛṣṇera kīrtana — the dharma of the age, [namely] the kīrtana of Kṛṣṇa. Doṣa-vahi, etc. — the professors mentioned in the previous verse occupy themselves only in proclaiming others' faults, never their virtues; this is simply the fruit of the false ego that arises in people under māyā's influence.

V.66. Having spoken of the professors of that time in verses 63–65, the author now speaks, in this verse, of the religious pretenders (dharma-dhvajī). Even those who had taken up the outward dress of detached ascetics had no sound of harināma on their lips. Virakta-tapasvī-abhimānī — virakta means free of attachment to the enjoyable things of the world; tapasvī means one devoted to austerity, a sannyāsī; abhimānī means those who, though in truth neither genuinely detached nor genuinely ascetic, nonetheless cherish the vain conceit of being so, and wish others to regard them as such.

V.67. Though the mouths of these self-styled ascetics bore no trace of harināma, there were nonetheless, even then, some people who, at least at the time of their bath, would utter names of Hari such as "Govinda" and "Puṇḍarīkākṣa." Such people the author calls "atibaḍa sukṛti" — of great merit. One possessed of good deeds is called sukṛti; it does not seem that a person whose good deeds were accumulated in a former life is meant here, for such a person, by the force of that accumulated merit, would utter the names "Govinda, Puṇḍarīkākṣa" at all times, not merely at the time of bathing. The purport seems rather to be this: even those who, out of mere habit or for whatever incidental reason, uttered the names "Govinda, Puṇḍarīkākṣa" only while bathing, deserve to be called "sukṛti." Such people uttered these names only at bathing-time and not otherwise, and did so out of mere habit rather than out of loving devotion; hence this utterance of theirs did not constitute a limb of proper sādhana-bhakti. Yet they are called sukṛti precisely because they uttered harināma at all, however habitually — for uttering the holy name in any manner whatsoever reduces to ash all the sins of one who is free of offense.

V.68. Even those professors who taught devotional texts such as the Gītā and the Bhāgavata said nothing at all of devotion while expounding them; they explained these texts of bhakti exactly as they would any ordinary work of literature. Being devoid of devotion themselves, they could not grasp the true purport of the Gītā and the Bhāgavata. (A variant of the second half of this verse reads: "bhakti-vyākhyā nāhi tā-sabāra jihvāya" — "no exposition of devotion is on any of their tongues.") Artha here means an interpretation grounded in devotion's own purport.

V.69. Having spoken, in verses 59–62, of ordinary people; in verses 63–65 and 68, of the professors; in verse 66, of the religious pretenders; and in verse 67, of the few possessed of merit — the author now speaks of the handful of Vaiṣṇavas who were then present at Navadvīpa. Seeing the people's outward-turnedness from the Lord, the devotees felt the deepest sorrow. Ei-mata — of the kind just described. Viṣṇu-māyā-mohita — bewildered by the Lord's external potency, māyā; under māyā's sway, identifying the self with the body and hankering only after bodily pleasure. Saṁsāra — worldly people.

V.70–71. What the devotees thought, seeing the outward-turned people's intoxication with worldly pleasure, is told in these two verses. Niravadhi — constantly. Vidyā kula karena vyākhyāna — they proclaimed only the glory of learning and lineage, never speaking of the Lord.

V.72. Svakārya — their own eternal duty, the performance of the limbs of devotional practice such as Kṛṣṇa-worship. Bhāgavata-gaṇa — the devotees.

V.73. Sabhe meli jagatere kare āśīrvāda — all the devotees, joining together, bless the world: "'Śītala kṛṣṇacandra karo sabhāre prasāda'" — "May the cooling Kṛṣṇacandra show His mercy to everyone." This continues directly from the "svakārya" (their own devotional duty) of the preceding payar: having performed their own worship, bathing, and discourse on Kṛṣṇa, the devotees together turn to bless the whole world, before the author, in the following payar, singles out the foremost among them by name.

V.74. Advaita Ācārya's house was at Śāntipura; he also had a house at Navadvīpa, and lived sometimes at one, sometimes at the other.

V.75. Jñāna-bhakti-vairāgyera — jñāna, transcendental knowledge concerning the Lord; bhakti, devotion to the Lord; vairāgya, non-attachment to the enjoyable things of the world. Guru mukhyatara — foremost among all teachers. Advaita Ācārya gave everyone, above all else, instruction in jñāna, bhakti, and vairāgya. Śaṅkara — Mahādeva (Śiva).

V.76. In expounding every scripture found anywhere in the three worlds, Advaita Ācārya would always show that kṛṣṇa-pada-bhakti-sāra — devotion at Śrī Kṛṣṇa's feet is the one essential thing, and everything else is without essence, without ultimate meaning.

V.77. Tulasī-mañjarī sahite gaṅgā-jale — with Gaṅgā-water together with tulasī-mañjarī (the flowering bud of the tulasī plant, offered in worship); niravadhi seve kṛṣṇa mahā-kutūhale — [Advaita Ācārya] ceaselessly serves Kṛṣṇa with this offering, in the greatest eagerness and delight.

V.78. Huṅkāra — the roar of prema. Kṛṣṇa-āveśera teje — by the force of his mind's total absorption (āveśa) in Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The sound of his roar would pierce through the entire material universe and resound in Vaikuṇṭha, the Lord's own abode — it reached even there. Bāje — resounds, is heard.

V.79. Kṛṣṇa-nātha — Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Lord (nātha — protector, benefactor) of all. Bhakti-vaśa — becoming subject to [Advaita Ācārya's] devotion. Śruti has said: "the Supreme Person is subject to devotion" (Mathurā-śruti). Though the Supreme Person Śrī Kṛṣṇa is Himself the controller of all, He becomes subject to devotion. Āpanei hoilā sākṣāt — Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself descended into the world in the form of Śrī Caitanya, and at that time everyone attained His direct sight.

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Payar text (verses 80–91).

অতএব অদ্বৈত বৈষ্ণব-অগ্রগণ্য। নিখিল-ব্রহ্মাণ্ডে ধীর ভক্তিযোগ ধন্য॥ ৮০ এইমত অদ্বৈত বৈসেন নদীয়ায়। ভক্তিযোগ-শূন্য লোক দেখি দুঃখ পায়॥ ৮১ সকল সংসার মত্ত ব্যবহার-রসে। কৃষ্ণপূজা কৃষ্ণভক্তি কারো নাহি বাসে॥ ৮২ বাশুলী পূজয়ে কেহো নানা-উপহারে। মদ্য মাংস দিয়া কেহো যক্ষ পূজা করে॥ ৮৩ নিরবধি নৃত্য-গীত-বাদ্য-কোলাহলে। না শুনে কৃষ্ণের নাম পরম মঙ্গলে॥ ৮৪ কৃষ্ণশূন্য মঙ্গলে দেবের নাহি সুখ। বিশেষে অদ্বৈত বড় পায় মনে দুঃখ॥ ৮৫ স্বভাবে অদ্বৈত বড় কারুণ্য-হৃদয়। জীবের উদ্ধার চিন্তে হইয়া সদয়॥ ৮৬ "মোর প্রভু আসি যদি করে অবতার। তবে হয় এ সকল জীবের উদ্ধার॥ ৮৭ তবে ত 'অদ্বৈত সিংহ' আমার বড়াঞি। বৈকুণ্ঠ-বল্লভ যদি দেখাঙ এথাঞি॥ ৮৮ আনিঞা বৈকুণ্ঠনাথ সাক্ষাৎ করিয়া। নাচিব গাইব সর্ব-জীব উদ্ধারিয়া॥" ৮৯ নিরবধি এইমত সঙ্কল্প করিয়া। সেবেন শ্রীকৃষ্ণচন্দ্র একচিত্ত হৈয়া॥ ৯০ অদ্বৈতের কারণে চৈতন্য-অবতার। সেই প্রভু কহিয়া আছেন বারবার॥ ৯১

Translation. Thus Advaita stands foremost among all Vaiṣṇavas — throughout the whole universe, his steadfast bhakti-yoga is glorious. Living thus at Nadīyā, Advaita felt great sorrow on seeing the people devoid of the yoga of devotion. All society was intoxicated with the flavor of worldly affairs; no one cared at all for the worship of Kṛṣṇa or for devotion to Him. Some worshipped Vāśulī with manifold offerings; others worshipped the Yakṣa with wine and meat. Amid the ceaseless uproar of dance, song, and instrumental music, no one ever heard Kṛṣṇa's name — that supreme auspiciousness. In any auspicious rite devoid of Kṛṣṇa the demigods themselves take no pleasure; and Advaita, in particular, felt the deepest sorrow of heart at this. By nature Advaita's heart was filled with the greatest compassion; growing tender with feeling, he pondered how the fallen souls might be delivered: "If my Lord Himself would only come and take His avatāra, then all these souls could be delivered. Then indeed would my name 'Advaita the lion' be justified — if I could show, right here, the Beloved of Vaikuṇṭha! Bringing the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha here, and beholding Him directly, I shall dance, I shall sing, delivering every single soul!" With this resolve held constantly in mind, he served Śrī Kṛṣṇacandra with single-pointed devotion. It is for Advaita's sake that Caitanya took His avatāra — the Lord Himself has said this again and again.

Explanation.

V.81. Bhakti-yoga-śūnya, etc. — seeing that no one had any regard for devotion to Kṛṣṇa, Advaita Ācārya felt the deepest sorrow. What condition of the people Advaita Ācārya witnessed is told in the following three verses.

V.82. Vyavahāra-rase — in worldly pleasure. Kāro nāhi vāse — no one thought well of it. Yakṣa — the deity of wealth; Yakṣa-worship was performed out of greed for riches.

V.83. Vāśulī — a corruption of "Vacchalī" or "Bāsulī." Vacchalī is a Buddhist deity. According to the Tantra-sāra, Bāsulī is one of the Mahāvidyās (Śabda-kalpadruma); she is a goddess spoken of in tantric scripture external to the Veda. "Vāśulī" or "Vāṁśulī" is probably a corruption of this "Bāsulī." She is not a Vedic deity.

V.84. Niravadhi nṛtya-gīta, etc. — the worship of Vāśulī and of the Yakṣa was accompanied always by the uproar of dance, song, and various instruments. Since such rites were thought conducive to the fulfillment of worldly desires, people took them to be genuinely auspicious acts (maṅgala-kārya); but that these are not, in truth, auspicious at all, people did not know. Even when someone told them that these were not true auspiciousness, and that Kṛṣṇa's name alone is the supreme auspiciousness, people would not listen or give it any heed. Alternatively: Advaita Ācārya heard, everywhere among the people, only the uproar of dance and song, and heard nowhere the supremely auspicious name of Kṛṣṇa — no one performed kīrtana of Kṛṣṇa's name at all. (For "parama maṅgale" the variant "śravaṇa maṅgale" is found — "that which, when heard, brings transcendental auspiciousness.")

V.85. Kṛṣṇa-śūnya maṅgale — that which worldly people, wholly absorbed in worldly happiness, regard as auspicious is not true auspiciousness at all, for it is only a source of further bondage. Even should someone perform worship of some Veda-sanctioned deity with a genuinely auspicious, transcendentally beneficial intent, if that worship bears no relation whatsoever to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the deity so worshipped takes no pleasure in it — for the deities spoken of in the Veda are themselves manifestations of the Supreme Brahman Śrī Kṛṣṇa's own opulence, or are His own pure devotees; they cannot find pleasure in anything that bears no relation to Kṛṣṇa.

V.86. Svabhāve advaita, etc. — Advaita Ācārya's heart was by nature filled with compassion. Compassion here means the desire to remove the true root-cause of all suffering — not merely worldly suffering and privation, which is not real compassion at all, since worldly suffering (disease, grief, want of food, and so on), even when removed once, returns again. The desire to remove the very source of all suffering — the soul's beginningless outward-turnedness from the Lord — alone deserves the name of true compassion, and Advaita Ācārya's compassion was of precisely this kind. His sorrow, seeing people's absorption in worldly pleasure, and his anxious longing for the deliverance of souls from worldly suffering, are described in the following three verses.

V.87. Mora prabhu — Advaita Ācārya's own Lord, the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Advaita Ācārya set the very ideal of the worship of Śrī Kṛṣṇa; at payar 90, too, his service to Śrī Kṛṣṇacandra is described — so it is quite clear that the Lord he means here is Kṛṣṇacandra.

