Chapter 10: The Wedding of Viṣṇupriyā

জয় জয় মহাপ্রভু শ্রীগৌরসুন্দর। জয় নিত্যানন্দ-প্রিয় নিত্য-কলেবর॥ ১॥ জয় শ্রীপরমানন্দপুরীর প্রাণধন। জয় জয় সর্ববৈষ্ণবের ধন প্রাণ॥ ২॥ জয় জয় শ্রীপ্রদ্যুম্নমিশ্রের জীবন। কৃপাদৃষ্ট্যে কর' প্রভু সর্বজীবে ত্রাণ॥ ৩॥

Translation. All glory, all glory to Mahāprabhu Śrī Gaurasundara! All glory to Him who is dear to Nityānanda and whose body is eternal! All glory to Him who is the very life-breath of Śrī Paramānanda Purī! All glory, all glory to Him who is the wealth and the very life of all Vaiṣṇavas! All glory, all glory to Him who is the life of Śrī Pradyumna Miśra! With Your glance of mercy, O Lord, grant deliverance to every living being!

Explanation. Nityānanda-priya — "he to whom Nityānanda is dear," or "he who is dear to Nityānanda," or both together: he to whom Nityānanda is dear and to whom Nityānanda Himself holds him dear — such a one is called Nityānanda-priya; this is an epithet of Śrī Gaurasundara. Nitya-kalevara — "he whose body (kalevara) is eternal (nitya)," and therefore not material but transcendental, of the nature of sac-cid-ānanda, true in all three times; every form of Godhead as such possesses an eternal body, never a body born of the material elements.

Śrī Pradyumna Miśra was a householder brāhmaṇa devotee residing at Nīlācala. After the Lord's sannyāsa, while He was residing at Nīlācala (Purī), this Pradyumna Miśra once came to Him wishing to hear discourse on Kṛṣṇa; at his request the Lord sent him on to Rāya Rāmānanda. On hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā from Rāya Rāmānanda's own mouth, he became so overwhelmed with bliss that he lost all outward awareness of himself — such was the degree to which his very life was steeped in devotion to Gaura. (See the detailed account in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, Chapter 5.) Śrī Paramānanda Purī was a disciple of Śrīpāda Mādhavendra Purī, and he too resided near the Lord at Nīlācala; the Lord regarded him with the disposition due a guru, and would never utter his name directly, referring to him, when necessary, only as "Purī Gosvāmī." Prāṇa-dhana — the Lord was as dear as life itself to Śrīpāda Paramānanda Purī. (A variant reading has "mahāpātra" — "an object of the utmost affection" — in place of "prāṇa.")

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The Lord's hospitality toward guests; Lakṣmīpriyā Devī's cooking for the guests, and her daily religious observances; Mother Śacī's vision of the Lord's [and Lakṣmī's] divine opulence; the Lord's journey to Bengal; His water-sport on the Padmā in East Bengal; His reception among the learned circles of East Bengal, and His teaching of many scholars there; the Śrī Caitanya-saṅkīrtana still current in East Bengal to this day as a result of the Lord's sojourn there, and the account of devotee-incarnations [born in that region]; the Lord's playful mastery in teaching; the death of Lakṣmīpriyā Devī at Navadvīpa during the Lord's stay in East Bengal; on learning of the Lord's wish to return to Navadvīpa, the gifts presented to Him by His disciples there, and the preparation of many students from East Bengal to accompany Him to Navadvīpa for study; the story of Tapana Miśra — his inability to ascertain the truth of the goal (sādhya) and the means (sādhana), his resulting distress, the instruction given him in a dream by an embodied deity concerning the Lord's true nature and advising him to approach the Lord, Tapana Miśra's taking refuge at the Lord's feet, the Lord's exposition of sādhya and sādhana and His instruction in nāma-saṅkīrtana; Miśra's wish to accompany the Lord to Navadvīpa, the Lord's refusal, and His instruction that Miśra go instead to Vārāṇasī; the Lord's return to His own home; the Lord's grief on hearing of His wife's death, borne outwardly according to worldly custom, and His consoling of His grief-stricken mother; the resumption of teaching at Mukunda Sañjaya's Caṇḍī-maṇḍapa; the Lord's religious instruction to His disciples, and His teaching on the necessity of brahmins wearing tilaka; His mimicking of the Śrīhaṭṭa dialect in playful mockery of the Śrīhaṭṭīyas resident in Navadvīpa, and their resulting anger; His daily activities, and a further display of scholarly wit; His caution regarding women; and the Lord's second marriage, to Viṣṇupriyā Devī.

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V.4. Ādi-khaṇḍa-kathā, bhāi, śuna eka-mane — "Listen, O brother, with rapt attention, to this account from the Ādi-khaṇḍa: how Kṛṣṇa sported in the guise of a brāhmaṇa [teacher]."

V.5–9. In this way the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, at every moment, sported in the mellow of scholarship (vidyā-rasa) together with His students, in town after town throughout all Navadvīpa. Everywhere the word resounded: "Nimāi Paṇḍita is the crest-jewel of teachers!" Great and celebrated scholars, on encountering Him, would descend from their palanquins and offer Him obeisance in manifold ways; the very sight of the Lord inspired awe in all, and there was no one anywhere in Navadvīpa who did not come under His sway.

V.10–18. Whatever works of religion the people of Navadvīpa performed, the Lord ceaselessly rewarded the distressed among them; seeing anyone in distress He felt boundless compassion, and Gaura-Hari would give them food, cloth, and money. Guests came without cease to the Lord's house, and He gave to each whatever was fitting. Some days ten or twenty sannyāsīs would arrive together, and the Lord, filled with joy, would invite them all to take their meal there; at once He would send word to His mother to prepare, without delay, a meal for twenty sannyāsīs. Finding nothing ready at home, mother Śacī would worry to herself: "How can I possibly feed twenty sannyāsīs?" — yet even as she worried, someone unknown, she could never say who, would that very instant bring and deliver every needed provision to the door. Then Lakṣmī Devī, with the greatest delight, would go and prepare a special meal, and the Lord would then come and take His seat [to receive the guests] — He would unfailingly see that food and cloth were sent to His house for them.

Explanation. Paramavyayī — one whose very nature is unstinting, open-handed giving; in whom no trace of miserliness whatever is found. Īśvara-vyavahāra — this is simply "the way of the Lord": the Lord is never miserly, He is by His very nature supremely generous. (A variant reading gives "svabhāva," "nature," in place of "vyavahāra," "way, conduct.") Kaparddaka — cowrie-shells, i.e., small coin, money.

Bhikṣā means both a sannyāsī's food and the act of eating itself. Jhāṭa means "quickly." Sambhāra means the ingredients for cooking — rice and the rest. Lakṣmī Devī is Lakṣmīpriyā Devī, the Lord's own wife and the mistress of His household (a variant reading gives "aśeṣa," "without remainder/in full," in place of "viśeṣa," "specially," describing how she cooked).

V.19. The Lord Himself would sit and personally see to the sannyāsīs, and, having satisfied them with their meal, would send them off.

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V.20. In just this way, whatever guests came to Him, the compassionate Lord would inquire of each — asking what each one lacked, what each one needed, how each one fared — and show them every honor. (A variant reading has "mahāśaya," "great and worthy one," in place of "kṛpāmaẏa," "the compassionate one.")

V.21–25. Mahāprabhu taught householders their true religious duty: "Service to the guest is the householder's foremost duty. If, being a householder, one fails to honor the guest, one must be reckoned lower even than beasts and birds. But if, through some fault arising from one's own past deeds (pūrvādṛṣṭa-doṣa), one has nothing to offer, let him still give the guest, with good cheer, grass [for a seat or bed], water, and a place to rest."

In support of this a verse is quoted from the Manu-saṃhitā:

তৃণানি ভূমিরুদকং বাক্‌ চতুর্থী চ সুনৃতা। এতান্যপি সতাং গেহে নোচ্ছিদ্যন্তে কদাচন॥ ১॥

Translation. In the home of the virtuous, these things are never wanting: grass [for a seat or bed], a resting-place, water [for washing the feet or for drinking], and, fourth, sweet and truthful speech.

Explanation. Even one unable, through poverty born of past karma, to offer food should first humbly acknowledge his own incapacity, thereby removing the fault of failing to feed the guest, and offer instead only truthful, kindly words. Even so, his house does not become "empty of guests" — that is, hospitality is nonetheless accomplished, guest-service does occur (a variant reading gives "siddhatā," "accomplishment," for "śūnya nā," "not empty"). Whatever service one renders sincerely (akaitava), with a joyful heart, to the extent of one's own capacity — that alone is called true devotion to the guest (atithira bhakti).

V.26–29. The Lord, though Himself the Supreme Controller, would inquire after His guests with the utmost reverence, as though inquiring after the Lord Himself. Those beggars who ate the food given by Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa [i.e., by Gaurasundara, the original Nārāyaṇa, and His consort-potency Lakṣmīpriyā] were exceedingly fortunate. "He on whose very food Brahmā and the other gods hope, at every moment, to partake — how astonishing that just anyone at all may freely eat that food!" Some, in speaking of this, offered a different opinion — set out from here through payar 36.

Explanation. Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇe — the original Nārāyaṇa, Śrī Gaura Himself, together with His own consort-potency, Śrī Lakṣmīpriyā Devī. Ye-te-jana — anyone at all, without discrimination (a variant reading gives "ye-ye," "whoever," for "ye-te"). Ithi-madhye — "in this connection," regarding the Lord's hospitality. Kahe anya kathā — "speaks otherwise": what this different view held is related from the second half of this very payar through payar 36.