V.88. Śrīpāda Svarūpa Dāmodara has said, in his Kaḍacā, regarding Advaita Ācārya: "advaitaṁ hariṇādvaitāt — his name is Advaita because he is non-different (advaita) from Śrī Hari." This is said because Advaita Ācārya is, in essential truth, of the category of Godhead. He is the avatāra of Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Mahāviṣṇu; and Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī is Himself an expansion of "Śrī Saṅkarṣaṇa, the root devotee-avatāra" — hence a devotee-avatāra Himself, and hence Śrī Advaita, too, is a devotee-avatāra, filled with the devotee's own mood. Śrīla Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura has stated everywhere that the root devotee-avatāra, Śrī Saṅkarṣaṇa Balarāma, is none other than Śrī Nityānanda in Gaura's pastimes. Since Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī is an expansion of Balarāma — and hence of Nityānanda as well — and since Advaita is the avatāra of that Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī, there is, in essential truth, no difference at all between Nityānanda and Advaita; they stand as two distinct forms only within the pastime itself. This same truth regarding Advaita and Nityānanda is known also from the statement of Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata itself: "one form, two divisions, within Kṛṣṇa's pastime" (2.6.140). Since Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī is filled with the devotee's mood, Advaita too is filled with the devotee's mood. Śrī Advaita Ācārya has himself said: "I am the servant of Caitanya, the servant of Caitanya; I am the servant of Caitanya, the servant of His servant's servant" (Cc. 3.7.73). Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, too, says: "By his very nature Ācārya Gosāñi is Caitanya's devotee; in his mind there is nothing but servitude to Caitanya" (2.16.25 [payar reference as in source]). One possessed of such deeply-rooted devotee's feeling — Advaita Ācārya, though in essential truth a manifestation of Godhead — could never think of himself as being that Godhead-truth, as being non-different from Śrī Hari; for it is the very defining nature of devotion that wherever it arises in the heart, it produces in that heart a sense of one's own lowliness — one who is, in every respect, the most exalted of all nevertheless regards himself as the very lowest of the low. The Lord's associates who share His human pastime and His human self-conception (nara-abhimāna), by the influence of His pastime-potency, regard themselves as ordinary conditioned souls; Śrī Advaita, too, held himself in exactly this regard, and, having taken initiation (dīkṣā) from Śrīpāda Mādhavendra Purī, he engaged in worship (bhajana) just as a sādhaka, a conditioned soul, would. Hence it is not to be thought that he himself ever considered that he was non-different from Śrī Hari, and that this was the reason for his name "Advaita"; nor is there any statement of his known to express any such thought. Just as the name of an ordinary worldly person is merely a conventional label identifying him, Advaita Ācārya regarded his own name "Advaita," too, as merely such a conventional label. Bearing in mind this devotee-centered cast of Śrī Advaita's mind, one may try to grasp the true sense of his words in the verse under discussion. Taken at face value, the verse seems to have Śrī Advaita say: "If I can bring the Beloved of Vaikuṇṭha here and show Him to everyone, then indeed will my title 'Advaita the lion' be justified." There is no doubt that, taken literally, this is an extremely boastful statement — such boasting would be utterly impossible for a supreme devotee like Śrī Advaita; it runs directly counter to the devotee's mood. What, then, must be the true purport of this statement, such that it remains consistent with his devotee's mood? This is now considered.

Advaita siṁha — just as the lion, by its might, is the foremost of all beasts, so Śrī Advaita, by his influence and stature — in scriptural knowledge, in devotion, and in renown — was likewise foremost in human society. Baḍāñi — greatness, pre-eminence; special fame in society on account of that pre-eminence. Vaikuṇṭha-vallabha — Śrī Kṛṣṇa (see the commentary at payar 1.1.109). Dekhāṅa — I shall show. Ethāñi — right in this very place, at this Navadvīpa.

In the ordinary world it is seen that one who holds a firm conviction that he can accomplish some task himself, or have it accomplished through another, will say: "If I can accomplish this, or have it accomplished, then my such-and-such a name will be justified." It is in keeping with just this ordinary manner of speech that Śrī Advaita has said: "If I, whom people call 'Advaita the lion,' can bring about Śrī Kṛṣṇa's descent, then this renown of mine will indeed be justified." From this it is understood that he held a firm conviction that he would indeed be able to bring about Śrī Kṛṣṇa's descent. But this firm conviction was not rooted in confidence in his own devotional prowess — for, as already explained, that too would run counter to the devotee's mood. The true ground of his firm conviction was rather his firm faith in the compassion of his own Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is supremely compassionate. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka-śruti has said: "He is the soul's one true dear one, its one true friend; and dearness being by its nature reciprocal, the soul, too, is dear to the Supreme Brahman Śrī Kṛṣṇa." If it be submitted at His feet that His dear souls have, from beginningless time, forgotten Him and are suffering endless torment, He will surely descend into the world and accomplish the deliverance of His own dear souls — for "it is the Lord's very nature to deliver the fallen" (Cc. 3.2.5). Reflecting on all this — that is, reflecting on Śrī Kṛṣṇa's boundless compassion — Śrī Advaita held the firm conviction that if the plight of the souls who are Śrī Kṛṣṇa's eternal servants, His dear ones, were submitted at His feet, He would surely descend for the deliverance of the māyā-bound souls. It is out of this firm conviction, it would seem, that Śrī Advaita spoke, in this ordinary worldly idiom, the words given in this verse. In truth, it was by the will of the devotee-loving Lord Himself, so as to console the hearts of His devotees, that His pastime-potency caused these very words to issue from Śrī Advaita's mouth, and thereby also produced faith in the devotees' hearts through Śrī Advaita's reassuring words. On this occasion the pastime-potency also made known that the supremely compassionate Supreme Godhead would, for the transcendental welfare of all souls, soon descend. (See the commentary at payar 2.1.16 below.) Wise devotees will discern for themselves the deeper purport.

One further point deserves consideration here. Why did Śrī Advaita think of the descent of the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, rather than of the descent of a yugāvatāra or the like? The reason seems to be this. Were a yugāvatāra to descend, he would only teach the means of release from the bondage of saṁsāra; but the beginninglessly outward-turned conditioned soul is so wholly given over to bodily pleasure that he would pay no heed to such teachings at all. If the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself were to descend, He could bestow Vraja-prema itself — attaining which, the soul comes to be established in his svarūpānubandhī duty, the service whose sole purport is Kṛṣṇa's happiness, and thereby becomes established in his own svarūpānubandhī relation of dearness with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. But then a further question may arise: these worldly souls have no regard whatsoever for the sādhana-bhajana that leads to prema, and Śrī Kṛṣṇa, moreover, does not bestow prema on anyone indiscriminately — He bestows it only on the sādhaka who is qualified to receive it; so how, then, could even the descent of the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself provide any means of deliverance for souls wholly averse to sādhana-bhajana and given over entirely to bodily pleasure? On this point Śrī Advaita, it seems, reflected as follows: in the past Dvāpara, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself told Vyāsadeva that in certain Kali-yugas He Himself descends, accepts the sannyāsa order, and causes even sin-afflicted people to accept devotion to Hari — that is, He bestows devotion to Hari, and even sin-afflicted people receive it. "O brāhmaṇa, in a certain [Kali-yuga] I Myself, having accepted the sannyāsa order, cause sin-afflicted men in Kali to receive devotion to Hari" (Cc. 3.15, verse quoted from an Upapurāṇa). From this it is known that Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself has said that in certain Kali-yugas He descends and bestows Hari-bhakti — Vraja-prema — on everyone without discrimination; He bestows Hari-bhakti even on sin-afflicted people — that is, indiscriminately on everyone — not as a mere means to attaining Hari-bhakti, without regard to their sādhana-bhajana, but as Hari-bhakti itself, directly. Śrī Advaita, it seems, thought: "This is, after all, the age of Kali. If, then, the plight of the māyā-bound souls is submitted at Śrī Kṛṣṇa's feet, He will, out of compassion, descend in that very form in which He indiscriminately bestows prema in certain Kali-yugas." A yugāvatāra cannot bestow Vraja-prema. This is precisely why Śrī Advaita thought not of the descent of a yugāvatāra or the like, but of the descent of the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. It is Śrī Kṛṣṇa who, in certain Kali-yugas, descends precisely in the form of Śrī Caitanya and bestows Vraja-prema; and in answer to Śrī Advaita's prayer, Śrī Kṛṣṇa has descended in this very Kali-yuga in the form of Śrī Caitanya.

V.89. Construction: "Having brought the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha (that is, the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Lord of unlimited Vaikuṇṭha) here, and having delivered all souls through Him, and having beheld Him directly (in His very presence, with Him, in the bliss of prema), I shall dance and I shall sing (perform kīrtana of Hari's name)." From the phrase "sarva-jīva uddhāriẏā" it is clearly understood that Advaita Ācārya speaks here of bringing that very form of the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa in which He indiscriminately bestows prema and delivers every soul — and that very form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is none other than Śrī Gaurāṅga. This is likewise known from the phrase "sākṣāt kariẏā nāciba gāiba" — for the Supreme Godhead does not perform dancing and kīrtana with His devotees in His form as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, but does so precisely in His form as Śrī Gaurāṅga.

The purport of this payar: The Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the one true dear one of every soul, and every soul is dear to Him. It is only natural that He should be anxious to establish the soul in its svarūpānubandhī duty, the service whose sole purport is Kṛṣṇa's happiness. If the plight of the world's souls is submitted at His feet, He will surely descend in the form of Śrī Gaurāṅga and, bestowing prema on everyone without discrimination, deliver every soul; and by His mercy, having ourselves attained prema, we too shall become blessed, dancing and performing kīrtana in ecstatic love together with Him.

V.90–91. For "śrī-kṛṣṇacandra" the variant "śrī-kṛṣṇa-pada" is found. Sei prabhu — that same Lord Śrī Caitanya. This verse states that it was for Advaita's sake that Śrī Kṛṣṇa descended; the Lord Himself has said this in many places throughout this book.

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Payar text (verses 92–106).

সেই নবদ্বীপে বৈসে পণ্ডিত শ্রীবাস। যাহার মন্দিরে হৈল চৈতন্য-বিলাস॥ ৯২ সর্বকাল চারি ভাই গায় কৃষ্ণনাম। ত্রিকাল করয়ে কৃষ্ণপূজা গঙ্গাস্নান॥ ৯৩ নিগূঢ়ে অনেক আর বৈসে নদীয়ায়। পূর্বেই জন্মিলা সভে ঈশ্বর-আজ্ঞায়॥ ৯৪ শ্রীচন্দ্রশেখর, জগদীশ, গোপীনাথ। শ্রীমান, মুরারি, শ্রীগরুড়, গঙ্গাদাস॥ ৯৫ একে একে বলিতে হয় পুস্তক-বিস্তার। কথার প্রস্তাবে নাম লইব জানি-যার॥ ৯৬ সভেই স্বধর্ম-পর সভেই উদার। কৃষ্ণভক্তি বিনে কেহো না জানয়ে আর॥ ৯৭ সভে করে সভারে বান্ধব-ব্যবহার। কেহ কারো না জানেন নিজ-অবতার॥ ৯৮ বিষ্ণুভক্তিশূন্য দেখি সকল সংসার। অন্তরে দহয়ে বড় চিত্ত সভাকার॥ ৯৯ কৃষ্ণকথা শুনিবেক হেন নাহি জন। আপনা-আপনি সভে করেন কীর্তন॥ ১০০ দুই চারি দণ্ড থাকি অদ্বৈত-সভায়। কৃষ্ণ-কথা-প্রসঙ্গে সভার দুঃখ যায়॥ ১০১ দগ্ধ দেখে সকল সংসার ভক্তগণ। আলাপের স্থান নাহি, করয়ে ক্রন্দন॥ ১০২ সকল বৈষ্ণব মিলি আপনি অদ্বৈতে। প্রাণিমাত্র কারে কেহো নারে বুঝাইতে॥ ১০৩ দুঃখ ভাবি অদ্বৈত করেন উপবাস। সকল বৈষ্ণবগণে ছাড়ে দীর্ঘশ্বাস॥ ১০৪ কেনে বা কৃষ্ণের নৃত্য, কেনে বা কীর্তন? কারে বা বৈষ্ণব বলি, কিবা সংকীর্তন?॥ ১০৫ কিছু নাহি জানে লোক ধন-পুত্র-রসে। সকল পাষণ্ড মেলি বৈষ্ণবের হাসে॥ ১০৬

Translation. There, at that same Navadvīpa, dwelt Paṇḍita Śrīvāsa, in whose very courtyard Caitanya's pastimes of dancing and kīrtana later took place. His four brothers together sang Kṛṣṇa's name at all times, and performed Kṛṣṇa-worship and bathed in the Gaṅgā three times each day. Many others, too, lived secretly at Nadīyā, all of whom had already, by the Lord's own order, taken their birth beforehand. Śrī Candraśekhara, Jagadīśa, Gopīnātha, Śrīmān, Murāri, Śrī Garuḍa, Gaṅgādāsa — to name them all one by one would require a book of its own; I shall mention each by name only as the story requires it. Every one of them was devoted to his own prescribed duty, and every one was broad-minded and generous; none of them knew anything but devotion to Kṛṣṇa. They treated one another with the affection of true friends, yet not one of them knew that the other was himself the Lord's own eternal associate, descended by His arrangement. Seeing the whole of society devoid of devotion to Viṣṇu, the hearts of all of them burned inwardly with the deepest anguish. There was not a single person, apart from themselves, willing even to hear talk of Kṛṣṇa; so they would perform kīrtana only among themselves. Sitting for a while — two or four daṇḍas — in Advaita's company, their sorrow would lift a little through talk of Kṛṣṇa. But seeing the whole of society consumed as if by fire, and finding nowhere else to speak of such things, the devotees would only weep. All the Vaiṣṇavas, gathering together with Advaita himself, found that none of them could make a single living soul understand. Grieving over this, Advaita would fast, and all the Vaiṣṇavas would heave deep sighs. "Why should there be dancing for Kṛṣṇa, why kīrtana? Whom should we even call a Vaiṣṇava, or what is saṅkīrtana?" — so people would say. Absorbed in nothing but the pursuit of wealth and progeny, the atheists (pāṣaṇḍas) would all gather together and mock the Vaiṣṇavas.

Explanation.

V.98. Keha kāro, etc. — though all of these devotees were, in truth, the Lord's own eternal associates, and had descended by His own order (or arrangement), none of them, by the influence of the pastime-potency, knew this about themselves or about one another.

V.99. Dahaye — burns, feels intense anguish.

V.100. Kṛṣṇa-kathā śunibeka, etc. — apart from this handful of Vaiṣṇavas, there was no one else from whom one might hope to hear talk of Kṛṣṇa, or who himself wished to hear it.

V.102. Dagdha — consumed as if by the fire of the threefold miseries.

V.103. Construction: Śrī Advaita, together with all the Vaiṣṇavas, would try to make people understand the impermanence of worldly pleasure and the necessity of worshipping Śrī Kṛṣṇa — but none of them could make a single soul understand; that is, no one would accept their instruction.

V.104. Duḥkha bhāvi — seeing that no one accepted their instruction, Śrī Advaita felt the deepest sorrow for the outward-turned, worldly-attached people, and in his profound grief gave up eating. Sakala vaiṣṇava-gaṇe, etc. — the other Vaiṣṇavas, too, grieving at the world's outward-turnedness, likewise began to heave long sighs.

V.105–106. Kṛṣṇera nṛtya — dancing in the kīrtana of Kṛṣṇa's name. Dhana-putra-rase — intoxicated with the joy of earning wealth and with the joy of the company of sons and the like. (For "rase" the variant "āśe" is found, meaning "in hope of gaining wealth and sons.") Pāṣaṇḍa — tantrics averse to the Lord (see the Bhūmikā, section 76). Hāse — mockery, ridicule, derision.

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Payar text (verses 107–117).

চারি ভাই শ্রীবাস মিলিয়া নিজ-ঘরে। নিশা হৈলে হরিনাম গায় উচ্চ-স্বরে॥ ১০৭ শুনিঞা পাষণ্ডী বোলে — "হইল প্রমাদ। এ ব্রাহ্মণ করিবেক গ্রামের উৎসাদ॥ ১০৮ মহা-তীব্র নরপতি যবন ইহার। এ আখ্যান শুনিলে, প্রমাদ নদীয়ার॥" ১০৯ কেহো বোলে "এ বামনে এই গ্রাম হৈতে। ঘর ভাঙ্গি ঘুচাই ফেলাই নিঞা স্রোতে॥ ১১০ এ বামনে ঘুচাইলে গ্রামের মঙ্গল। অন্যথা যবনে গ্রাম করিবে কবল॥" ১১১ এইমত বোলে যত পাষণ্ডীর গণ। শুনি 'কৃষ্ণ' বলি কান্দে ভাগবতগণ॥ ১১২ শুনিঞা অদ্বৈত ক্রোধে অগ্নি-হেন জ্বলে। দিগম্বর হই সর্ব-বৈষ্ণবেরে বোলে॥ ১১৩ "শুন শ্রীনিবাস! গঙ্গাদাস! শুক্লাম্বর! করাইব কৃষ্ণ সর্ব-নয়ন-গোচর॥ ১১৪ সভা উদ্ধারিব কৃষ্ণ আপনে আসিয়া। বুঝাইব কৃষ্ণভক্তি তোমা সভা লৈয়া॥ ১১৫ যবে নাহি পারো তবে এই দেহ হৈতে। প্রকাশিয়া চারি ভুজ, চক্র লইমু হাথে॥ ১১৬ পাষণ্ডী কাটিয়া করিমু স্কন্ধ নাশ। তবে কৃষ্ণ প্রভু মোর, মুঞি তার দাস॥" ১১৭

Translation. Every night, Śrīvāsa's four brothers would gather in his own house and sing harināma aloud, in loud voices. Hearing this, the pāṣaṇḍīs said: "This is a disaster — this brāhmaṇa will bring ruin upon the whole village. This land's king is a most fierce Yavana [Muslim ruler]; if he hears of this business, it will bring calamity upon all of Nadīyā." Some said: "Let us tear down this brāhmaṇa's very house, from this village, and cast it into the river's current — only by removing him will the village's welfare be secured; otherwise the Yavana will seize the whole village." So spoke the whole company of pāṣaṇḍīs; and hearing this, the devotees, crying out "Kṛṣṇa!", wept. Hearing of it, Advaita blazed with anger like fire, and, casting off his upper garment, said to all the assembled Vaiṣṇavas: "Listen, Śrīnivāsa! Gaṅgādāsa! Śuklāmbara! I shall make Kṛṣṇa visible before every eye! Kṛṣṇa Himself will come and deliver you all; taking you all with me, I shall make you understand Kṛṣṇa-bhakti! And if I cannot do even this, then from this very body of mine I shall manifest four arms and take up the disc in my hand, and cutting down these pāṣaṇḍīs, I shall destroy them at the very root — only then would Kṛṣṇa be my Lord and I His servant!"

Explanation.

V.108–109. Irritated by the loud kīrtana of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita and his brothers, the outward-turned pāṣaṇḍīs spoke thus among themselves — this is what these two verses convey. Pramāda — calamity. E brāhmaṇa — Śrīvāsa. Utsāda — destruction, ruin (a variant reads "ujāḍa," of the same meaning). Mahā-tīvra narapati, etc. — the ruler of this village of Navadvīpa is a most powerful (mahā-tīvra) Yavana (Muslim); there is no doubt that if the king heard of such loud nighttime kīrtana taking place at Navadvīpa, calamity would befall the place.

V.110. E-vāmane — this brāhmaṇa Śrīvāsa. Srote — into the current of the Gaṅgā.

V.111. Ghucāile — if he could be driven out of Navadvīpa. Anyathā, etc. — otherwise the Muslims will seize this village and plunder everything the Hindus possess.

V.112. For "yata" the variant "pāpa" is found, meaning "sinners, personified sin."

V.113. Hearing what the pāṣaṇḍīs were saying about Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, Śrī Advaita became enraged. Digambara — with his upper garment cast off, in the manner of one overcome with rage. This wrath of Śrī Advaita, however, is not born of the guṇa of rajas, as the wrath of an ordinary māyā-bound soul is: "It is desire, it is wrath, born of the guṇa of rajas" (Gītā 3.37) — for guṇamayī māyā cannot even touch him. His wrath is but one particular expression of his own auspicious will for the welfare of souls; this will of his is itself a function of the spiritual potency (cic-chakti).

V.114. See the commentary at payar 1.2.88 above.

V.115. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself will descend and deliver all these outward-turned people, and, taking all of you [devotees] along with Him, He will teach the souls of the world devotion to Kṛṣṇa.

V.116. These words spoken by Śrī Advaita in this verse — devotee-mood that he was — were, it would seem, produced in his mouth by the pastime-potency itself, so as to console the devotees' hearts. See the commentary at payar 1.2.88 above. Mahāprabhu, too, though sharing the human pastime and human self-conception, occasionally manifested this same opulence, and words indicative of His own Godhead would likewise appear on His lips. Śrīla Murāri Gupta writes of Mahāprabhu: "Sometimes, in the mood of the Controller, He bestowed boons on His servants... and, assuming the forms of various avatāras, He sported, instructing the people" (Kaḍacā 2.4, 1.16.13) — "Sometimes, absorbed in the mood of Godhead, He bestowed various boons on His servant-devotees; sometimes, for the instruction of the people, He sported by imitating the forms of various avatāras." When the Lord wished to show mercy to someone, and when that mercy could only be conveyed through the manifestation of some opulence, then, knowing His wish, His own opulence-potency or pastime-potency would itself manifest that opulence. The Lord who shares the human pastime and human self-conception does not consider Himself to be God, and hence does not consider that He possesses any such opulence; but whether He considers it or not, the opulence is indeed His, and, judging the moment, that very opulence renders Him its own service. Knowing His wish, His opulence-potency or pastime-potency manifests the opulence as fitting, and thereby renders the service of fulfilling His wish. In some cases He may not even be aware that such an opulence has been manifested through Him. Regarding Mahāprabhu's opulence in just this sense, Kavirāja Gosvāmī has written: "In the absorption of pastime, the Lord keeps no accounting of Himself; knowing His wish, the pastime-potency accomplishes all" (Cc. 2.13.64; see Mañjarī 11.1-ka). Śrī Advaita, too, is of the category of Godhead, and hence possesses this same opulence; but as an associate of Śrī Caitanya, who shares the human pastime and human self-conception, he too shares that human self-conception and is filled with the devotee's mood. Seeing the devotees terrified by what the pāṣaṇḍīs had said about Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, it was only natural that his own wish should arise to console them; and knowing that wish, his own opulence-potency produced these very words on his lips. Or, alternatively: seeing the devotees' terror, the devotee-loving Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself wished to console them, and knowing His wish, His own opulence-potency or pastime-potency produced these words on Śrī Advaita's very lips — Śrī Advaita himself, perhaps, not even being aware of it.

V.117. See the commentary on the preceding verse. Skandha-nāśa — destruction at the very trunk. Just as the trunk of a tree spreads out into branches and twigs reaching in every direction, so too the malicious words uttered by the pāṣaṇḍīs might spread and take root among many people; but were the pāṣaṇḍīs themselves cut down, that possibility would vanish, and the very trunk from which such devotee-hating words spring would be destroyed at its root.

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V.118. Saṅkalpa — the resolve described at payar 1.2.88 above.

V.121. Eḍite — to give up, to embrace death (a variant reads "chāḍite," of similar meaning).

V.123. Seeing the devotees' sorrow, the devotee-loving Lord, who is the wish-fulfilling tree of His devotees' desires, began to make preparation for His descent, in order to remove their grief. His causing the descent of His own associate-devotees into the universe is itself the preparation for His own descent. (For "prabhu" the variant "kṛṣṇa" is found.)

V.124. Verses 124–131 describe Śrī Nityānanda's descent. Śrī-ananta-dhāma — the abode or shelter of the thousand-hooded Śrī Anantadeva; the source of that expansion (aṁśī) is Śrī Balarāma. Nityānanda-rāma — Balarāma in His form as Nityānanda.

V.125. For "śubha-dine" the variant "śubha-kṣaṇe" is found. Padmāvatī — the name of Śrī Nityānanda's mother.

V.126. See the commentary at payar 1.35–36 above.

V.127. On the first half of this verse, Prabhupāda Atulakṛṣṇa Gosvāmī notes in a footnote: "the portion 'kṛpāsindhu ... balarāma' is absent in one manuscript, which instead begins directly: 'avatīrṇa hoilā dhari nityānanda nāma. mahā jayajaya-dhvani puṣpa variṣaṇa. saṅgope devatāgaṇa karilā takhana. āmādera bhāgye prabhu labhilā janama' [— 'He descended, bearing the name Nityānanda. The demigods, in secret, raised a great cry of victory and rained down flowers, [saying,] "By our own great fortune has the Lord taken birth."']"

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V.132. From this verse the account of Mahāprabhu's descent begins. His father was Śrī Jagannātha Miśravara, his mother Śrī Śacī Devī. Vasudeva-prāya — equal to Vasudeva. Just as Vasudeva is the embodied form of the essential potency (svarūpa-śakti) in its sandhinī-predominant aspect, so too Jagannātha Miśra is that same sandhinī-predominant embodiment of the essential potency — not a conditioned soul (jīva-tattva). Yet, being an associate of the Lord who shares the human pastime and human self-conception, he too shares that human self-conception, and it is for this reason that he is svadharme tatpara, devoted to his own [essential, svarūpānubandhī] duty — the duty of service whose sole purport is Kṛṣṇa's happiness, in which he had attained single-pointed dedication. (For "svadharme" the variant "dharmete" is found.)