V.30–32. One party held: "Brahmā, Śiva, Śuka, Vyāsa, Nārada, and the rest of the gods and siddhas, who wander freely at will, knowing that Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa have descended into Navadvīpa, come to the Lord's house in the guise of beggars or guests. What power or fitness could anyone else possibly have, either to go to such a place or to partake of that food? Without Brahmā and beings like him, who else could obtain that food?"

V.33–36. Another party held otherwise: "Those who come as guests to the Lord's house are not gods like Brahmā — for Brahmā and the other gods are, in every respect, His own eternal associates, as inseparable from Him as a body's own limbs from the body; having no need whatever to come disguised as beggars for any purpose of their own. The Lord has this time descended with the very vow of giving, without discrimination, even that which is difficult to attain even for Brahmā, to every living being. Hence, for the deliverance of those in the sorrow of material existence, the Lord Himself gives food with His own hand to all who come to His house; and by partaking of it they attain deliverance, they attain fulfillment." According to this second view, then, those who come as guests to the Lord's house are not gods like Brahmā, but ordinary conditioned souls (a variant reading gives "sarvadā," "always," for "sarvathā," "in every respect").

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V.37–44. Lakṣmī Devī, entirely alone, without anyone's help, would cook [for the guests], and yet her heart was filled with the utmost contentment — the purport being that she cooked for the guests with the greatest love, feeling not the slightest hardship even performing all the work single-handedly. Seeing Lakṣmī's character, the fortunate Śacī felt her own joy grow, moment by moment, all the greater. From the break of dawn Lakṣmī performed every household duty: in the family shrine she would eagerly trace out the auspicious svastika-maṇḍala designs and draw the conch and disc [of Viṣṇu]; she prepared scent, flowers, incense, lamp, and scented water, arranging every article for the Lord's worship; she ceaselessly tended the tulasī plant, and her heart was given over even more to the service of [her mother-in-law] Śacī than to anything else. Seeing Lakṣmī's conduct, Śrī Gaurasundara would say nothing aloud, but His heart was filled with deep satisfaction.

Explanation. Deva-gṛhe — in the household shrine at mother Śacī's house. Svastika-maṇḍalī — the drawing of the maṇḍala, that is, the plastering and painting of the design, in the shrine, for the worship of Viṣṇu. A svastika is made by dividing the four corners of a square into sixteen parts and coloring them with powders of white, yellow, red, and black. Five colors of powder must be prepared for the maṇḍala: white from rice or barley flour; red from kuṅkuma, vermilion, or red ochre; yellow from haritāla or turmeric; black from scorched yellow barley; and a further shade from mixing scorched yellow barley with yellow (see Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta 4.19).

V.44–47. One day, seated continually at the Lord's feet with Lakṣmī, mother Śacī beheld there an astonishing sight: a great effulgent mass of flame, like a blazing fire. Some days mother Śacī would find, everywhere in the house, at every door, a wondrous fragrance of lotus, without end.

Explanation. By the power of the Lord's own pastime-potency, Śacī Mātā here beheld, in Lakṣmīpriyā Devī herself, seated at the Lord's feet, the manifest splendor of her own essential transcendental nature, comparable to the flame of a great effulgent fire. (See the commentary on payar 749 of Chapter 1.) This wondrous lotus-fragrance is likewise Lakṣmīpriyā's own essential transcendental glory; Śacī Mātā perceived that fragrance continually, without interruption. In this way Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa dwelt in Navadvīpa, hidden, known to no one.

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V.48–56. After some days, the ever-willing Lord desired to see Baṅga-deśa. The Lord then called His mother and told her, "Mother, I shall be away from home for some days." To Lakṣmī He said, "Continue, without fail, to serve mother." Then, taking with Him a number of His own close disciples, the Lord set out for Bengal, filled with joy. Whoever saw the Lord going could not withdraw their eyes from Him; women, on seeing Him, would say: "Blessed is the birth of the woman who bore such a son as this — obeisance at his feet! And how fortunate that woman who, by great merit, obtained such a husband — she indeed has made her birth as a woman fruitful!" In just this way, whatever men and women He passed on the road, the Lord would again and again, out of His own delight, engage kindly with them all. Even the Vedas long to behold Him whom ordinary people behold with ease, by His own mercy alone.

Explanation. Here "Baṅga-deśa" means specifically East Bengal (Pūrva-Baṅga) — for Navadvīpa, too, lies within Baṅga-deśa, in its western part, while the places the Lord visited lay in the eastern part; hence it is East Bengal that the Lord went to see. (A variant reading gives "bāṇī," "word," for "āni," "having called/summoned.") "Prabāsa" means residing away from one's own home.

Tāṅra kṛpā haite — "by His mercy": the Lord is a self-manifest reality; out of mercy, when He wishes to grant someone His darśana, He reveals Himself to that person. Otherwise, though He is eternally present everywhere, no one at all can perceive Him — it is only by His own power of mercy that He is ever seen. As it is said: "The unmanifest Bhagavān reveals Himself by His own potency; without that, who could behold the imperishable, transcendent Lord?" (Nārāyaṇa-adhyātma-vacana). When He manifests that power of mercy universally, everyone can see Him — this is His prākaṭya, His manifestation or advent in the universe. But though all may see Him, not all thereby come to know His true essential nature: "I am never manifest to all, veiled as I am by yoga-māyā; this deluded world does not know Me, the unborn, the imperishable" (Gītā 7.25). For this reason some, though beholding the self-manifest Lord in human form, take Him merely for an ordinary man: "Fools deride Me when I descend in a human form, not knowing My higher nature as the great Lord of all beings" (Gītā 9.11).

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V.57–65. In this way Śrī Gaurasundara, proceeding by easy stages, after some days arrived at the bank of the river Padmāvatī. The waves of the Padmāvatī were exceedingly beautiful, her sandy banks and woodland lovely, her waters abundant. Seeing the Padmāvatī, the Lord, in great delight and curiosity, took repeated dips in her waters. From that very day the fortunate Padmāvatī became worthy to purify the whole world. The Padmāvatī is exceedingly beautiful to behold, her trees and sandy banks utterly enchanting. Seeing her, the Lord felt supreme delight, and by her great good fortune remained there for a time (a variant reading gives "karilena sthāna," "made [that place His] abode," for "rahilena tāna"); He sported in her waters exactly as He once sported in the waters of the Gaṅgā, together with His disciples, in the greatest delight — and so the Padmāvatī attained that self-same fortune the Gaṅgā had known; the Lord sported in her waters every day. Thus did Mahāprabhu enter Bengal, and to this day Bengal remains blessed by that very fortune.

Explanation. Padmāvatī is a celebrated river of East Bengal, commonly known simply as the Padmā.

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V.66–74. Gauracandra remained on the bank of the Padmāvatī; hearing of it, all the people rejoiced greatly. On every side the word resounded: "Nimāi Paṇḍita, the crest-jewel of teachers, has arrived!" All the fortunate brāhmaṇas came at once, gift-offerings in hand; all came and, bowing before the Lord, began to speak, with every humility: "It is by the rising of our own great fortune that Your Lordship's visitation has come to this land! With wealth and means, together with our whole families, we shall go to Navadvīpa, to whomever's house — [namely, yours] — to study! Such a treasure the Lord Himself has, without any effort on our part, brought and set down at our very door! You are Bṛhaspati [the gods' own preceptor] incarnate in bodily form; there is no teacher anywhere your equal — indeed, the very comparison to Bṛhaspati is not worthy of you; we hold you to be nothing less than a very portion of the Lord Himself!"

Explanation. Upāyana means a gift or offering. Vijaya means an honored arrival, a visitation. (A variant reading gives "artha-vṛtti," "wealth and livelihood," for "artha-vitta," "wealth and means" — meaning the resources needed for one's subsistence.) Some among these people also took Him for an ordinary, gifted human being: "Fools deride Me when I descend in a human form, not knowing My higher nature as the great Lord of all beings" (Gītā 9.11).

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V.75–78. "Otherwise, without being the Lord Himself, such scholarship could never belong to anyone else — such is the sentiment that has risen in our hearts. We make one submission to you: bestow upon us all some gift of learning. Even in your absence, O jewel among brahmins, we all take up your grammatical commentary (ṭippanī), study it ourselves, and teach it to our own students — hear this! Now also accept us directly as your disciples, that your fame may abide throughout the whole world."

Explanation. Laye citta-vṛtta — "such a disposition has arisen in our minds" (a variant reads "hena" for "laye"): the sense being that this very thought of ours — that your coming to our land is for our own good — could arise from no one but the Lord Himself. From an earlier statement (payar 1.6.73, "the Lord Himself made a gloss upon the sūtras") it is known that the Lord had written a commentary on grammar. The scholars near the Padmā, having studied under Him and then returned home, would collect that very commentary — whether from the Lord's own disciples or by some other means — and both study it themselves and teach it to their own students; this shows that those who had come to the Lord were themselves already teachers in their own right. On the word "even" in "accept us directly as your disciples": when we study your commentary and gain knowledge from it, we are, in a sense, already your disciples — but that discipleship was gained without ever meeting you; now, by teaching us directly yourself, make us your disciples face to face as well.

V.79–80. The Lord, smiling, reassured them all, and for some days sported and taught in Bengal. By that very fortune, to this day, throughout all of Bengal, men and women alike perform Śrī Caitanya-saṅkīrtana. (See the discussion at payar 141 below on women, too, performing Caitanya-saṅkīrtana.)