The word "svadharma" ordinarily refers to the duties of varṇa and āśrama; but that sense does not fit here, for Jagannātha Miśra's dedication to varṇāśrama-dharma is not really possible — since he is an eternally-perfected associate of the Lord, the embodied form of the essential potency, he could have no desire whatsoever for the impermanent, illusory pleasures of heaven and the like that varṇāśrama-dharma yields. Though, sharing the human self-conception, he had no awareness of his own status as the Lord's associate, this could not alter the true disposition of his heart; and despite his conditioned-soul self-conception, in the matter of worship (bhajana) he would be guided by that very disposition of heart. The soul's true svadharma, its own essential duty, is service whose sole purport is Kṛṣṇa's happiness; for those who engage in worship in order to attain this service, the observance of varṇāśrama-dharma is not conducive to their worship — indeed it runs contrary to it. That it is not a limb of sādhana-bhakti is known also from the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: "This is agreed upon by those learned in bhakti — that devotion is not subordinate to [ritual] action" (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.118). Śruti, too, has said: "Abandoning the duties of varṇa and the rest, such persons become satisfied in their own bliss" (Maitreya Upaniṣad). Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam likewise says: "Knowing thus the qualities and defects even of one's own prescribed duties, one who abandons all such dharmas and worships Me alone is the very best of men" (Bhāg. 11.11.32, the Lord's own words). To Arjuna, too, Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: "Abandoning all dharmas, take shelter of Me alone" (Gītā 18.66). And in teaching the principles of sādhana-bhakti, Śrī Mahāprabhu Himself told Śrīpāda Sanātana Gosvāmī: "To give up unwanted association is the true conduct of a Vaiṣṇava — the company of women, of one who is not a devotee — giving up these, and also varṇāśrama-dharma, one should, having nothing of one's own, take shelter of Kṛṣṇa alone" (Cc. 2.22.149–50; see the extended discussion at Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Vidhāna, Part 3, Chapter 5). That the Deity of Śrī Kṛṣṇa was worshipped in Jagannātha Miśra's own household is known from payars 2.8.29–42 of Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata itself; he set the very ideal of worship on the path of devotion. Hence his "svadharma" can never mean "varṇāśrama-dharma" — it means the dharma conducive to the soul's own svarūpānubandhī duty, service whose sole purport is Kṛṣṇa's happiness.

V.133. Brāhmaṇyera sīmā — every quality of a true brāhmaṇa was present in him in its fullest measure. The true mark of a brāhmaṇa is direct realization of the Imperishable Brahman: "One who departs from this world having known this Imperishable — he is a brāhmaṇa" (Bṛhad. 3.8.10). (A variant here reads "brāhmaṇera sei sīmā.")

V.134. Kaśyapa, Daśaratha, Vasudeva, and Nanda — all of these are manifestations of the Lord's fatherhood-principle, embodiments of the sandhinī-predominant essential potency. Śrī Jagannātha Miśra is the all-comprehending truth in which all these fatherhood-principles, Kaśyapa, Daśaratha, and the rest, are present at once. Śrī Nanda, the associate who is the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa's own father, is the root fatherhood-principle, the source (aṁśī) of which Kaśyapa and the other fatherhood-principles are expansions. Since Śrī Caitanya is Himself none other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Śrī Jagannātha Miśra, too, must be Śrī Nanda, the source of all the other fatherhood-principles.

V.135. Tān patnī — his (Śrī Jagannātha Miśra's) wife, Śacī Devī.

V.136. Kavirāja Gosvāmī writes: "In the womb of Śacī, Jagannātha Miśra's wife, eight daughters were born one after another, and each died soon after birth; grieved at heart by the loss of his children, Miśra worshipped Viṣṇu's feet for the sake of a son, and then a son was born, named Viśvarūpa" (Cc. 1.13.70–72). At the time of Mahāprabhu's own appearance, only Viśvarūpa was manifest among their children.

V.137. Abhinna madana — indistinguishable from Cupid, the enchanter of every heart. Brāhmaṇī-brāhmaṇa — Śacī and Jagannātha.

V.138. Virakti — detachment, non-attachment to worldly pleasure. Śaiśabei, etc. — even in his earliest infancy, the truths of all the scriptures shone forth spontaneously within Śrī Viśvarūpa. In truth Viśvarūpa's knowledge was self-manifest (svataḥ-siddha), since he was himself of the category of Godhead. Kavirāja Gosvāmī writes: "Then a son was born, named Viśvarūpa, greatly virtuous, the very abode of Baladeva. Baladeva's manifestation in the spiritual sky (Paravyoma) is Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is the material and instrumental cause of the universe; apart from Him nothing at all exists in the universe — hence his very name 'Viśvarūpa' [the form of the universe]" (Cc. 1.13.72–74). From this it is known that one manifestation of Balarāma is the Saṅkarṣaṇa of Paravyoma, and it is that very Saṅkarṣaṇa who appeared as "Viśvarūpa." Kavikarṇapūra, too, calls Śrī Viśvarūpa a "Saṅkarṣaṇa-vyūha" (Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā 58). He is Baladeva's own abode — an expansion of Balarāma, and hence of the category of Godhead.

V.139. See the commentary at payar 1.259 above.

V.140. Dharma-tirobhāva hoile — when dharma has become concealed, when dharma has declined. See the discussion of the Gītā verse (1.2.3 [the Gītā verse quoted earlier in this chapter]). Bhakta-saba duḥkha pāya, etc. — knowing that His devotees were suffering as a result of the decline of dharma and the rise of adharma, the Lord descends in order to remove their suffering — this is the established pattern. The Lord is devotee-loving; the devotees are as dear to Him as His own heart — "the saintly are My very heart" — and hence He cannot bear His devotees' suffering. Though He regards all souls with equal vision, He is nonetheless "subject to devotion" (bhakti-vaśaḥ puruṣaḥ), and this partiality of His toward His devotees is no fault in Him but rather an ornament — for it is not, in truth, partiality at all, but simply one expression of devotion's own power. By the grace of devotion, the devotees stand established in their own svarūpānubandhī condition — in their natural relation of dearness with the Lord — and hence the Lord's own dearness toward the soul, He being the soul's one true dear one, finds its full flowering precisely toward them; and this is the very source of His special mercy toward His devotees. Outward-turned worldly souls are not established in that relation, and though the Lord is anxious for their deliverance too, the special expression of mercy or dearness that flowers toward the devotee established in that relation does not manifest toward them in the same way — for there, though the truth of that dearness exists in principle, it has not been brought into actuality. Hence what appears, on the surface, to be the Lord's partiality toward His devotee is, in reality, simply the natural expression of a dearness that has been brought to actuality. It is for this reason that the Lord cannot bear His devotee's suffering — it is this very actualized dearness that gives rise to His impatience. And it is for this very reason that, when the devotees fall into great sorrow as a result of dharma's decline and adharma's rise, the Lord descends into the universe to remove that sorrow of theirs. Seeing the sorrow of Śrīvāsa and the other devotees, the Supreme Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself likewise descended in the form of Śrī Caitanya.

V.141. Tabe — knowing inwardly the sorrow of Śrīvāsa and the other devotees. Śacī-jagannātha-dehe, etc. — the Lord Mahāprabhu Gaurachandra took up residence in the bodies of Śacī Devī and Jagannātha Miśra. He took up residence in Śacī Devī's body, too, [that is, in her heart,] not in her womb. See the discussion of the word "jagannātha-sutāya" in the commentary on śloka 1.1.2 above. Kavirāja Gosvāmī, too, writes that Jagannātha Miśra said to Śacī Devī: "I have seen a dream — a luminous effulgence entered my heart, and from my heart it has now passed into yours; I understand from this that some great personage is about to take birth" (Cc. 1.13.84–85). Murāri Gupta, too, writes in his Kaḍacā: "Acyuta [the Lord] entered the brāhmaṇa Jagannātha's body; by him that great effulgence was, at the proper time, borne by the chaste Śacī; some time after this, the chaste and devoted Śacī conceived" (Kaḍacā 1.5.2–4).

V.142. Ananta-vadane — from the thousand mouths of Anantadeva. On learning that the supremely merciful Gaurachandra, for the sake of His descent into the universe, had taken up residence in the bodies of Śacī and Jagannātha, the thousand-mouthed Anantadeva, overflowing with joy, began to sound forth this cry of victory. Svapna-prāya, etc. — Mother Śacī and Jagannātha Miśra heard that very cry of victory, but not directly — they heard it in the manner one hears something in a dream. [Kavirāja Gosvāmī writes:] "Śacī said: I behold, above in the sky, as it were, effulgent beings all singing praises" (Cc. 1.13.83). For "Jagannātha-miśra śacī" the variant "Jagannātha śacī devī" is found.

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V.143. Because effulgent Gaurachandra had entered their bodies, Śacī Devī and Jagannātha Miśra too became suffused with great splendor. See the explanation of the word "jagannātha-sutāya" at śloka 1.1.2, and see also Kaḍacā 1.5.4–5. Tathāpiha, etc. — although Śacī and Jagannātha had thus taken on effulgent forms, no one else could perceive it. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa took up residence in the bodies of Devakī and Vasudeva in Kaṃsa's prison, others too beheld their effulgent forms; but when that same Śrī Kṛṣṇa entered the bodies of Śacī and Jagannātha as Gaurachandra, although they too became effulgent, no one but the two of them could perceive it. The reason for this, it seems, is as follows. Mahāprabhu Gaurachandra, throughout His manifest pastimes, was ever intent on concealing His own identity; yet this effort at self-concealment could never succeed before a loving devotee, for it is devotion, or love, alone that reveals Him — "bhaktir eva enaṁ darśayati" (Māṭhara-śruti). It was this same self-concealing Gaurachandra who took up residence in the bodies of Śacī and Jagannātha, and His self-concealing nature persisted even here. Hence only Śacī and Jagannātha — whose very forms were saturated with parental love — could perceive His effulgence; no one else could. And even though they perceived that effulgence, by the influence of His pastime-potency (līlā-śakti) they themselves did not know it to be the effulgence of the Supreme Godhead Gaura-Kṛṣṇa, welling up from Their own concentrated parental love. Ordinary outward-turned people did not perceive that effulgence at all; and by that same influence, even devotees such as Śrīvāsa could not perceive it. For several years after the birth-pastime the Lord had no wish to reveal Himself, and the pastime-potency, knowing this, did not reveal Him even to the devotees. Or else: even though Śacī and Jagannātha had become effulgent, other people simply could not perceive — could not know — the reason for that effulgence; on this reading, too, the Lord's self-concealing intent is indicated.

V.144. Knowing that Śrī Gaurachandra was about to descend for the welfare of the world, Brahmā, Śiva, and the other demigods, who desire the world's good, began in an ecstasy of joy to offer prayers to Gaurachandra as He resided within Śacī's body. This prayer of Brahmā and the others is set down in the payar couplets that follow, verses 147–158. Murāri Gupta, too, in his Kaḍacā, beginning from śloka 156 and continuing for several ślokas, records this same praise offered by Brahmā and the other gods to Gaura residing in Śacī's womb.

V.146. For "śravaṇe" ("by the hearing of") the variant "smaraṇe" ("by the remembrance of") is found.

V.148. Veda-dharma-sādhu-vipra-pāla — the protector of the Vedas, of dharma, of the saintly, and of brāhmaṇas. Abhakta-madana-mahākāla — He who is, toward Cupid in the form of the non-devotee's pride, Mahākāla himself. Just as Cupid (Madana) was reduced to ashes under Mahākāla [Śiva]'s gaze, so too, under Śrī Gaurasundara's gaze, the non-devotees — that is, their lack of devotion, their outward-turned worldliness, their enmity toward devotion — are reduced to ashes. This is the purport of His own subtle nature; see the explanation at śloka 1.2.6. For "madana" the variant "damana" is found: "abhakta-damana," He who subdues the non-devotees, and who, toward them, is of the very nature of Mahākāla — that is, of Yama, the lord of death.

V.149. Sarva-satyamaya-kalevara — He whose very body is composed wholly of truth. Śrī Gaura is truth itself in essential nature, and His body too is sac-cid-ānanda — hence true, true in all three times, wholly free from change in any respect. Truth is eternal; He is the very source of all eternal, true things — "nitya nityānām" (Śruti). And again, all the eternal, true forms of Godhead abide, one and all, within His own body — for this reason too He is "sarva-satyamaya-kalevara." By this His own Godhead is declared. Icchāmaya — He who can do whatsoever He wills; by this His independence is declared. Mahā-maheśvara — see the note on payar 1.2.1 above. By this too Gaura's own Godhead is declared.

V.150. Bāsa — abode, shelter. Since He is Himself the sheltering form in which unlimited millions of universes abide, His all-pervasiveness is here indicated. Se tumi, etc. — He who is all-pervading is the very one who has entered Śrī Śacī's womb; herein His inconceivable potency is declared. The purpose of this manifestation of inconceivable potency is His descent into the universe for the welfare of living beings. In truth, although He did not [literally] enter Śacī Devī's womb, by worldly perception — like everyone else — Brahmā and the other gods, too, imagined that He resided within Śacī's womb itself (see the explanation of śloka 1.1.2).

V.151. This verse — "Who indeed is fit to fathom Your will? Creation, maintenance, and dissolution are but Your pastime!" — needs no separate gloss; its sense is self-evident from the translation above.

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V.152–156. The Self-Manifest Supreme Lord Śrī Gaura is possessed of will and is all-powerful; by will alone He can accomplish everything. The chastisement of the wicked and the protection of the virtuous throughout the world, the destruction of demons, and the deliverance of all living beings — all this, should He so will, could come to pass by the mere influence of His will. Hence there is, in truth, no necessity whatsoever for His descent into the universe — for at the time of the great dissolution the entire universe is destroyed by His will alone. Yet, for the killing of Kaṁsa He descended as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and for the killing of Rāvaṇa as Śrī Rāmacandra. By His mere order, any single one of His devotees within the universe is capable of delivering the whole world. Yet He Himself descends, in various forms at various times, to make known to the world the hidden secret of dharma. Thus it is seen that, although there is no real necessity for His descent into the universe, why He nonetheless descends is something none but He Himself can know. Brahmā, too, has spoken in this very vein: "Who indeed can know You, O Infinite One, O Supreme Lord..." (Bhāg. 10.14.21–8; see also the explanation of śloka 1.2.2 above). Though there is no necessity, the author seems to have hinted at the reason why He nonetheless descends, in the words "making the earth blessed" — it is for the very purpose of making the earth blessed that He descends. By His descent He makes the earth fulfilled through the touch of His feet's dust; He makes the devotees of the world fulfilled by granting them His sight; and, descending as the golden-complexioned Self-Manifest Gaurasundara, He grants sight indiscriminately to the whole of humanity, high and low alike, and, instantly washing away their sins and pious deeds alike, bestows upon all of them Vraja-prema, thereby fulfilling them (Muṇḍaka-śruti) — in these and other such ways does He make the earth blessed. For "badhilā" ("slew") in verse 153, the variant "badho — [i.e.,] slay" is found; and for "pṛthivī" in verse 156, the variant "āpani" is found. In which forms He descends into the universe is told in the payars that follow, 157–163.

V.157–158. These two payars speak of the "Śukla" (white) form, the yuga-avatāra of Satya-yuga. In Satya-yuga He descends into the universe in the form of the yuga-avatāra named "Śukla." The yuga-dharma of Satya-yuga is the practice of austerity (tapasyā). Kṛṣṇājina — black antelope-skin. The marks of Śukla: "In Satya-yuga he is white, four-armed, matted-locked, clad in bark, bearing rosary, antelope-skin, staff, and waterpot; men then are peaceful, free from enmity, friendly, and equal-minded, worshipping the Lord through austerity, sense-control, and self-restraint" (Bhāg. 11.5.21–22).

V.159–160. In Tretā-yuga, the Lord descends as the yuga-avatāra of Tretā in the "red" form. The yuga-dharma of Tretā is sacrifice (yajña). "In Tretā he is red-complexioned, four-armed, wearing a girdle of three strands, golden-haired, his very self identified with the sacrifice, distinguished by the sacrificial ladle and spoon and their like" (Bhāg. 11.5.24). Kruk — a particular wooden ladle used for offering oblations of ghee into the sacrificial fire. Śruk — a particular wooden implement used for performing oblation in the sacrificial fire.

V.161. It is now said in which form the Lord descends in certain Dvāparas. The yuga-dharma of Dvāpara is Deity-worship (arcana). In the most recent Dvāpara, too, the Lord descended in a dark hue. "In Dvāpara the Lord is dark-complexioned, clad in yellow garments, bearing His own weapons, distinguished by the mark of Śrīvatsa and other signs" (Bhāg. 11.5.27). This form, however, is not the ordinary yuga-avatāra of Dvāpara; the ordinary yuga-avatāra of Dvāpara is "Śukapatrī." In the most recent Dvāpara, since the Self-Manifest Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself had descended, no separate yuga-avatāra of Dvāpara appeared; incidentally, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself proclaimed the yuga-dharma.

V.163. In certain Kalis the golden-complexioned Lord descends in the form of a brāhmaṇa, but not in every Kali. The Self-Manifest Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa descends but once in any single Dvāpara that falls within one day of Brahmā (see the discussion at Mantrī 122). In the Kali immediately following the Dvāpara in which the Self-Manifest Śrī Kṛṣṇa has descended, that same Lord descends again in golden hue as a brāhmaṇa. Just as Śrī Kṛṣṇa's cowherd-form is His own essential form (svarūpa-gata rūpa), so too is the golden Self-Manifest Lord's brāhmaṇa-form His own essential form. Just as the Self-Manifest Śrī Kṛṣṇa never appears in any form other than the cowherd-form, nor in any family other than the cowherd community, so too the golden Self-Manifest Lord never appears in any form other than the brāhmaṇa-form, nor in any family other than the brāhmaṇa community. Both the Self-Manifest Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the golden Self-Manifest Lord descend into the universe in their own beginninglessly-established forms, never assuming some newly-fashioned form. This One, however, is not the ordinary yuga-avatāra of Kali-yuga; the complexion of the ordinary yuga-avatāra of Kali is dark or black — "in Kali he is proclaimed dark," "in Kali he is proclaimed black." This dark or black one is not the Self-Manifest Lord Himself, but rather His portion (aṁśa). The names and complexions of the yuga-avatāras are fixed and singular for each yuga.

V.164. See śloka 122 above. In which forms the Lord descends into the universe is told in the payars that follow.

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V.165. Jale pralaye — in the waters at the time of the dissolution. Bihara — sport, disport.

V.167. Kara hiraṇya-vidāra — You tore asunder Hiraṇyakaśipu.

V.168. Bali chala — You deceived King Bali. Kara niḥkṣatriyā mahī — You made the earth bereft of kṣatriyas.

V.169. Haladhara-rūpe — in the form of Balarāma. Ananta-vihāra — unending pastimes.

V.170. Buddha-rūpe dayā-dharma, etc. — Lord Buddha propagated the dharma of nonviolence; this very dharma of nonviolence is here called "the dharma of compassion." "Thereafter, when Kali has well set in, for the bewilderment of the enemies of the gods, one named Buddha, the son of Añjanā, will appear among the Kīkaṭas" (Bhāg. 1.3.24) — that is, after the descent of Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, when Kali-yuga has set in, one named Buddha, son of Añjanā, will take birth in Kīkaṭa (the land of Gayā, per Śrīdhara Svāmī), for the bewildering of the demons. "When two thousand years of Kali have passed, his manifestation will come to be; his form is pale-rose in hue, two-armed, and bereft of hair" (Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta 1.1.83). Lord Buddha was an atheist — that is, he did not accept the Vedas, was opposed to Vedic conduct, and taught the doctrine of the Void. His incarnation had the very purpose of bewildering the demons. Kalkī-rūpe — in the incarnation named Kalkī. "Thereafter, at the junction of the ages, when the ruling class have become as good as bandits, Viṣṇuyaśā's son [i.e., a brāhmaṇa's son], the Lord of the world named Kalkī, will take birth" (Bhāg. 1.3.25) — that is, after the descent of Buddha, at the junction of the yugas (at the end of Kali, per Śrīdhara Svāmī), when the ruling class have turned to banditry, the world-lord named Kalkī will be born of Viṣṇuyaśā. The destruction of the barbarian hordes is his task. Buddha and Kalkī are not Godhead-tattva but jīva-tattva — empowered incarnations (āveśa-avatāra). "Those living beings of great glory into whom Janārdana enters by a portion of His powers such as knowledge — them the wise declare to be āveśa-avatāras" (Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta 1.18) — those living beings into whom Janārdana enters by a portion of His powers such as knowledge are called āveśa-avatāras; they are, in essence, jīvas of great glory. On this subject see the scriptural proofs at Mantrī, Section 35, pages 165–67.

V.172. Śrī-nārada-rūpe — Śrī Nārada, too, is an āveśa-avatāra. Mahāprabhu has said: "In Sanaka and the rest is the power of knowledge; in Nārada, the power of devotion" (Cc. 2.20.309).

V.173. Sarva-līlā-lāvaṇya-vaidagdhī, etc. — manifesting all pastime, all loveliness, and all skill, You performed many sportive pastimes in Gokula in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the reveler of Gokula, is the Self-Manifest Supreme Lord Himself; at the time of His descent into the universe all the other essential forms of Godhead descend within Him, and the pastimes of all those forms of Godhead are manifested by Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. Hence the pastimes of every form of Godhead are manifested by Śrī Kṛṣṇa together with His own particular pastime — He is Himself all pastime. Sarva-lāvaṇya — the fullest loveliness. Sarva-vaidagdhī — unlimited kinds of skill (nipuṇatā). For "gokule karilā" the variant "vihara gokule" is found.

It is Brahmā, Śiva, and the other gods who, in the course of praising the form of Godhead residing in Śrī Śacī's body, have spoken these words recorded in this payar. They here declare that the very One who resides in Śacī's body is none other than the Self-Manifest Lord who sports as Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Gokula.

V.174. In the payars that now follow, 174–188, the truth and glory of the very One residing in Śrī Śacī's body — whom Brahmā and the other gods are praising — is spoken of. Ei avatāre — in this very essential form in which, with the purpose of descending, You have entered Śacī's body. Bhāgavata-rūpa dhari — assuming the form of a bhāgavata (a devotee of the Lord, a devotee of Śrī Kṛṣṇa), in the form saturated with devotional sentiment. In the preceding payar He was called the Self-Manifest Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the reveler of Gokula. But Śrī Kṛṣṇa is not Himself saturated with devotional sentiment, is not Himself in the form of a bhāgavata. He in whom devotion directed toward Śrī Kṛṣṇa resides, He who is the shelter of that devotion — He alone is saturated with devotional sentiment, is in the bhāgavata-form. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is not the shelter of devotion; He is only its object — hence Śrī Kṛṣṇa is not saturated with devotional sentiment. It has already been seen in the discussion of ślokas 125–126 above that the Self-Manifest Śrī Kṛṣṇa, united in a single form with Śrī Rādhā, has from beginningless time been manifest as a single golden Self-Manifest form of Godhead; being united with Śrī Rādhā, who alone possesses the treasury of unprecedented loving devotion, He is saturated with devotional sentiment. In that devotional mood He also glorifies, through kīrtana, Śrī Kṛṣṇa's own name, form, qualities, and pastimes (see the discussion of ślokas 125–126). By the word "bhāgavata-rūpa" in this payar, Brahmā and the other gods make known that very golden, devotion-saturated Self-Manifest Lord. Ei avatāre — that is, in this very Kali-yuga, He who will be manifested from Śacī Devī is the united essential form of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-śakti pracāri — proclaiming the full power of them all. For "śakti" the variant "bhakti" is found. See the discussion of the word "sapūjaṅ" at śloka 1.2.5.

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V.175. Ghare ghare, etc. — in every home, that is, among all people, without discrimination, prema-bhakti will be propagated. This utterance, too, makes known that the son of Śacī is the golden Self-Manifest Lord who distributes prema-bhakti without discrimination (see the discussion of śloka 1.2.5–6).

V.176. Having descended, in the bliss of saṅkīrtana, He will dance in union with all His servants (all His devotees).

V.177–179. These three payars express the glory of the Lord's devotees. "Those devotees who meditate upon Your lotus feet — by their very influence all the world's inauspiciousness, its aversion to God, its craving for bodily sense-pleasure, is dispelled; by the mere sight of them the ten directions become supremely pure — thoroughly sanctified." In the devotee there is no influence whatsoever of the material illusory potency; within them abides devotion, a function of the spiritual potency, and that all-purifying devotion, spreading forth together with their very glance, purifies everything. Of the Vaiṣṇava devotee Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has said: "Even the Gaṅgā becomes purified only afterward [by meeting a Vaiṣṇava] — by mere sight you purify: such is your quality." In support of the assertion of these three payars a verse from the Padma Purāṇa is quoted: "O King, by the touch of his two feet — the feet with which the devotee dances — the inauspiciousness of the earth on which he dances; by the glance of his two eyes, the inauspiciousness of the ten directions; and when the devotee dances with arms upraised, by the power of those upraised arms, the inauspiciousness even of heaven — all this is destroyed." No further gloss is needed. On this śloka Prabhupāda Atulakṛṣṇa Gosvāmī notes in a footnote that it is quoted in the section on the glory of dancing in the eighth Vilāsa of Śrī Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, but there it is attributed not to the Padma Purāṇa but to the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya (20.68), in a somewhat altered form: "bahudhotsāryate harṣāt viṣṇubhaktasya nṛtyataḥ, padbhyāṁ bhūmer diśo 'kṣibhyāṁ dorbhyāṁ cāpy amaṅgalaṁ divaḥ."

V.180. Se prabhu āpane tumi, etc. — that Lord whose devotees' dancing and kīrtana carries such glory — that very Lord, having Himself become manifest, will, taking such a host of devotees along with Him, perform kīrtana-prema (perform saṅkīrtana, and, in the course of it, propagate prema; or, will perform that very saṅkīrtana by which prema may be attained). Or else: kīrtana-prema = prema-kīrtana, kīrtana performed in an ecstasy of prema.