V.81–90. Yet here and there, a few sinful men, passing themselves off [as incarnations of God], ruin the simple-hearted. Some call themselves "Raghunātha" — that is, Raghupati Śrī Rāmacandra — declaring, "I myself am Raghupati Śrī Rāmacandra." Certain sinners, abandoning kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana, have themselves glorified instead — how many such ghost-like wretches are there! One whom we see subject, every day, to the three states [waking, dream, and deep sleep] — with what shame does that wretch have himself glorified as God! In Rāḍha-deśa there is yet another great brahma-daitya — within, a rākṣasa, though outwardly he wears only the borrowed glass of a brāhmaṇa. That sinner calls himself "Gopāla"; therefore everyone calls him "jackal" instead. Whatever wretch calls anyone other than Śrī Caitanyacandra "the Lord" is more pitiable still. Raising both arms, I declare this as truth: "Śrī Caitanya Hari is the Lord of unlimited universes!" By mere remembrance of His name all bondage is destroyed; even by remembrance of His servant, one gains victory in every matter. Behold — His fame is sung throughout every world; abandon the wrong path, and worship the feet of such a Lord!

Explanation. From this payar 81 through payar 86 the author speaks of "false incarnations" (nakala avatāra). Persons averse to spiritual truth, wholly selfish, given over to sense-pleasure, and sinful, dress themselves up as fake incarnations for their own self-interest and deceive simple-minded people; a fuller discussion may be found in Madhya-khaṇḍa, Chapter 14. Bhūtagaṇa means persons of wicked character, like evil spirits (a variant reading, "baliyā nārāyaṇa," has some proclaiming themselves "Nārāyaṇa" instead, and inducing simple-hearted people, having made them abandon kṛṣṇa-kīrtana, to sing the glories of their own qualities). The three states are waking, dream, and deep sleep: whoever's body is formed of material elements, or whose mind is attached to material things, must necessarily be subject to these three states; but the Lord is beyond material nature, and hence beyond these states as well — He is the fourth, transcendent reality (per Advaita-prakāśa). The conditioned soul's body is made of the five elements, is illusory; under māyā's sway he has hunger, thirst, and sleep — this is directly observable. Such a being — with what shame does he proclaim himself God, promoting his own glorification in place of kṛṣṇa-kīrtana? He ought indeed to feel shame, for śruti declares the Lord ever-fulfilled and complete, wholly beyond hunger or thirst, untouched even by māyā. Do those learned in scripture, hearing of such false incarnations, never once consider that the scriptures themselves expose their true nature? "Rāḍhe" refers to Rāḍha-deśa (see the commentary on payar 1.234). "Vipra-kāca mātra kāce" means he wears only the outward semblance of a brāhmaṇa, not a true one; within his heart is the disposition of a man-destroying rākṣasa. Yāṅra dāsa-smaraṇeo means "even by remembrance of His devotee" (a variant reads "sarva-siddha haya," "all perfection is attained," for "sarvatra vijaya," "victory everywhere").

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V.91–97. In this way Śrī Vaikuṇṭhanātha Gauracandra sported in the mellow of learning throughout Bengal. The Lord created a great assembly of the highest scholarship there; seeing the Padmāvatī, the Lord became lost in delight. Thousands upon thousands of disciples arose in that place; one could not even tell who was studying where. Hearing of this, all the people of Bengal came running to study at Nimāi Paṇḍita's feet. With such a merciful glance did the Lord expound the scriptures that within two months all became learned. Hundreds upon hundreds, having attained their degree, would return home, while yet more, hearing of it, would come. In this way the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha made His abode for a time in Bengal, absorbed in the very mellow of learning.

Explanation. Mahā-vidyā-goṣṭhī means a society of the greatest scholars — Mahāprabhu made many people in Bengal proficient in many branches of learning (a variant reading merely reorders the words, to the same sense).

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V.98–103. Meanwhile, at Navadvīpa, Lakṣmī, in separation from the Lord, was inwardly grieving, yet spoke of it to no one. She continued without cease her service to mother Śacī, but since the Lord's departure had taken no food. In name only did she take a mouthful; inwardly she was greatly grieved by separation from the Lord. All alone she would weep the whole night through; Lakṣmī found no peace of mind, not for a single moment. Unable to bear separation from the Lord, she resolved to go to His presence — and, leaving behind on earth a body in her own exact likeness, she departed for the Lord's side, utterly unseen by anyone.

Explanation. Just as our bodies are material things composed of the seven bodily constituents — skin, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, and semen — the body of the Lord or of His pastime-associates is not of that kind; it is transcendental. When the Lord or His associates enact human-like pastimes, His pastime-accomplishing potency, Yogamāyā, for the sake of nourishing those very pastimes, causes various human-like occurrences — birth, death, and the rest — to appear within their transcendental bodies.

Śrī Lakṣmī Devī is the Lord's own supreme potency; her body, too, is therefore transcendental, having properly no place within the realm of material nature. And yet, when the time comes for her to disappear from view, the human-like pastime cannot be brought to its full completion unless she leaves a body behind — hence she had to leave one body on earth. It is with reference to that very body that the author speaks of "her own replica-body" (pratikṛti-deha) left "on the earth": that is, the body Śrī Lakṣmī Devī left behind was not, strictly speaking, her actual body, but only a replica or facsimile of her transcendental body — just as a painted portrait, or a lifelike image made of clay, stone, or metal, is called a person's pratikṛti, likeness. Lakṣmīpriyā Devī, too, left behind such a replica-body on earth and herself disappeared.

It has already been explained (in the commentary on Chapter 1, on the śloka at 1.12) that the Self-manifest Lord, in His human-like pastimes, descends into the universe in His own beginninglessly-perfected sac-cid-ānanda body; and that when He so descends, He likewise causes His own eternally-perfected associates to descend, in due time, in their own beginninglessly-perfected transcendental bodies, on the pretext of a birth-pastime. But when the Lord Himself disappears from the universe, He leaves behind no such replica — He departs bodily, wholly beyond the sight of the world. His eternally-perfected associates, however, though they too disappear in their actual bodies, do leave behind a replica-body of this kind: when Śrī Kṛṣṇa caused His own eternally-perfected Yadu-associates to disappear, He left behind their replica-bodies, and it is these very replica-bodies that were destroyed in the Mauṣala pastime, as is known from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. It is Yogamāyā, the pastime-assisting potency, who fashions such replica-bodies.

Lakṣmīpriyā Devī, too, being Śrī Gaurasundara's own eternally-perfected associate, has a body that is likewise transcendental and spiritual, not composed of the five material elements. When she desired to go to Gaura's presence, she went to Him in her own eternally-perfected, transcendental body, invisible to all others, while Yogamāyā fashioned a replica-body of her and left it behind at Navadvīpa. (Variant readings give "prakṛti" and "prākṛta" in place of "pratikṛti"; on those readings the phrase would mean that, in the estimation of ordinary people, that body was simply a material one — for, as the author has already noted, even Śrī Gaura's own essential nature was, by His own māyā, unknown to anyone at that time, and so no one knew that Lakṣmīpriyā was in truth Gaura's eternally-perfected associate rather than an ordinary conditioned soul; people took her for an ordinary embodied soul, and so took even the replica-body fashioned by Yogamāyā for an ordinary material one. Had she left no such "replica-body" behind after her disappearance, no one, in the ordinary way, could even have learned of her passing — people would simply have thought she had gone away somewhere; it was for this very reason that the pastime-potency Yogamāyā fashioned and left behind this replica-body.) Ati-alakṣite means "in utmost secrecy" — no one at all came to know that she had gone to Gaura's side.

V.104–107. Holding the Lord's lotus feet within her heart, in meditation, the Devī departed on the bank of the Gaṅgā. Here I cannot describe mother Śacī's grief — even wood would melt on hearing that mother's lamentation. I cannot convey the full flavor of that sorrow; therefore I have told only a little, in condensed form. The devotees, hearing of it, were greatly grieved; they all came and performed the proper rites.

Explanation. Seated on the bank of the Gaṅgā, meditating on the Lord's lotus feet, she attained disappearance; "karilā vijaya" means she departed into the Lord's presence. Sūtramate means in extremely condensed form, like the sūtras of grammar.

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V.108–114. After the Lord had remained some days in Bengal, He formed the wish to return to His own home [at Navadvīpa]. Hearing that the Lord would soon return home, everyone brought and gave gifts according to their means — gold, silver, water-vessels, splendid seats, finely-dyed blankets, and garments of many kinds. Whatever fine things each one had in his house, all brought and gave to the Lord with great joy; and the Lord, casting His merciful glance upon them all, Gaurāṅga Śrī Hari accepted their gifts. Taking joyful leave of them all, Śrī Gaurāṅga Rāya set out for His own home; and many students, together with the Lord, set out for the Lord's own place, to study there [at Navadvīpa].

Explanation. Many students from Bengal made preparations to accompany the Lord to Navadvīpa for study at His side.

[Editorial note, in the manner of Chapter 1's citation of Atulakṛṣṇa Gosvāmī: In this edition we have everywhere adopted the text of Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata as edited by Prabhupāda Śrīla Atulakṛṣṇa Gosvāmī Mahāśaya, but here a small departure has been made. He did not include payars 115–149 following this payar 114, together with the ślokas among them, in his main text, but relegated them to a footnote, explaining that they are found only in the printed books, with no trace of them in the one manuscript he consulted. In this edition we have restored these payars and ślokas to the main text, for the following reasons. First, they must certainly have existed in some manuscript, or they could never have entered the printed books at all — that manuscript may simply not have come to Prabhupāda's notice. Second, on the text as Prabhupāda left it, no account of Tapana Miśra remains anywhere in Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata at all, though the story of Tapana Miśra is extremely well known; Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, too, relates in his Caitanya-caritāmṛta an account matching these very footnoted payars in detail, and states that it was by the Lord's own order that Tapana Miśra went to Kāśī, and that the Lord, after His sannyāsa, always took His meals at Tapana Miśra's house when in Kāśī — a very well-known fact. Kavirāja Gosvāmī must have seen an account of Tapana Miśra in some manuscript, or had it from a reliable source: when the Lord, returning from Vṛndāvana, stayed in Kāśī, Śrīpāda Sanātana Gosvāmī too was there and took his meals at Tapana Miśra's house; Śrīpāda Rūpa Gosvāmī likewise stayed some days in Kāśī on his way to Nīlācala and met and conversed with Tapana Miśra. Both Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Sanātana would certainly have known the story of the Lord's mercy upon Tapana Miśra, and Kavirāja Gosvāmī would have heard it from them — all the more so since Tapana Miśra's own son, Śrīla Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, was one of Kavirāja Gosvāmī's instructing gurus. Without accepting the authenticity of these footnoted payars, there seems no way to reconcile them with the Caitanya-caritāmṛta's own narrative. For these reasons we have included them within the main body of the text.]

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V.115–124. At this time [while the Lord was preparing to return to Navadvīpa] there was a pious brāhmaṇa, one whose very nature it was to grasp the essential truth of every matter, named Tapana Miśra. He was unable to ascertain the truth of the goal (sādhya) and the means (sādhana), nor was there anyone near him qualified enough to ask about it. Day and night he ceaselessly repeated only his own iṣṭa-mantra, yet, lacking certainty in the proper limbs of spiritual practice, his heart found no peace. Thus pondering and reflecting, one day, at the close of night, the brāhmaṇa, by his own good fortune, had an auspicious dream: an embodied deity appeared before him and told the brāhmaṇa a secret account. "Listen, listen, O most steady and wise brāhmaṇa! Trouble yourself no further — set your mind at ease. Go to Nimāi Paṇḍita; he will tell you the truth of the goal and the means. He is no ordinary man — he is Nara-Nārāyaṇa; his pastime in human form is for the good of the whole world. These matters are secret even from the Vedas — do not tell them to anyone; if you do, you will suffer for many lifetimes to come." Then the deity vanished, and the brāhmaṇa awoke; having seen this auspicious dream, the brāhmaṇa began to weep.

Explanation. Tapana Miśra pondered continually the real, ultimate goal (sādhya-vastu) of the soul and its means, without being able to determine either. Su-svapna means an especially auspicious dream — the dream, longed for, concerning the truth of sādhya and sādhana; the following payars relate its content. Deva mūrtimān, "an embodied deity": was it the indwelling Lord Himself, ever compassionate to His devotees and the wish-fulfilling tree of their desires — or was it His own pastime-potency — that assumed the form of a deity and granted Tapana Miśra this vision? Gupta caritra-ākhyāna, "a secret account of [His own] character": it is called "secret" because the Lord had not yet revealed Himself, and His nature as the Lord's own pastime was as yet unknown to the world. In this payar the deity revealed to Tapana Miśra the true nature of Nimāi Paṇḍita: Nimāi Paṇḍita is not a mere man (a jīva), but Nara-Nārāyaṇa — that is, Nārāyaṇa in human form, the original Nārāyaṇa, none other than Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. (Here "Nārāyaṇa" does not mean the four-armed Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, for He is not embodied in human [two-armed] form, nor is there any evidence that the four-armed Vaikuṇṭheśvara Nārāyaṇa ever appears in the universe in a two-armed human form.) Nara-rūpe līlā means His human-like pastime: "Whatever sports Kṛṣṇa performs, His human-like pastime is the very best of all — the human form is Kṛṣṇa's own essential form" (Caitanya-caritāmṛta 2.21.83). One might ask: if Śrī Kṛṣṇa's essential form is that of a two-armed human, He is nonetheless dark or blackish (śyāma) in complexion — yet Nimāi Paṇḍita is not dark-complexioned, but fair, golden-hued; how then can Nimāi Paṇḍita be the very same original Nārāyaṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa? The answer is this: in certain Kali-yugas, Vrajendra-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself descends into the universe in a golden complexion — as declared in the Bhāgavata verse beginning "kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam" (see the commentary on Bhāgavata 1.2.5–6 [i.e., Chapter 1 of this work]). Jagata-kāraṇa means "for the good of the world's inhabitants" — that is, His human pastime is manifested for their welfare.

Brāhmaṇa jāgilā, "the brāhmaṇa awoke": Tapana Miśra rose from sleep. Vipra kāndite lāgilā, "the brāhmaṇa began to weep": by great good fortune he had this auspicious dream. That Nimāi Paṇḍita was, in essential nature, none other than Svayam Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, and not merely a soul — this the fortunate Tapana Miśra had come to feel in the very depths of his heart; hence he wept in supreme bliss, shedding tears of joy. Such a realization, whether in a dream or even in the direct vision of the Lord in His manifest pastimes, cannot arise in anyone except by the Lord's own mercy. Tapana Miśra had obtained precisely that mercy. It seems that Mahāprabhu Himself, in the form of the embodied deity, granted him this mercy through the dream. On waking, Tapana Miśra, without a moment's delay, set out at once for the Lord's presence, meditating on His feet as he went.

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V.125–133. At that very moment he set out, meditating [on the Lord]; and, filled with wonder at his own good fortune, upon regaining his senses he found himself where Śrī Gaurasundara sat, most enchanting, surrounded by His disciples. Coming before the Lord, the brāhmaṇa fell at His feet, then rose and stood with folded hands before the whole assembly. The brāhmaṇa said: "I am the most wretched and lowly of men; cast Your merciful glance upon me and free me from material bondage. I know nothing at all of the truth of the goal and the means; have mercy and tell me this yourself. I find no pleasure in sense-enjoyment of any kind; tell me, O compassionate one, by what means my soul may find peace." The Lord said: "O brāhmaṇa, what can be said of your great fortune! That you wish to worship Kṛṣṇa is itself everything. Worship of the Lord is exceedingly difficult to attain and boundless; [yet] He has established and proclaimed the dharma of the age."

Explanation. Yathā means "where" [the Lord was seated]. Yoḍa-haste dāṇḍāila, "stood with folded hands": having fallen at the Lord's feet in obeisance, Tapana Miśra rose and stood, with folded hands, directly before the Lord, in full view of all His disciples — feeling not the least shame or hesitation at standing there before them, for the Lord's mercy had entirely dissolved every trace of his false ego. Payars 128–130 are Tapana Miśra's own humble submission at the Lord's feet; payars 131–141 relate the Lord's merciful instruction to him. Sarvathā means "in every way — by body, mind, and speech, through every sense." No one develops, by his own effort, the wish or inclination to worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa; such an inclination can arise only through the Lord's mercy, or a devotee's mercy, or the mercy of devotion itself — never otherwise. To receive such mercy is itself the highest good fortune. The Lord told Tapana Miśra: "Brāhmaṇa, that you have, in every way, developed the wish to worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is itself your supreme good fortune — a fortune beyond all telling."

Īśvara-bhajana, "worship of the Lord," the Lord said, is exceedingly difficult of attainment and boundless. Durgama means hard to fathom: whom one must worship, what disposition of mind is fit for worship, what the soul's own essential nature is, what the essential nature of the Lord to be worshipped is, what the essential relation between the soul and the object of worship is, and what duty follows from the soul's own essential nature — knowledge of all these matters is indispensable to true worship, yet such knowledge is not easily come by for the ordinary soul; hence it is said, "worship of the Lord is exceedingly difficult." Here "worship of the Lord" should be understood as "the means to worship of the Lord" — and the means or the limbs of worship are themselves many, since different people have different natures and inclinations, and hence different objects of desire; scripture prescribes practices suited to every kind of desired end, and since desired ends differ, the means to attain them differ accordingly. But not every desired end is bound up with the soul's own essential nature; hence not every means suited to some desired end is also suited to the soul's true duty or its essential fulfillment — and determining just which means is truly suited to that essential duty is itself a formidable task. Hence it is said: "worship of the Lord" — meaning worship or practice suited to the attainment of the soul's own essential duty — "is boundless": one must swim across an ocean of possible paths of practice before arriving at the path truly suited to one's desired end, and this is an exceedingly hard thing to do.

"He has established the dharma of the age," the Lord continued: the Lord, out of mercy, has proclaimed and established the dharma appropriate to each age, making known what dharma belongs to which age. Though the worldly people of every age are alike averse to the truth from beginningless time, the disposition of people's minds is not the same from age to age; and for the people of whatever age, in accordance with the general disposition of their minds, the Lord has determined the practice best suited to them — that is the yuga-dharma, the dharma of that age.

V.133 , with citations of Gītā 4.8 and Bhāgavata 10.8.13. Cāri yuge — the four ages, Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali; cāri dharma — the four kinds of yuga-dharma suited to them. Kṣititale means "on this earth." Sva-dharma ordinarily means the dharma of one's own varṇa and āśrama, but it can also mean the soul's own essential dharma — that dharma by whose cultivation the soul attains its own true duty, service whose sole purport is Kṛṣṇa's happiness. Prabhu nija-sthāne cale, "the Lord departs for His own abode": this indicates that the Lord, having descended into the universe and established the dharma of the age, thereafter disappears from it. In proof that the Lord descends into the universe for the world's welfare, a verse of the Gītā and one of the Bhāgavata are here cited:

পরিত্রাণায় সাধূনাং বিনাশায় চ দুষ্কৃতাম্‌। ধর্মসংস্থাপনার্থায় সম্ভবামি যুগে যুগে॥ (Gītā 4.8)

Translation. "For the deliverance of the pious, and the destruction of the wicked, and for the re-establishment of the principles of dharma, I appear age after age."