V.181. No one has the power to describe the glory of such saṅkīrtana together with the devotees. Tumi bilāibā, etc. — You will distribute the Veda-hidden Viṣṇu-bhakti (love pertaining to Kṛṣṇa, Vraja-prema) freely — without requiring any prior practice of sādhana-bhajana, to anyone whatsoever, to the whole of humanity high and low. Here again Brahmā and the other gods speak of the glory of the golden Self-Manifest Lord spoken of by the Muṇḍaka-śruti; that the son of Śacī is that very golden Self-Manifest Lord of the Muṇḍaka-śruti is thereby declared (see the discussion of ślokas 125–126). Veda-gopya viṣṇu-bhakti — Viṣṇu is the all-pervading truth; the verse "This sport of Viṣṇu with the young women of Vraja..." (Bhāg. 10.33.39) itself calls Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the reveler in the rāsa-dance, "Viṣṇu." Accordingly, Viṣṇu-bhakti is Kṛṣṇa-bhakti — devotion pertaining to Kṛṣṇa, Vraja-prema. This Viṣṇu-bhakti, or Vraja-prema, is "veda-gopya" — that which the Veda has kept concealed. The Veda does speak of this love, but in a somewhat hidden manner. From the statements of Bṛhad-āraṇyaka-śruti 1.4.8 and 2.4.5 it is known that the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Soul, the Self-Manifest Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the jīva's one and only dear one, and, since dearness is by its own nature reciprocal, the jīva too is dear to Him; the jīva's relation to Him is a relation of dearness. It is for this reason that this śruti instructs service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the mood of dearness: "One should worship the Self alone as the beloved" (Bṛhad. Ār. 1.4.8). The purport of serving Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the mood of dearness is service whose sole purport is Kṛṣṇa's happiness, without harboring in the heart even the faintest trace of desire for anything on one's own account — whether bhukti or mukti; this indeed is the soul's own svarūpānubandhī duty. But such service necessarily presupposes, beforehand, the desire for such service — without which the service will not be real, but a mere pretense. This very desire — the desire for service whose sole purport is Kṛṣṇa's happiness — bears the name of prema. "The desire for the gratification of Kṛṣṇa's senses bears the name of prema" (Cc. 1.4.[verse as cited in the source]). Thus it is known that the Veda, too, speaks of prema, though certainly in a concealed manner; hence prema, or Viṣṇu-bhakti, is called veda-gopya. A clear statement does exist in the Veda: "As is one's supreme devotion to God, so, if it exists toward the Guru also, to that great soul in whom [devotion to both] is thus present, these truths [here taught] become manifest" (Śvetāśvatara 6.23). The "parā-bhakti" spoken of here is prema-bhakti; but even this śruti does not give a detailed account of this prema-bhakti — it remains concealed. An extended discussion of the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka-śruti statement may be found at Mantrī, Section 162.

V.182–183. Mukti diyā, etc. — the Self-Manifest Lord alone is the giver of Vraja-prema. But to the sādhaka whose heart harbors a desire for bhukti or mukti, He, in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, gives only bhukti or mukti, never prema or bhakti — deeming such a one unfit to attain prema-bhakti, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as it were, keeps prema-bhakti hidden from him. "O King! Though the Supreme Lord — your husband, guru, worshipable deity, dear kinsman, and even your servant, O Pāṇḍavas — Mukunda, when worshipped, sometimes grants His worshippers mere liberation, but the path of devotion, rarely" (Bhāg. 6.1.8 [as cited]). Āmi saba je nimitte, etc. — "we all" — we, Brahmā, Śiva, and the other gods — long for that very prema-bhakti, yet do not attain it. Thinking that Vraja-prema might be attained by the mercy of the dust of the feet of Vraja's residents, and with the very aim of being anointed by that dust, Brahmā considers it his highest fortune should he be able to take birth in Vṛndāvana as anything whatsoever (Bhāg. 10.14.34) — but that fortune has not come to Brahmā.

V.183. Jagatere tumi prabhu, etc. — Brahmā and the other gods say: that very prema-bhakti which is their own cherished object, yet which remains difficult of attainment even for them, the son of Śacī will bestow upon the world, upon the whole of humanity of the world, without discrimination — He will give prema itself to all, not merely the means of attaining it. Here too the glory of the golden Self-Manifest Lord of the Muṇḍaka-śruti is spoken of (see the discussion of ślokas 125–126). Tomāra kāruṇya, etc. — that You, without requiring any practice of sādhana-bhajana, will give to the whole of humanity that Vraja-prema difficult of attainment even for Brahmā and the rest, is due to nothing but Your own innate compassion.

V.184. Sarva-yajña — meditation, Vedically-enjoined sacrifices and the like, Deity-worship, even every one of the nine forms of devotion themselves. Since the Lord's Name is non-different from the Lord, His Name too, like the Lord Himself, is full and unlimited; no other sādhana, not being non-different from the Name, is correspondingly full. In the performance of every other limb of sādhana some flaw or gap remains — even in the performance of Vedic ritual there remains such a flaw, which is why there is the custom, at the ritual's close, of uttering an "unbroken" (acchidra) mantra to cover it; and this unbroken mantra is none other than the Lord's own Name. Mahāprabhu has said: "The nine kinds of devotion become complete, deriving from the Name" (Cc. 2.15.108). It is for this very reason that it has been said, "By whose Name, O Lord, every sacrifice is rendered complete."

V.185. Brahmā and the other gods pray that when the Lord descends, they too may have the good fortune of His darśana. From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is known that even Brahmā and the other gods do not obtain darśana of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Nārāyaṇa (see Bhāg. 10.1).

V.186. Etadine, etc. — Brahmā and the other gods say: in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa You sported in the Yamunā and thereby made the Yamunā blessed; but in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa You never sported in the Gaṅgā. Seeing Your sport in the Yamunā, the Gaṅgā too conceived the desire that You might sport in her waters; but until this day that desire of hers has remained unfulfilled. Now, as You descend in Navadvīpa on the banks of the Gaṅgā, You will sport in her waters and fulfill the Gaṅgā's long unsatisfied longing. Manoratha — heart's desire. Devīra abhimata — the goddess Gaṅgā's own cherished wish (qualifying the sporting). For "krīḍā" the variant "kṛpā" and for "devīra" the variant "je cira [of long-standing]" are found.

V.187. Je tomāre, etc. — the masters of yoga obtain Your darśana only in meditation, within the mind alone — that is, they attain only an inward realization, never an outward vision. That very You, descending in Navadvīpa, will become visible to the eyes of the whole of humanity.

V.190. Sarva-bhuvanera bāsa — He in whom the countless millions of universes abide is "the abode of all the worlds." The story of Śrī Śacīnandana's birth-pastime now begins to be told. The Lord's advent occurred on the Phālgunī-pūrṇimā tithi of Śaka 1407. That day there was a lunar eclipse, and nāma-saṅkīrtana was proceeding everywhere.

V.191–192. Ananta brahmāṇḍe, etc. — Kavirāja Gosvāmī has written: "That Phālgunī-pūrṇimā under the Rohiṇī-nakṣatra, full of all auspicious qualities, on which Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya descended together with the names of Kṛṣṇa" (Cc. Ādi 13.2) — on the Phālgunī-pūrṇimā, together with the Name of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya descended; I offer worship to that Phālgunī-pūrṇimā, full of every good quality. Grahaṇera chale — under the pretext of the lunar eclipse; on the occasion of the eclipse, nāma-saṅkīrtana was proceeding everywhere. But the kīrtana of this day was not, in truth, kīrtana on the eclipse's account — the eclipse is not the real cause of this day's kīrtana. The real cause is this: Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Himself propagated saṅkīrtana under the pretext of the eclipse, and it was together with that very saṅkīrtana that He descended. As He descended, saṅkīrtana — prema-saṅkīrtana — descended together with Him. See the explanation of śloka 1.1.1.

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V.193. For "karma" the variant "śakti" is found. Kāya — in whom (in whose midst) does it exist? Candra ācchādila, etc. — it was by the will of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya alone that Rāhu covered (devoured) the moon that night; but no one could know this.

V.197. Nirantara houk grahaṇa — hearing the sound of Hari, the devotees felt such unprecedented joy that they began to say, "Let there be an eclipse always" — for then people would perform kīrtana always, and, hearing the sound of that kīrtana without cease, they too could enjoy that unprecedented bliss ceaselessly. The Holy Name is indeed supremely sweet — "sweeter than sweet is this, of all auspicious things the most auspicious." But this essential sweetness of the Name can, by the grace of devotion, be tasted only by the devotee, and by no one else — just as a tongue coated with bile cannot perceive the sweetness of sugar-candy, so it is here.

V.198. Why is there so much joy today? Everywhere, as it were, a flood of bliss is flowing. Can it be that Kṛṣṇa, whose very nature is bliss, has become manifest somewhere? Has that same blissful Brahman, at the time of His descent, set flowing this very flood of joy?

V.203. It was at this moment that Śrī Śacīnandana — the life of all the universe's living beings — became manifest.

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(From here through verse 230 the author sets down a sequence of devotional songs — in the Dhanāśī, Paṭamañjarī, Naṭamañjarī, and Maṅgala rāgas — celebrating the birth. These pages of the printed edition run in two parallel columns which the OCR has badly interleaved letter by letter; a number of individual half-lines could not be reconstructed with full philological certainty, though the overall content — Gaurāṅga's beauty, the demigods arriving in human disguise under cover of the eclipse, the devotees dancing and singing, and the uproar of joy in both heaven and Navadvīpa — is clear throughout, and it is at that level of confidence that the following rendering is offered.)

Dhanāśī (verses 204–211; some editions mark the chapter's end after this song). "The moon in Rāhu's jaws, and the ocean of the Holy Name now manifest — [the world] ties on a banner proclaiming Kali's defeat. The Lord has become manifest; through the fourteen worlds a cry of 'Victory! Victory!' has gone forth. (1) O mother! O mother! Behold Gaurachandra! The sorrow of the people of Nadīyā is all destroyed; day by day their joy increases. (2) Kettledrums sound, a hundred conch-shells blare, flutes and horns resound. Vṛndāvana Dāsa sings the sweetness of Śrī Caitanya-candra and Nityānanda Ṭhākura. (3) Vanquishing millions of Cupids, His limbs enchant the heart; the eye cannot bear to look upon them [so radiant are they]. Long, slightly curved eyes — there is, on reflection, no likeness for them anywhere. (Refrain) (4)" [The song continues with further verses on Gaurāṅga's beauty:] "At Gaurāṅga's triumphant arrival, joy is heard on every side throughout the whole earth; one single sound of Hari, filling all the worlds up to Brahmaloka, is heard — this is the manifestation of the moon-faced Gaurāṅga. (1) Cool as the moon is His lovely face; His arms are long, reaching to His knees; bright with sandal-paste, His broad chest, upon which a forest-garland sways. (2) Seeing Caitanya, the whole world cries 'Blessed, blessed!', and a tumult of victory arises; some dance, some sing in ecstasy — for Kali, this is at once a joy and a sorrow. (3) Caitanya is the very crest-jewel set upon the heads of the four Vedas — yet the wretched and the foolish do not know it. Śrī Caitanya-candra and Nitāi Ṭhākura — at their very feet does Vṛndāvana Dāsa sing. (4)"

Explanation. V.213. Hāse nija, etc. — Gaurachandra, hearing His own kīrtana (the saṅkīrtana concerning Himself), laughs in delight; tasting, even in His infancy, the sweetness of His own Name as the very shelter of prema, His laughter alone hints at the greatness of His joy. V.217. Śrī-caitanya nityānanda jāna — the word "jāna" bears two possible senses: one, "prāṇa" (life-breath, the very life); the other, "know, be it known to you." In the first sense the meaning of the line is: "Śrī Caitanya and Nityānanda are, to the author (or, in the broader sense, to everyone), as dear as life itself; Vṛndāvana Dāsa sings their glory." In the second sense: "O Śrī Caitanya! O Nityānanda! Graciously know this — that your servant Vṛndāvana Dāsa is singing your glory." The purport: once you have taken note of this, by your grace I shall be enabled to describe your glory. For "nityānanda" the variant "nityānanda-cānda" and for "guṇa" the variant "tadu-pada-yuge" [at their own two feet] are found — that is, remaining in the presence of their feet, for their pleasure, he sings their glory. See the note on payar 285 below [i.e. the closing verse of this chapter; the source's own digit string here — "১২২৮৫" in chapter-02-raw.txt line 2281, with no daṇḍa separators surviving OCR — is damaged, but "২৮৫" matches this chapter's actual closing payar exactly, consistent with the bracketed gloss already given].

Naṭamañjarī (verses 218–225; naṭamañjarī is a rāginī of Dīpaka-rāga). [Refrain:] "Beholding Him, [all] became overwhelmed with bliss, oh—! (1) Brahmā, Śiva, and all the gods, every one of them, assuming human form, oh, sing 'Hari! Hari!' under the pretext of the eclipse; none can perceive who they are, oh! (2) People run in every direction through Nadīyā, crying loudly 'Hari! Hari!', oh; the honored gods, having gathered together, sport as one, filling Navadvīpa with ever-fresh delight, oh! (3) Hearing of Caitanya's descent, the gods felt supreme auspiciousness arise, oh; in Śacī's courtyard all the gods fell down, prostrate in obeisance, oh! (4) In the darkness of the eclipse none can perceive it — there move Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda; the two of them together are Caitanya's own sport, oh! (5) Someone recites hymns of praise, someone holds an umbrella aloft, someone waves a cāmara, oh; in supreme delight someone showers flowers, someone dances, someone sings, someone plays an instrument, oh! (6) Together with all His potencies has Gaurachandra come, oh — the impious know nothing of this at all, oh; O Śrī Caitanya, O Nityānanda, moon-like Lords, know this: Vṛndāvana Dāsa sings of your sweetness, oh!"

Explanation. V.218. Naṭamañjarī — a rāga described in the treatises on music, a rāginī of Dīpaka-rāga. For "re ā" the variant "re-o" is found. V.223. Bāy — plays [an instrument]; for "gāy, bāy re" the variant "bhāla gāy re" is found. V.224. Sakala śakti saṅge, etc. — Śrī Gaurachandra has come together with all His potencies (that is, endowed with the fullest manifestation of every potency); this statement itself indicates Śrī Gaurāṅga's status as the Self-Manifest Supreme Lord, since it is the Self-Manifest Lord alone in whom the fullest manifestation of every potency is found. Yet, although He is the Self-Manifest Lord endowed with all potencies, the impious — those turned away from the Lord, bereft of devotion — can perceive nothing of Him whatsoever, can know nothing of His influence. V.225. Dundubhi — a kind of large drum, a great gong. Dhindima — another kind of instrument. For "maṅgala jaya-dhvani" the variant "mahā-vijaya-dhvani," and for "rasāla" the variant "biśāla," are found.

(At this point the commentary appends a lengthy note on the phrase "vedera agocara" — that even the Vedas cannot fully comprehend Śrī Caitanya's glory and majesty — quoting the śruti-devīs' own confession before Śrī Kṛṣṇa: "Even the guardians of the [various] worlds, beginning with Brahmā, have not reached Your limit; how then could we?" (Bhāg. 10.87.43, with Śrīpāda Viśvanātha Cakravartī's gloss) — and citing further the Upaniṣadic refrain "words turn back from Him, unable to reach Him, along with the mind" as evidence that even the Veda cannot fully declare what the Self-Manifest Lord is, though it can, and does, declare what He is not. The Muṇḍaka- and Maitrāyaṇī-śrutis have indeed spoken something of the truth and glory of the golden Self-Manifest Śrī Gaura, but they have not disclosed it in full — for, being infinite by its very nature, no one at all is capable of comprehending or expressing it fully. This is the purport of "vedera agocara." Of Śrī Caitanya's glory, united in essential form with Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, what more indeed could be said?)

Maṅgala (fifth rāga; verses 225–230). [Refrain:] "Kettledrums and gongs, cries of victory and auspiciousness, resound sweet and full of savor, oh! Today I shall behold Him — there is no cause at all for delay, oh! (1) In joy, Indra's own heaven resounds with an auspicious uproar; by great merit and good fortune has Caitanya's manifestation been obtained, in the very midst of Navadvīpa, oh! (2) In the joy of the birth of Nadīyā's own Purandara [its own Indra], everyone, rejoicing together, no longer knows self from other, oh! (3) Tasting the very savor of Gaura, overwhelmed with ecstasy, all cry 'adorn yourselves, adorn yourselves!', oh; they beheld, in Śacī's house, the beautiful Gaurāṅga, as if a million moons had risen as one, oh — 'Victory, victory to Caitanya!' they sing, oh! (4) Fixing their minds intently, assuming human form, under the pretext of the eclipse, none feels any shame; they utter the Holy Name aloud, oh! (5) But the impious know nothing of this at all, oh; in such a wondrous sport has He come to Navadvīpa, and on every side is heard the Holy Name, oh — O moon-like Lords Śrī Caitanya and Nityānanda, know this: Vṛndāvana Dāsa sings of your sweetness, oh!"

Explanation. V.226. Indrapura — Indra's city, heaven. Caitanya parakāśa pāola — Śrī Caitanya has attained manifestation, has become manifest. For "pāola" the variant "uthala" is found — uthala meaning "resplendent"; Śrī Caitanya has become manifest in resplendent form. V.227. Purandara — Indra, king of heaven, foremost of the heaven-dwelling gods. Nadīyā-purandara janma-ullāse — in the excess of joy arising from the birth of the son of Śacī, who is like Nadīyā's own Purandara (Indra). For "janma-ullāse" the variant "janma-ullāsa-bhara" is found; bhara means excess, intensity. Anyonye — mutually, each with the other. V.228. Bihvola-parabaśa — overwhelmed, utterly overpowered by that very state of being overwhelmed. Gāya — sings. V.229. Boloye — [the gods, in human form] say, utter aloud.

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Payar text (verses 231–241).

(একপদী) প্রেম-ধন রতন পসার। দেখ গোরাচাঁদের বাজার॥ ২৩১ হেনমতে প্রভুর হইল অবতার। আগে হরিসংকীর্তন করিয়া প্রচার॥ ২৩২ চতুর্দিগে ধায় লোক গ্রহণ দেখিয়া। গঙ্গা-স্নানে 'হরি' বলি যায়েন ধাইয়া॥ ২৩৩ যার মুখে এ জন্মেও নাহিক হরিনাম। সেহো 'হরি' বলি ধায় করি গঙ্গা-স্নান॥ ২৩৪ দশ-দিগে পূর্ণ হই উঠে হরি ধ্বনি। অবতীর্ণ হই শুনি হাসে দ্বিজমণি॥ ২৩৫ শচী-জগন্নাথ দেখি পুত্রের শ্রীমুখ। দুইজন হইলেন আনন্দ-স্বরূপ॥ ২৩৬ কি বিধি করিব ইহা, কিছুই না স্ফুরে। আথে ব্যথে নারীগণ জুয়কার পুরে॥ ২৩৭ ধাইয়া আইলা সভে যত আপ্তগণ। আনন্দ হইল জগন্নাথের ভবন॥ ২৩৮ শচীর জনক-চক্রবর্তী নীলাম্বর। প্রতিলগ্নে অদ্ভুত দেখেন বিপ্রবর॥ ২৩৯ মহারাজ-লক্ষণ সকল লগ্নে কহে। রূপ দেখি চক্রবর্তী হইল বিস্ময়ে॥ ২৪০ 'বিপ্র রাজা গৌড়ে হইবেক' হেন আছে। বিপ্র বোলে 'সেই বা জানিব তাহা পাছে॥' ২৪১

Translation. [The concluding one-line refrain of the songs:] "The merchandise here is the very jewel-treasure of prema — behold Gaurachandra's own marketplace!" In this manner did the Lord's descent come to pass — with Hari-saṅkīrtana propagated in advance of it. On every side people ran on seeing the eclipse, rushing to their bath in the Gaṅgā, crying "Hari!" Even he in whose mouth the Name of Hari had never once arisen in this life ran likewise, crying "Hari!", to bathe in the Gaṅgā. Filling the ten directions, the sound of Hari arose; and the jewel of brāhmaṇas [the newborn Lord Himself], on descending, heard it and smiled. Śacī and Jagannātha, beholding their son's beautiful face, both became the very embodiment of bliss; what now to do, nothing at all came to their minds — in their haste and confusion the women filled the air with cries of joy. All their kinsfolk came running, and the whole household of Jagannātha became filled with joy. Śacī's father, Nīlāmbara Cakravartī, that eminent brāhmaṇa, beheld wondrous signs in every astrological moment of the birth; every moment declared the marks of a great king, and, beholding the child's form, Cakravartī was struck with wonder. "A brāhmaṇa-king shall arise in Gauḍa" — so it is written; the brāhmaṇa said, "Whether this be that very one, we shall know hereafter."

Explanation.

V.241. Hena āche — so it has been said [in the astrological texts]. Bipra — Nīlāmbara Cakravartī. Sei bā, etc. — whether this very child is that foretold brāhmaṇa-king will be known later (whether he will indeed become king). For "sei bā jānibo" the variant "sei rājā jinibo" is found — meaning: this child will, in time, conquer the reigning king and become king himself.

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V.242. Mahā-jyotirvit bipra — Nīlāmbara Cakravartī; he was especially expert in the science of astrology (jyotiḥ-śāstra). Lagna-anurūpa kathā — words concerning the results of the astrological moment of Śacī's son's birth; this is spoken of in the two payars that follow. For "kathā" the variant "karma" is found.

V.245. For "biprarūpe" the variant "nara-rūpe" is found. Was it Śacī's own son who was himself present there in the form of this brāhmaṇa? Be that as it may, this great personage in brāhmaṇa's form spoke of the future deeds of Śacī's son, and this is set forth in the payars that follow, 246–257.

V.246. Sākṣāt nārāyaṇa — the Self-Manifest, or the Original Nārāyaṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

V.248. Bāñche — desires to attain. The cherished object of Brahmā, Śiva, and the rest, too, is Vraja-prema; this child shall bestow that very Vraja-prema upon all people without discrimination. Thereby it is indicated that the son of Śacī is that very golden Self-Manifest Lord spoken of by the śruti. For "brahmā śiva śuka yāhā bāñche" the variant "brahmā śiva yāhā bāñchā kare" is found.

V.249. Nirveda — freedom from craving for worldly happiness, dispassion. Nirveda-daraśane — by the mere sight of him, dispassion — renunciation of worldly things — shall arise in people. It is from previously accumulated sin and merit that the desire for worldly enjoyment arises; at the mere sight of this son of Śacī, people's previously accumulated sin and merit shall be destroyed at the root, and hence their desire for enjoyment too shall be entirely dispelled. Such a result of beholding the golden Self-Manifest Lord has been spoken of by the Muṇḍaka-śruti as well. Or else: seeing his compassion toward all beings and his dispassion (freedom from craving for worldly happiness), all the people of the world shall come to feel love for him. For "nirveda daraśane" the variant "madhura daraśane" is found.

V.250. Anyera ki dāya — what need to speak of others.

V.251. Ādi bipra — the foremost of brāhmaṇas. For "ādi" the reading "vṛddha" [the eldest] is also found.

V.254. For "lagne yata * * ihāna" the reading "prati lagne yata kahe maṅgala ihāna" is also seen. Ihāna — of him, his.

V.256. The brāhmaṇa-astrologer gave the boy the name "Śrī Viśvambhara." Kavirāja Gosvāmī says it was Śrī Nīlāmbara Cakravartī who gave this name. Nīlāmbara Cakravartī said: "He shall be the sustainer and nourisher of all people — this indeed is the reason for his name 'Viśvambhara'" (Cc. 1.14.16). For "gaṇilāṅa" the variant "gaṇiyāo," and for "haiba" the variant "thuiba" [I shall keep/bestow], are found.

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Payar text (verses 259–274).

শুনি জগন্নাথ-মিশ্র পুত্রের আখ্যান। আনন্দে বিহ্বোল বিপ্রে দিতে চাহে দান॥ ২৫৯ কিছু নাহি—সুদরিদ্র, তথাপি আনন্দে বিপ্রের চরণ ধরি মিশ্রচন্দ্র কান্দে॥ ২৬০ সেই বিপ্র কান্দে জগন্নাথ-পা'য়ে ধরি। আনন্দে সকল লোক বোলে 'হরি হরি'॥ ২৬১ দিব্য কোষ্ঠী শুনি যত বান্ধব সকল। জয় জয় দিয়া সভে করেন মঙ্গল॥ ২৬২ ততক্ষণে আইলা সকল বাদ্যকার। মৃদঙ্গ সানাই বংশী বাজয়ে অপার॥ ২৬৩ দেবস্ত্রীয়ে নরস্ত্রীয়ে না পারি চিনিতে। দেবে নরে একত্র হইল ভালমতে॥ ২৬৪ দেবমাতা সব্য হাথে ধান্য দূর্বা লৈয়া। হাসি দেন প্রভু-শিরে 'চিরায়ু' বলিয়া॥ ২৬৫ চিরকাল পৃথিবীতে করহ প্রকাশ। অতএব 'চিরায়ু' বলিয়া হৈল হাস॥ ২৬৬ অপূর্ব সুন্দরী সব শচী-দেবী দেখে। বার্তা জিজ্ঞাসিতে কারো নাহি আইসে মুখে॥ ২৬৭ শচীর চরণধুলি লয় দেবীগণ। আনন্দে শচীর মুখে না আইসে বচন॥ ২৬৮ কি আনন্দ হইল সে জগন্নাথ-ঘরে। বেদেতে অনন্তে তাহা বণিতে না পারে॥ ২৬৯ না-কেবল শচী-গৃহে, সর্ব-নদীয়ায়। যে আনন্দ হৈল, তাহা কহন না যায়॥ ২৭০ কি নগরে, কি চত্বরে, কিবা গঙ্গাতীরে। নিরবধি লোকে 'হরি হরি' ধ্বনি করে॥ ২৭১ জন্মযাত্রা-মহোৎসব নিশায় গ্রহণে। আনন্দে করেন, কেহো মর্ম নাহি জানে॥ ২৭২ চৈতন্যের জন্মযাত্রা ফাল্গুনী পূর্ণিমা। ব্রহ্মা-আদি এ তিথির করে আরাধনা॥ ২৭৩ পরম পবিত্র তিথি মুক্তি-স্বরূপিণী। যহি অবতীর্ণ হইলেন দ্বিজমণি॥ ২৭৪