আসন্‌ বর্ণাস্ত্রয়ো হ্যস্য গৃহতোহনুযুগং তনূঃ। শুক্লো রক্তস্তথা পীত ইদানীং কৃষ্ণতাং গতঃ॥ (Bhāgavata 10.8.13)

Translation. (Gargācārya said to Nanda, king of the cowherds, at the naming of Śrī Kṛṣṇa:) "O king of Vraja! This son of yours assumes different bodies in different ages. He has had three [prior] colors — white, red, and yellow; now, [in this Dvāpara,] he has attained a dark hue."

Explanation. Kṛṣṇatāṁ gataḥ means "has attained darkness of hue" — that is, has manifested a dark-complexioned form; by this phrase Gargācārya indirectly conveys that one name of this son of Nanda is "Kṛṣṇa," and that His complexion, too, is dark. But in the phrase "śuklo raktas tathā pītaḥ," Gargācārya explicitly names the colors of three other forms — white, red, and yellow. Why, then, does he not say simply "kṛṣṇaḥ" here as well, but instead "kṛṣṇatāṁ gataḥ," "has attained darkness"? The purport is this. Gargācārya's whole aim is to reveal that this son of Nanda is Svayam Bhagavān Himself, and the phrase "kṛṣṇatāṁ gataḥ" is chosen precisely to convey that. The word kṛṣṇa derives from the root kṛṣ, "to attract"; hence kṛṣṇa means "the attractor," one who draws all to Himself, and kṛṣṇatā means "the state of being the attractor." In this Dvāpara He has attained kṛṣṇatā — attractor-hood. Whom, then, has He attracted, to have attained this attractor-hood? Gargācārya answers in the very next verse: "Your son has countless names and forms, O king of the cowherds, corresponding to His countless qualities and deeds; even I do not know them all, nor do the people" (Bhāgavata 10.8.15). Here the present tense — "santi," "[they] are" — is used of these countless names and forms, even though Gargācārya has, up to this point, given the child only two names: "Kṛṣṇa," implied by "kṛṣṇatāṁ gataḥ," and "Vāsudeva" (Bhāgavata 10.8.14). Yet in the very next verse he speaks of "many names and forms" — the purport being that the present tense here indicates their eternity: in accordance with His infinite qualities and deeds, this son of Nanda's countless names and forms exist eternally, known fully neither to the omniscient Gargācārya nor to anyone else — indicating thereby the infinitude of His names and forms. All the infinite forms in which Parabrahman Svayam Bhagavān has, from beginningless time, ever manifested Himself, together with their names, are equally eternal, and, being but so many manifestations of that very Svayam Bhagavān, their names and forms are, in essence, His own names and His own form as well. In saying "this son of Nanda has many, that is, infinite, names and forms," Gargācārya thus declares His status as Parabrahman, Svayam Bhagavān. When Svayam Bhagavān descends into the universe, He descends having drawn into Himself, as it were, every form of Godhead — Nārāyaṇa, Vāsudeva, and all the rest — all of which then remain present within Him (see the commentary on payar 1.8.97). This son of Nanda has attained kṛṣṇatā, "attractor-hood," precisely by drawing into Himself all the forms of Godhead spoken of in Bhāgavata 10.8.15; hence the phrase "kṛṣṇatāṁ gataḥ" itself reveals the Svayam-Bhagavān-hood of Nanda's son, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Āsan is a past-tense verb. The three [prior] colors of Nanda's son — white, red, and yellow — appeared before the past Dvāpara. White is the yugāvatāra of Satya-yuga, red the yugāvatāra of Tretā-yuga; their appearance in the Satya and Tretā ages preceding that Dvāpara is thus intelligible. But who is "yellow" (pīta)? What is his essential nature — is "yellow," like "white" and "red," also some yugāvatāra of a particular age? The answer is that scripture nowhere records any yugāvatāra of a yellow or golden hue: the four yugāvatāras of the four ages are white in Satya, red in Tretā, the hue of a green parrot's wing in Dvāpara, and dark or blackish in Kali — there is no golden-hued yugāvatāra among them. It should also be noted here that the yugāvatāras are all portions (aṁśa) of Svayam Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa; they too are eternal, each with his own abode in the spiritual sky, and they descend into the universe in their respective ages solely to establish that age's yuga-dharma.

Who, then, is Gargācārya's "yellow"? This is determined from the word "tathā" in the phrase "tathā pītaḥ." Wherever "tathā" ("so, thus, likewise") occurs, a correlative "yathā" ("as, just as") is implied — and vice versa — though sometimes, to preserve the metre, one of the pair is left unstated; here, for the same reason, "yathā" has been omitted, and the stated "tathā" itself draws in the implied "yathā," without which the verse's meaning cannot be fixed at all. The question is: with what word or clause does this implied "yathā" correlate? "Tathā" is already correlated with "pītaḥ" — but "yathā" cannot sensibly correlate with anything in the first half of the verse; it must belong somewhere in the second half. Two readings are possible: either "yathā śuklo raktaḥ, tathā pītaḥ" ("as [he was] white and red, so [he was] yellow") — or "yathā kṛṣṇatāṁ gataḥ, tathā pītaḥ [pītatāṁ gataḥ]" ("as he has attained darkness, so [in another age] he attained yellowness"). One or the other of these two readings must be accepted, or neither "yathā" nor "tathā" would have any point; and of the two, the first cannot withstand scrutiny — for wherever "yathā" and "tathā" correlate two things, some real commonality between them is required (as in "yathā candra, tathā vadana," "the face is like the moon," where the commonality is beauty). White and red are yugāvatāras, and their common, essential character is precisely their status as yugāvatāras; the proposed correlation "as white and red, so yellow" would hold only if "yellow," too, were a yugāvatāra — but it has already been shown that no golden-hued yugāvatāra exists. Hence "yellow" shares no such commonality with white and red, and the first reading cannot be sustained. We must therefore accept the second: "yathā kṛṣṇatāṁ gataḥ, tathā pītaḥ [pītatāṁ gataḥ]" — and here, too, some real commonality is required for the correlation to mean anything. That commonality has already been shown: the phrase "kṛṣṇatāṁ gataḥ" itself indicates Svayam-Bhagavān-hood — and that very Svayam-Bhagavān-hood is the commonality intended here as well; that is, the golden-hued form, too, is none other than Svayam Bhagavān Himself.

In which age, then, did this golden-hued Svayam Bhagavān descend? There are four ages in all — Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali. Gargācārya mentions three of them: Satya by "white," Tretā by "red," and Dvāpara by "has now attained darkness." He does not mention Kali. One age remains — Kali. But the Kali-yuga that followed the very Dvāpara he was speaking of cannot be what Gargācārya intends, for that Kali-yuga still lay in the future, whereas he has said that the golden-hued form, like white and red, had already appeared — "āsan," a past tense. It must be understood, then, that the golden-complexioned Svayam Bhagavān had already descended into the universe in some Kali-yuga prior to that past Dvāpara. (An extended discussion of this "āsan varṇāḥ" verse may be found in Mahā-Śrī [i.e., a companion volume of this commentary], section 25.)

V.134. "The dharma of Kali-yuga is nāma-saṅkīrtana; each of the four ages has its own dharma, [given] for the sake of souls." The preceding payar has already shown that the Lord descends in all four ages and proclaims the dharma of each, and, having established His own [essential] dharma, disappears; and the two verses just cited proved His descent into the universe in general. The "āsan varṇāḥ" verse further teaches that Svayam Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa descends both in His own original form and, in certain Kali-yugas, in a golden-complexioned form of Svayam Bhagavān as well, besides descending in the form of the yugāvatāras, His own portions. Ordinarily it is the yugāvatāras who proclaim the dharma of their age; but in the age when Svayam Bhagavān Himself descends, that age's yugāvatāra remains present within Him and does not descend separately — Svayam Bhagavān Himself, in that age, incidentally proclaims that age's dharma as well. In support of this a further Bhāgavata verse is quoted:

কৃতে যদ্ধ্যায়তো বিষ্ণুং ত্রেতায়াং যজতো মখৈঃ। দ্বাপরে পরিচর্যায়াং কলৌ তদ্ধরিকীর্তনাৎ॥ (Bhāgavata 12.3.52)

Translation. Whatever result is obtained in Satya-yuga by meditation upon Viṣṇu, in Tretā-yuga by the performance of Vedic sacrifices, and in Dvāpara-yuga by temple worship of the Lord — that same result is obtained in Kali-yuga simply by kīrtana of Śrī Hari's name.

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V.135–141. Therefore He has proclaimed [the performance of] nāma-yajña [to be the yuga-dharma]; by performing any other rite, one cannot cross over. Whether eating or lying down, day and night, one should take the holy name; even the Vedas cannot convey the full measure of its glory. "Listen, Miśra! In Kali-yuga there is no [efficacy in] austerity or sacrifice — [nāma-saṅkīrtana alone] is this age's natural and fitting fortune. Therefore, remaining in your own home, sit and worship in this way; abandoning all crookedness and duplicity, with single-minded devotion. Whatever there is to know of the truth of the goal and the means — all of it — will be found complete in the saṅkīrtana of Hari's name." As soon as the sprout of prema arises through such practice, you will know the truth of the goal and the means.