Translation. Hearing the account of their son, Jagannātha Miśra, overwhelmed with joy, wished to give the brāhmaṇa some gift; but there was nothing to give — he was very poor — yet even so, in his joy, Miśracandra clasped the brāhmaṇa's feet and wept. That same brāhmaṇa wept too, clasping Jagannātha's feet, and all the people around, in their joy, cried out "Hari! Hari!" All their kinsfolk, hearing of this divine horoscope, cried out "Victory! Victory!" and pronounced blessings of good fortune. At that very moment all the musicians arrived, and mṛdaṅga, śānāi, and flute resounded without limit. Goddess-wives and human wives could not be told apart; gods and men mingled together most naturally. The mother of the gods, taking rice and dūrvā-grass in her left hand, laughingly placed them on the Lord's head, saying "Long life to you!" — "Continue thus, manifest upon the earth for all time!" — and it was for this very reason that, even as she said "long life," laughter arose. Śacī Devī beheld all these wondrously beautiful women, yet no one could bring themselves to ask who they were. The goddesses took the dust of Śacī's feet; and Śacī, in her own joy, could not bring a single word to her lips. What joy arose in that house of Jagannātha — even the thousand-mouthed Ananta could not fully describe it in the Vedas! Not only in Śacī's house, but throughout all Nadīyā, the joy that arose cannot be told. In every town, at every crossroads, on every bank of the Gaṅgā, without cease, people raised the cry of "Hari! Hari!" On the night of the eclipse, the birth-festival was celebrated in joy, though no one knew its true meaning. Caitanya's birth-festival falls on the Phālgunī-pūrṇimā; Brahmā and the other gods worship this very tithi. It is a most sacred tithi, the very embodiment of liberation, on which the jewel of brāhmaṇas [the Lord] descended.

Explanation.

V.263. Sabya hāthe — with the left hand. Hāsi — laughing all the while. The wives of the gods, too, disguised as human women, came to bless the son of Śacī. Deva-mātā — Aditi. For "devamātā sabya" the variants "devanārī sakala" and "devamātā saba," and for "hāsi" the variant "āsi," are found.

V.266. The mother of the gods herself explains, at the time of the blessing, the reason for her laughter: "From age to age, since beginningless time, You have ever thus descended upon the earth. From this alone it is known that You are true in all three times — that Your existence spans from beginningless to endless time; yet, by worldly convention, we bless You thus [with long life] all the same" — and it is because of this that, in the very act of wishing Him long life, laughter arose.

V.267. Apūrva sundarī, etc. — Mother Śacī beheld these wondrously beautiful goddesses. For "śacīdevī" the variant "śacī āi" is found. Bārtā, etc. — that is, no one could bring themselves to ask who these wondrously beautiful women were.

V.269. Bedete anante — even the thousand-mouthed Anantadeva cannot describe it in the Vedas; or, neither the Veda nor Ananta can describe it. For the second half of this payar the variant "bede ananta se tāhā baṇibāre nāre" is found.

V.270. Na-kevala, etc. — not in Śacī's house alone, but throughout all Navadvīpa was there such supreme joy.

V.272–274. For "keho" the variant "sabe" is found. Marma nāhi jāne — no one knew that this son of Śacī was the Self-Manifest Lord. For "brahmā ādi" the variant "brahmādio," for "mukti-svarūpiṇī" the variant "bhakti-svarūpiṇī," and for "haila" the variant "śrī-rāja," are found; see payar 277 below.

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Payar text (verses 275–285).

নিত্যানন্দ জন্ম মাঘ-শুক্লা-ত্রয়োদশী। গৌরচন্দ্র-প্রকাশ ফাল্গুনী-পৌর্ণমাসী॥ ২৭৫ সর্ব-যাত্রা-মঙ্গল এই দুই পুণ্যতিথি। সর্ব-শুভ-লগ্ন অধিষ্ঠান হয় ইথি॥ ২৭৬ এতেকে এ দুই তিথি করিলে সেবন। কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি হয়, খণ্ডে অবিদ্যা-বন্ধন॥ ২৭৭ ঈশ্বরের জন্মতিথি যেহেন পবিত্র। বৈষ্ণবেরও সেইমত তিথির চরিত্র॥ ২৭৮ গৌরচন্দ্র-আবির্ভাব শুনে যেই জনে। কভু দুঃখ নাহি তার জন্মে বা মরণে॥ ২৭৯ শুনিলে চৈতন্যকথা ভক্তি-ফল ধরে। জন্মে জন্মে চৈতন্যের সঙ্গে অবতরে॥ ২৮০ আদিখণ্ড-কথা বড় শুনিতে সুন্দর। যহি অবতীর্ণ গৌরচন্দ্র মহেশ্বর॥ ২৮১ এ সব লীলার কভু নাহি পরিচ্ছেদ। 'আবির্ভাব' 'তিরোভাব' মাত্র কহে বেদ॥ ২৮২ চৈতন্যকথার আদি অন্ত নাহি দেখি। তাহান কৃপায়ে যে বোলান তাহা লেখি॥ ২৮৩ ভক্তসঙ্গে গৌরচন্দ্র-পদে নমস্কার। ইথে অপরাধ কিছু নহুক আমার॥ ২৮৪ শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য নিত্যানন্দ-চাঁদ জান। বৃন্দাবন দাস তছু পদযুগে গান॥ ২৮৫

(Here ends the payar-text of this chapter.) ইতি শ্রীচৈতন্যভাগবতে আদিখণ্ডে কোষ্ঠীগণনাদিবর্ণনং নাম দ্বিতীয়োহধ্যায়ঃ॥ ২॥

Translation. Nityānanda's birth falls on Māgha-śuklā-trayodaśī; Gaurachandra's manifestation, on Phālgunī-pūrṇamāsī. These two are the most sacred tithis, auspicious for every undertaking, the very seat of every auspicious moment. Hence, if one observes these two tithis, devotion to Kṛṣṇa arises, and the bondage of ignorance is broken. Just as the Lord's own birth-tithi is sacred, so too is the very nature of a Vaiṣṇava's birth-tithi. Whoever hears of Gaurachandra's appearance never suffers sorrow, whether in birth or in death; hearing the topics of Caitanya bears the fruit of devotion, and one takes birth, life after life, together with Caitanya. The topics of the Ādi-khaṇḍa are exceedingly sweet to hear, wherein Gaurachandra Maheśvara has descended. Of all these pastimes there is never any interruption — the Veda speaks only of "appearance" and "disappearance." I see no beginning or end to the topics of Caitanya; by His grace, whatever is made known to me, that alone I write down. Together with the devotees, I offer obeisance at the feet of Gaurachandra — may no offense at all be committed by me in this. Know Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Nityānanda-candra [to be my very life] — Vṛndāvana Dāsa sings at the pair of their feet.

Thus ends, in the Ādi-khaṇḍa of Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, the second chapter, named "The Description of the Casting of the Horoscope."

Explanation.

V.282. Āvirbhāva — becoming perceptible to people's eyes. Tirobhāva — passing beyond the range of people's eyes. All the pastimes — of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in His dark form and of Gaurakṛṣṇa alike — are eternal, existing always and everywhere; only, they are not always perceptible to people's eyes. Whenever and wherever He, out of grace, makes Himself and His pastime perceptible to people's eyes, that is called the "appearance" of Him and of His pastime; and whenever He withdraws Himself and His pastime beyond the range of people's eyes, that is called their "disappearance." His manifest pastime, too, is eternal — in one universe or another His manifest pastime is always going on. This very truth Śrīman Mahāprabhu declared to Śrīpāda Sanātana Gosvāmī: "In all scriptures Kṛṣṇa's pastimes are said to be eternal; [yet] I cannot understand how a pastime can be eternal. If I give an example, then people will understand — Kṛṣṇa's pastime is eternal, by the proof of the wheel of the luminaries. In the wheel of the luminaries the sun wanders by day and by night, crossing the seven islands and oceans, turning in due order. A day-and-night measures sixty daṇḍas, that is, three thousand six hundred palas; from sunrise, sixty palas mark the rise of one daṇḍa, and eight daṇḍas make one prahara. In the first, second, third, or fourth prahara it sets; when four praharas of night have passed, the sun rises again. Just so does the wheel of Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, across the fourteen manvantaras, encircle the whole expanse of the universe, turning in due order. For a hundred and twenty-five years Kṛṣṇa's manifest appearance lasts, even as He once sported in Vraja-pura. Like a firebrand whirled in a circle, that wheel of pastime turns, and all pastimes rise in due order in all the universes — birth, childhood, boyhood, youth, His manifestation, the slaying of Pūtanā and the rest, up to the Mauśala pastime — each has its place in this or that universe; hence the Āgamas and Purāṇas call it 'eternal pastime.' Goloka and Gokula-dhāma are all-pervading (vibhu), equal to Kṛṣṇa Himself; by Kṛṣṇa's will they transmigrate among the universes. Hence in Goloka there is eternal enjoyment, while in the universes His manifestation occurs in due order" (Cc. 2.20.319–331). When the sun, wandering in the wheel of the luminaries, comes overhead for the people of some place on earth, then for that place it is midday; but midday is not seen everywhere at the same time, and yet, in due course, it is seen everywhere — hence at any given moment the midday sun exists somewhere or other within the span of a day and a night. In just the same way, Śrī Kṛṣṇa's birth-pastime, the pastime of Pūtanā's slaying, and so on up to the pastime of disappearance — every one of these pastimes exists in some universe or other. When, in one universe, a given pastime disappears, at that very moment, in another universe, it appears. No pastime at all has either beginning or end. So too is it with the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya.

V.285. Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya nityānanda-cānda — Śrī Kṛṣṇa-caitanya-candra (the moon that is Śrī Caitanya) and Nityānanda-candra (the moon that is Nityānanda). "Cānda" or "candra" (moon) is used here with this significance: just as at the moon's rising the world's darkness is dispelled and the world is illumined by its cool rays, so too, at the appearance of Śrī Gaura-Nityānanda, the darkness of ignorance covering the people of the world is dispelled, and their hearts are illumined by the light of transcendental bliss. Jāna may bear two senses: one, "prāṇa" (life-breath); the other, "know, be it known to you." In the first sense the purport of the first half of the payar is: the author says, "O Śrī Kṛṣṇa-caitanya-candra! O Śrī Nityānanda-candra! You are as dear to me (or, in the wider sense, to the whole of the living world) as life itself." In the second sense, the purport is: "O Śrī Kṛṣṇa-caitanya-candra! O Śrī Nityānanda-candra! Graciously know this" — and what is to be known is told in the second half of the verse. Or else, both senses of "jāna" may be taken together, in which case the purport becomes: "O Śrī Kṛṣṇa-caitanya-candra! O Śrī Nityānanda-candra! You are as dear as life itself to me (or to the people of the world). Graciously know this — that your servant Vṛndāvana Dāsa sings at the pair of your feet." Tadu — "of you two"; a Prakritized form of the Sanskrit "tad." Pada-yuge — at the pair of feet, in the presence of the pair of feet — that is, before you. Gāna — sings, performs kīrtana, glorifies your qualities and greatness. From the very phrase "at the pair of your feet he sings" it is understood that this song or kīrtana is offered for their pleasure alone — otherwise the phrase "at the pair of feet [i.e., in their presence]" would have no real point. The purport of the whole payar is thus: "O Śrī Kṛṣṇa-caitanya-candra! O Śrī Nityānanda-candra! At your very appearance the darkness of ignorance covering the world has been dispelled, and the hearts of the people of the world have been illumined by the brilliant light of transcendental bliss. You are as dear as life itself to me (or to the people of the world). Graciously take note of this — that your servant Vṛndāvana Dāsa, remaining present before the pair of your feet (in his inwardly-absorbed body), sings your glory and greatness." To remain present — in one's inwardly-absorbed body — directly before the Lord's feet, and, for His pleasure, to engage in hearing, chanting, and the other of the nine processes of devotion, is indeed the very way of the sādhaka on the path of pure devotion: "Hearing, chanting, remembering, serving the feet, worshiping, offering prayers, servitude, friendship, and surrender of the self — if this ninefold devotion unto Viṣṇu is offered to the Lord, that indeed is deemed the highest learning" (Bhāg. 7.5.23–24) — this is the very purport of these two ślokas as well.

ইতি আদিখণ্ডে দ্বিতীয় অধ্যায়ের নিতাই-করুণা-কল্লোলিনী টীকা সমাপ্ত

Thus concludes the Nitāi-karuṇā-kallolinī commentary on the second chapter of the Ādi-khaṇḍa.