Explanation. Kahilena, "he declared," refers to the Bhāgavata verse just cited. "By performing any other religious rite" — practicing any other kind of religion brings no deliverance in Kali-yuga: "The name of Hari, the name of Hari, the name of Hari alone — in Kali-yuga there is no other way, no other way, no other way" (Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa). From the phrase "eating or lying down" it is understood that Hari's name may be chanted at any time, in any state whatever — even while eating or lying down, when the formal rules for counting one's chanting cannot be observed; chanting without such rules is not thereby rendered improper. "There is no [efficacy in] austerity or sacrifice" — the people of Kali-yuga have neither the capacity for austerity and sacrifice, nor would such practices bear fruit even if attempted; the holy name of Hari alone bestows all perfection in this age (see the Bṛhan-nāradīya verse quoted at payar 135 above).

By the fruit of nāma-saṅkīrtana alone will the truths of the goal and the means both be found: "By the sacrifice of saṅkīrtana one worships Kṛṣṇa; that person of true wisdom attains Kṛṣṇa's feet. From nāma-saṅkīrtana comes the destruction of every evil, the rise of every good fortune, and the flood of Kṛṣṇa-prema. From saṅkīrtana comes the destruction of sin and material bondage, the purification of the heart, the arising of every limb of devotion, the arising of prema for Kṛṣṇa, the tasting of the nectar of that prema, the attainment of Kṛṣṇa, and immersion in the nectar-ocean of His service" (Caitanya-caritāmṛta 2.20.8–11, Mahāprabhu's own words to Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāya Rāmānanda). "By the one name of Kṛṣṇa all sin is destroyed, and devotion, the cause of prema, is manifest" (Cc. 1.8.22) — "devotion, the cause of prema" here means the practiced devotion (sādhana-bhakti) that is the seed of prema's later manifestation.

In proof of this a verse of the Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa is cited:

হরের্নাম হরের্নাম হরের্নামৈব কেবলম্‌। কলৌ নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব গতিরন্যথা॥

Translation. The name of Hari, the name of Hari, the name of Hari alone. In Kali-yuga there is no other way, no other way, no other way.

The preceding payar (134) declared that the yuga-dharma of Kali is nāma-saṅkīrtana; this verse specifies just which name's kīrtana constitutes that yuga-dharma:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে। হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে॥

"This verse" — the "Hare Kṛṣṇa" verse just quoted — is taken up by practitioners precisely because it is the mahā-mantra. This verse of the mahā-mantra contains sixteen names of the Lord, each of two syllables, hence thirty-two syllables in all. Mahāprabhu here specifically identifies just which names' kīrtana constitutes the dharma of the Kali age: the kīrtana of the names given in this sixteen-name, thirty-two-syllable verse, "Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa..." This sixteen-name, thirty-two-syllable mahā-mantra is the foremost of all limbs of devotional practice, the supreme means of crossing the ocean of material existence and attaining the soul's own true duty — service whose sole purport is Kṛṣṇa's happiness; it is the giver of all ends, and the very essence of all scriptural conclusions. This same sixteen-name mahā-mantra is found in a particular śruti text called the Kalisantaraṇa Upaniṣad, which likewise declares that this very mantra is to be chanted in the age of Kali — there, however, it is written in the order "Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare," whereas the authorless, Veda-following Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa gives it in the order "Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa..." as here — and Mahāprabhu, too, taught the mahā-mantra in the order given by the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa. (See Mahā-Śrī, section 15.7.kha(3), page 785, for a discussion of the Kalisantaraṇa Upaniṣad passage.)

This mahā-mantra contains just three names — "Hari," "Kṛṣṇa," and "Rāma" — each given in the vocative case: "Hare" ("O Hari!"), "Kṛṣṇa" ("O Kṛṣṇa!"), and "Rāma" ("O Rāma!"). "Hare" occurs eight times, "Kṛṣṇa" four times, and "Rāma" four times — sixteen names of address in all. All three names — Hari, Kṛṣṇa, and Rāma — belong here to Svayam Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa alone, just as in "Gopāla, Govinda, Rāma, Śrī-Madhusūdana," the word "Rāma" refers to Gopāla Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. The purport of the vocative form of these names is that one should chant the name addressing Śrī Kṛṣṇa directly, with intense love — as though Śrī Kṛṣṇa were present right before one, calling out to Him, "O Hari! O Kṛṣṇa! O Rāma!," with the utmost love and longing. Such is the sense conveyed by the vocative form of these names.

Scripture does allow, according to a practitioner's own taste, the chanting of Śrī Kṛṣṇa's other names as well; but since the chanting of this sixteen-name mahā-mantra is specifically the dharma of the age, it must always be chanted — other names may be chanted from time to time in addition, but the sixteen-name mahā-mantra must never be neglected; its chanting can never rightly be set aside.

Sādhite sādhite, "practicing, practicing" — that is, continuing to chant the aforesaid mahā-mantra. Premāṅkura, "the sprout of prema," means prema's first, faint appearance — a sprout is not yet a tree, only the first unfolding of a seed on its way to becoming one; in the same way, the very first stage of Kṛṣṇa-prema that appears in a practitioner's heart, by the Lord's grace, as the fruit of practice, is technically called rati or bhāva. Compared to the sun, this first stage is like a mere ray of sunlight — the sun's own sprout, as it were; the two are, in truth, one and the same reality, differing only in their degree of density, just as sunbeam and sun alike are heat and light, one dilute and the other concentrated. Prema likewise is a function of the svarūpa-śakti [the Lord's essential potency], and its first ripple, the "sprout of prema," is that same function in a less concentrated form.

The Lord told Tapana Miśra: when, through nāma-sādhana, the impurity of the heart has been cleansed, and the sprout of prema arises — the first stage of prema appears in the heart — only then will you come to know the truth of the goal and the means.

A question arises here. In the earlier payar 131 the Lord called the very wish to worship Kṛṣṇa a sign of the greatest good fortune; and in payar 138 He has already instructed Tapana Miśra in the worship of Kṛṣṇa. It would seem, then, that the Lord has already made known to him that service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa attained through such worship is the soul's true goal, and that the mahā-mantra's kīrtana is its means. Why, then, does the Lord say again, "When, through practicing this mahā-mantra, the sprout of prema arises, only then will you know the truth of the goal and the means" (payar 141)? Has not Miśra already come to know this?

The purport of the Lord's statement seems to be this. From the Bhāgavata verse "jñānaṁ parama-guhyaṁ me yad vijñāna-samanvitam" (2.9.30) it is known that there are two kinds of knowledge — jñāna and vijñāna. Śrīdhara Svāmī-pāda glosses in his commentary: "Jñāna arises from scripture; vijñāna is direct experience." Śrīpāda Jīva Gosvāmī writes: "Jñāna is the correct ascertainment of a matter through words; that [knowledge] should be grasped together with vijñāna, direct experience of it." Thus what one correctly comes to know about something through the study of scripture, or by hearing it from another, is jñāna — indirect knowledge, seated in the intellect; and the direct experience of that same thing, immediate knowledge, is vijñāna, seated in the heart. What one learns from books about the coldness of ice is jñāna regarding ice; what one comes to know of its coldness upon actually holding the ice in one's hand is vijñāna. In jñāna there is no direct experience of a thing's essential nature; in vijñāna there is. What Tapana Miśra had come to know, on hearing the Lord's instruction concerning the goal and the means, was his jñāna; what he will come to experience concerning the goal and the means once the sprout of prema has arisen will be his vijñāna — direct, immediate knowledge, real experience. "Bhakti alone reveals Him" — according to this śruti text, only bhakti, prema-bhakti, can reveal the Lord and the truth of His glory directly, immediately. When, through nāma-saṅkīrtana, the sprout of prema — the first stage of devotion — arises in the heart, it is by the very influence of that sprout of prema that the practitioner attains real, direct experience of the goal, and the very validity of the means, too, becomes something directly and really felt. The essence of what the Lord told Tapana Miśra is this: "Miśra! What you have come to understand of the truth of the goal and the means, on hearing My words, is your jñāna of it — by the exercise of your own intellect and judgment you have grasped that what I have said is indeed the truth, and so you have no further doubt. But as to what the essential nature of that goal truly is, and that it can indeed be attained by following the means I have taught, your heart has not yet had any real, direct experience of this. Chant the [holy] name. When, through that chanting, the sprout of prema arises in your heart, you will come to realize, in reality, within your own heart, the essential nature of the goal and the means — and only then will your vijñāna of this truth be born."

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V.142–151. Hearing this teaching from the Lord's own lips, the excellent brāhmaṇa offered repeated obeisance again and again. Miśra said, "If you permit, I will come along with you." The Lord replied: "You go at once to Vārāṇasī; it is there that you and I shall meet again, and there I shall tell you the whole truth of the goal and the means." So saying, the Lord embraced him, and the brāhmaṇa's whole body thrilled with the horripilation of prema on receiving the embrace of the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha; he was filled with transcendent bliss. At the moment of parting, holding fast to the Lord's feet, the excellent brāhmaṇa related, sitting privately, the account of his auspicious dream. Hearing it, the Lord said, "What is true is indeed fitting — but do not tell this account to anyone else." The Lord forbade him again, with special care, and then rose, smiling, as an auspicious moment had arrived. In this way, having blessed Bengal with His presence, Gaurāṅga Śrī Hari returned to His own home; in worldly fashion, accepting much wealth [given by well-wishers], He arrived home in the evening.

Explanation. From Śrīla Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura's own account it is known that, while residing in East Bengal, the Lord instructed Tapana Miśra in nāma-saṅkīrtana; and from Kavirāja Gosvāmī's account it is known that the Lord gave this same instruction in nāma-saṅkīrtana in every place He visited in East Bengal: "In a few days the Lord traveled through Bengal, and wherever He went He had everyone take up nāma-saṅkīrtana" (Cc. 1.16.8); "In this way He did great good to the people of Bengal — He made devotees of them, giving them the name, and taught the scholars" (Cc. 1.16.17). Up to that time the Lord had not instructed anyone at Navadvīpa in nāma-saṅkīrtana at all — East Bengal was the very first place where the nāma-saṅkīrtana, for whose propagation the Lord had descended into the world, was inaugurated. This is East Bengal's own supreme good fortune.

By the Lord's mercy, Tapana Miśra's heart had become so drawn to Him that, thinking always of the convenience of seeing the Lord, he wished to go and live at Navadvīpa, and made known his desire to accompany the Lord there, praying for His permission. The Lord told him: "Miśra, not to Navadvīpa — go instead, at once, to Vārāṇasī; it is there that you and I shall meet." (After His sannyāsa, when the Lord went from Nīlācala to Vṛndāvana, He did indeed meet Tapana Miśra at Vārāṇasī on the way, and, for as many days as He remained there, took His meals at Tapana Miśra's own house. It seems the Lord here already gave a hint of His future acceptance of sannyāsa.)

Mahāprabhu is the full Brahman, Svayam Bhagavān, ever-fulfilled; He can have no actual need whatsoever for wealth or riches. Yet, being absorbed in human-like pastime and a human-like self-conception, when [His well-wishers offer such gifts,] He accepts, in the manner of ordinary worldly custom and by the prompting of His pastime-potency, the articles lovingly given by the people — thereby fulfilling those who, with love, offer Him something. This is one of the pastimes intrinsic to the essential nature of the Lord, who is ever affectionate to His devotees and ever intent on delighting their hearts; it is His own pastime-potency that brings this about through the Lord absorbed in human pastime.

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V.152–161. Bowing down at His mother's feet, the Lord gave her all the wealth [He had brought]. At that very moment the Lord, together with His disciples, went at once to bathe in the Gaṅgā; and mother [Śacī] went at that very moment to cook, though inwardly grieving, together with all the household. The Lord, the world's own teacher, offered prostrate obeisance to the Gaṅgā in many ways along with everyone else; after sporting a while in the waters of the Jāhnavī, He bathed, gazed upon the Gaṅgā, and returned home. Then, having performed His proper daily duties, Gaurāṅga Śrī Hari sat down to take His meal; and the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, having eaten with contentment, came and sat at the doorway of the Viṣṇu-shrine. Then His intimate friends and kinsfolk came to greet Him, and all sat encircling Him on every side. With them all the Lord spoke, in humor and jest, of how He had passed His time in Bengal — and, mimicking the speech of the people of East Bengal, He teased the Bāṅgāls, laughing all the while.

Explanation. Since Lakṣmīpriyā Devī's disappearance, mother Śacī and her whole household were inwardly grieving. Before entering the Gaṅgā to bathe, one must first offer her obeisance — the Lord, the world's own teacher, taught this here by His own example. Āptavarga means intimate friends and kinsfolk. Bāṅgāla is the term by which the people of West Bengal, especially of Calcutta, still refer to the people of East Bengal — a term that, on their lips, carries a certain condescension. Kadarthena means "he mocks, teases." "In that same dialect's words" means with an imitation of the words, vocabulary, and manner of pronunciation current in East Bengal's spoken tongue. From this it is understood that the Lord, on His travels through East Bengal, visited Śrīhaṭṭa as well — Śrīhaṭṭa then being itself a part of Bengal, and it was in Ḍhākā-dakṣiṇa village, within Śrīhaṭṭa, that the Lord's own father and grandfather had been born.

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V.162–175. "Alas! I see you with a countenance so full of grief — no one speaks a word of Lakṣmī's departure [passing]." After remaining a while, all the friends and kinsfolk took their leave and went, each to his own home. The Lord sat chewing betel, speaking, this way and that, in humor and jest. Mother Śacī, inwardly grieving, stayed in her own quarters and did not come before her son's sight. The Lord Himself then went before His mother, and, seeing her grief-stricken face, spoke to her in sweet words: "Mother, why do I see you so sorrowful? I have returned safely from a distant land — surely all is well with you here?" [She said nothing, and the Lord continued:] "You appear so grief-stricken; sorrow's dark mood will soon overtake even those close to you — tell me truly, mother, the cause of this." Hearing her son's words, mother sat with downcast face, only weeping, unable in her sorrow to give any answer. The Lord said: "Mother, I understand it all — I have heard that something ill has befallen your daughter-in-law." Then all present said: "Listen, O learned one! Your wife has, without doubt, attained the Gaṅgā [passed away]." Hearing of His wife's death, Gaurāṅga Śrī Hari remained still for a moment, His head bowed low; then, having outwardly acknowledged the sorrow of separation from His beloved, He, the very essence of all the Vedas, fell silent. After a moment's display of grief in the manner of ordinary worldly custom, He began to speak again, His own heart composed and steady.

Explanation. Duḥkhita-badana, "with a grief-stricken face": the Lord saw a deep shadow of sorrow upon His mother's countenance. On hearing the Lord's words, mother Śacī's ocean of grief only swelled the higher, and she could say nothing at all; it was the others present who then told the Lord of Lakṣmīpriyā Devī's disappearance. Tuṣṇī hoi, "fell silent": "By all the Vedas I alone am to be known" (Gītā 15.15) — Śrī Gaura's own utterance, spoken in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. Lokānukaraṇa duḥkha, "sorrow in the manner of worldly custom," means the outward display of grief customary in the world at the loss of a spouse.

The Lord is Svayam Bhagavān absorbed in human-like pastime and a human-like self-conception; hence, by the prompting of His pastime-potency, His conduct too is human-like. In the manifest pastimes of the Lord, who is ever the very life of His devotees, present among His eternally-perfected associates, there is real grief as well — but this grief is only a particular expression of His own love for His devotee, not, like the grief of separation in the material world, a mere function of māyā; for māyā can never touch the sac-cid-ānanda reality of the Lord (see the commentary on śloka 1.9.1).

V.176–182 , with a citation of Bhāgavata 8.16.19. "Mother," the Lord said, "why do you grieve? That which is destined to be — how can it be otherwise? Thus does the passage of time befall us — no one truly belongs to another. Therefore the Vedas call this world 'impermanent.'"

কে কস্য পতিপুত্রাদ্যা মোহ এব হি কারণম্‌।

Translation. In this world, who is truly anyone's husband, or anyone's son? No one is, in reality, anyone else's husband or child; the cause of thinking of someone as one's husband or son or the like is simply delusion — ignorance born of māyā's influence.

Explanation. The soul, averse to Kṛṣṇa from beginningless time, has forgotten Him from time without beginning, and as a result, falling into māyā's grip, has, under her influence, nursed the false identification of the self with the body, hungering after the pleasures of the body and its senses. It is for the sake of these bodily and sensory pleasures that the conditioned soul forms the relation of husband and wife, and in time children are born as well. This relation of husband and wife has a beginning and an end; the relation with children, too, has a beginning and an end — hence all such relations are impermanent. Were they eternal, they would never come to an end. Nor are they even real relations in any deeper sense, for infidelity, too, is observed within them — showing that such bonds are formed merely for mutual sensory convenience, lasting only so long as each party furthers the other's pleasure. Bound by māyā, the conditioned soul does not even know its own true nature; if it did, it would understand that such relations are, in reality, mere delusive imaginings. After death these relations no longer hold, and the soul may form the very same kind of bond with someone else entirely. Hence it is delusion — ignorance born of māyā — that is the real cause of regarding anyone as one's husband, son, or the like.

"That which is destined to be — how can it be otherwise?" Whatever must come, in accordance with the fruit of one's own past deeds, will surely come; it cannot be otherwise. "Therefore the Vedas call this world impermanent" — this is who and how a union or separation between two people is caused: the Lord alone, since the whole universe is under His rule and He alone its controller, no one else — He alone is the bestower of the fruits of action, and it is He who brings about union and separation for every soul in accordance with the fruit of its own deeds. Since what has occurred has occurred only by the Lord's will, why should one grieve over it? "Is there any woman more fortunate than she who attains the Gaṅgā before her own husband's eyes?" Having thus consoled His mother, the Lord remained, engaged in His own duties, together with His close associates. Hearing the Lord's most nectarean words, everyone's grief was entirely dispelled.

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V.183–198. In this way the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, Gaurahari, remained sporting joyfully in the mellow of learning. At dawn, after performing His sandhyā-vandana and other rites, He would bow to His mother and set off to teach. There was one Mukunda Sañjaya, a servant of many births, whose son was the fortunate Puruṣottama Dāsa; every day the fortunate Gauracandra would go to that man's home to teach. First the Lord would go and sit in the Caṇḍī-maṇḍapa, and then His students would gradually arrive, one by one. Among them, from time to time, someone would, by mere carelessness, forget to mark his forehead with tilaka. The Lord, ever the eternal establisher of religion, never once transgressed any duty, however small, for the instruction and protection of the people. Such a one He would then, at once, put to shame: "So he never comes back again without first putting on his tilaka!" The Lord would say: "Why, brother! I see no tilaka on your forehead — what is the reason for this? If a brāhmaṇa's forehead bears no tilaka, the Vedas call it as good as a cremation ground. I understand — you have not performed your sandhyā today; today, brother, your sandhyā has gone barren!" [To another He would say:] "Go, perform your sandhyā again at home, and come back only after you have done so." In this way all the Lord's disciples became most scrupulous in their own religious duties. The Lord performed all this playful mischief for sheer delight — there was no one He did not tease in one way or another. Yet toward another's wife He allowed himself no jesting whatsoever; on seeing a woman He would keep His distance, standing apart, to one side. He teased the Śrīhaṭṭīyas most of all — seeing them, He would mock them, speaking in just their own dialect.

Explanation. Loka-rakṣā lāgi, "for the protection of the people": that is, to protect people from any lapse in religious duty, for the instruction of the people. Nā laṅghena karma, "He never transgresses any [prescribed] duty": He never fails to perform any duty enjoined by scripture. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself told Arjuna: "If I did not perform action, these worlds would perish" (Gītā 3.24). Even though the Lord Himself has no personal need for any such action, when He descends into the universe for the world's welfare He too performs the duties prescribed by scripture — for otherwise, lacking the example of the greatest among them, ordinary people would themselves neglect their scriptural duties, to their own harm.

"If a brāhmaṇa's forehead bears no tilaka" — see the commentary on payar 1.8.245. The authoritative, Veda-following Padma Purāṇa says: "A human body that bears no ūrdhva-puṇḍra [tilaka] is not even fit to be looked upon — it is like a cremation ground" (quoted in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 4.73, from a statement of Śrī Nārada in the Padma Purāṇa). "Your sandhyā has gone barren": even if one has performed the sandhyā rite, if it was done without wearing the tilaka, one obtains no fruit from it (see the proof cited in the commentary on payar 1.8.245).

Cālena — see the commentary on payar 1.6.37.

Bāṅgāla refers to the people of Śrīhaṭṭa. Sei mata bacana baliyā, "speaking in that same dialect," means imitating the speech, the vocabulary, and the manner of pronunciation current in Śrīhaṭṭa. This shows that, during His travels in East Bengal, the Lord did indeed visit Śrīhaṭṭa itself, which was at that time part of Bengal, and where the Lord's own father's and grandfather's birthplace, the village of Ḍhākā-dakṣiṇa, was located.

V.199–207. In anger the Śrīhaṭṭīyas said: "Hoy, hoy! [Yes, yes!] Tell us plainly — from what country are you?" "Just tell us — was your own father, mother, and the rest of your family, not born in Śrīhaṭṭa? What reason, then, have you, being yourself born a son of Śrīhaṭṭa, to mock us so?" Whatever the Lord said in reply, they would not be appeased, mocking Him in various ways, still speaking in that same dialect. In this way the Lord went on teasing the Śrīhaṭṭīyas until their anger had grown very great. Some, in great fury, would chase Him away; unable to catch Him, they would run after Him, hurling abuse. Some would seize hold of Him and try to drag Him off to the local magistrate; others, in great wrath, would try to haul Him before the judge's court. At last the Lord's own friends would come and settle the matter, then depart at once with Him. Some days, hiding behind some Bāṅgāl's dwelling, He would burst through a dried gourd-shell wall [used for a fence] and run off laughing.

Explanation. Dhola kara means "to imitate and mock the speech of the people of Śrīhaṭṭa" (a variant reading, "ṭola kara kāla hena ibe," means: "It seems it is simply the influence of this present age, that you, though yourself a son of Śrīhaṭṭa, mock the very speech of your own people"). Lāgāli nā pāya means they could not catch up with Him, as the Lord too was running. Śikadāra means a local officer charged with keeping the peace; deẏāne means a court of law.

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V.208–211. In this way He would jest in the assembly; He never so much as glanced at any woman, even from the corner of His eye. In this incarnation, the very word "woman" — the Lord never even let it fall upon His ears; it became a byword throughout the world. Hence all those of great and exalted realization never once offer such praise as "Gaurāṅga, the lover [nāgara] [of the young women of Nadīyā]." Though every kind of praise is, in truth, applicable to Him, the wise nevertheless sing of Him only in the manner befietting His own essential nature.

Explanation. Dṛṣṭi-koṇe, "even from the corner of His eye" — see the earlier payar 197. Śravaṇo nā karilā, "He never even let it fall upon His ears": whenever, in conversation, some mention of a woman arose, the Lord would not listen to it, but would divert the talk to some other subject. The story of Parameśvara Modaka is one proof of this: "There was a confectioner of Nadīyā named Parameśvara, who sold sweets; his shop was near the Lord's house. In His boyhood the Lord would often go there, and the confectioner would give Him two pieces of sweets, which the Lord would eat; his affection for the Lord dated from that very boyhood" (Cc. 3.12.53–55). Once, wishing to see the Lord, Parameśvara too went to Nīlācala with his wife, along with the Gauḍīya devotees. There he offered obeisance, saying, "I am Parameśvara"; seeing him, the Lord affectionately inquired, "Parameśvara, are you well? How good that you have come!" Someone then told the Lord, "Mukundā's mother has come as well" — and on hearing the name "Mukundā's mother," the Lord felt a certain hesitation (Cc. 3.12.56–58); Mukundā was the son of Parameśvara Modaka. The Lord, in general, would not even utter the word "woman" (strī); when it was necessary, He would say "prakṛti" ["a person of feminine nature"] instead. Once, when Śivānanda Sena had come to Nīlācala together with his wife, the Lord told his personal attendant Govinda: "As long as Śivānanda's wife and son are here, let them receive my leftover prasādam" (Cc. 3.12.52). By His own conduct, free of all pretense, the Lord thus taught just what degree of caution regarding women is necessary for a genuine practitioner.

Mahā-mahima sakale, "all those of great and exalted realization" — those exalted devotees who are acquainted with the Lord's true essential nature and conduct. Gaurāṅga nāgara means "Gaurāṅga, the beloved [nāgara] of the young women [nāgarī] [of Nadīyā]." Such exalted devotees never praise Him in this way — see the commentary on the following payar. Though every kind of praise is, in principle, applicable to Śrī Gaurāṅga, the wise nevertheless sing His glories only in keeping with His own essential nature, His own svarūpa.

Explanation (extended, on the theology of "Gaurāṅga-nāgara"). Parabrahman, Svayam Bhagavān, is of the very nature of rasa: "He is verily rasa" (śruti). The primary sense of the word rasa is the relishable essence, an indescribable, wondrous bliss of tasting; and its secondary sense is the one who relishes that essence, the connoisseur (rasika). Śruti also calls Him "sarva-rasaḥ," "every rasa" — He is the totality of every variety of relishable essence, and of every variety of relishing as well. Though, as connoisseur, He tastes countless varieties of rasa, His supreme delight lies in the tasting of the very essence of His associate-devotees' loving mellows. From beginningless time He stands eternally manifest as infinite forms of Godhead, and these forms of Godhead are, in truth, simply the embodiment of His own infinite variety of rasa — both as the rasa relished and as the relisher of rasa. Since He is of the nature of rasa, every one of His forms shares in that nature of rasa, is both relished rasa and relisher of rasa; every form has its own pastime, and its own pastime-associates, whose loving mellows, welling up in the course of that pastime, He tastes. Yet the tasting of rasa is not identical in every one of His forms — there is a gradation, corresponding to the varying degree to which His potencies are manifest in each, and a corresponding gradation of glory as well. In Parabrahman Svayam Bhagavān, the root of all forms of Godhead, the manifestation of every potency — including the potency for relishing beauty, sweetness, and every subtlety of rasa — reaches its absolute fullness; as relisher of rasa, He alone is the crest-jewel among all connoisseurs, the very best of the rasikas. Since He is "sarva-rasaḥ," in principle every kind of praise, corresponding to every variety of rasa, is applicable to Him — "every kind of praise is possible in regard to Him." Yet, being all rasa, He does not, even as Parabrahman Svayam Bhagavān, taste every rasa within a single form, in a single abode. In the unmanifest Goloka, too, though He tastes pure dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, and kāntā (conjugal) rasa with His various associates there, He is, in Goloka, eternally an adolescent (nitya-kiśora), and so cannot there taste the full range of sakhya and vātsalya mellows proper to childhood and boyhood. And regarding kāntā-rasa, too, there is a further distinction: it has two varieties — svakīyā (the mellow of a wedded consort) and parakīyā (the mellow of a paramour) — and in Goloka He tastes only svakīyā-kāntā-rasa, never parakīyā-kāntā-rasa. When He descends into the universe with His associates, He causes His own eternal consorts, the gopīs of Goloka, to appear as well, and, by Yogamāyā's influence, tastes with them, in that pastime, parakīyā-kāntā-rasa; and, accepting childhood and boyhood as attributes [of His eternal adolescence], He also tastes there the full range of sakhya and vātsalya mellows proper to those ages. Something may likewise be said of His other forms. In the manifest and unmanifest pastimes of Dvārakā He does taste dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, and madhura rasa; but that rasa-tasting Dvārakā-pastime is predominantly a majestic (aiśvarya) pastime centered on sweetness, not a pastime of pure sweetness free of any sense of majesty, as in Goloka; and the conjugal pastime of Dvārakā, too, is a pastime of svakīyā mellow, not parakīyā. In Vaikuṇṭha He performs pastimes as Nārāyaṇa, where vātsalya-rasa pastimes are entirely absent. Thus it is understood: though Parabrahman Svayam Bhagavān is all rasa, and though, in principle, every kind of praise is applicable to Him, no single one of His forms — not even His own original form — contains a pastime suited to the totality of all such praise. Whatever form and pastime of the Lord a given practitioner worships, he sings that form's glories with praise befitting that particular pastime — and only then does his worship find its fulfillment. It is for this reason that Śrīla Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura has said: "though every kind of praise is possible in regard to Him, the wise nevertheless sing of Him only in the manner befitting His own essential nature" — that is, in keeping with the essential character of the worshipped form, or in keeping with the worshipper's own devotional mood. Though the worship of Svayam Bhagavān Vrajendra-nandana is possible in any of the four moods — dāsya, sakhya, and the rest — whoever is a practitioner of a given mood offers his praise only in the manner suited to that mood; otherwise there is no possibility of attaining his cherished goal.

The author's statement may also be understood in another way. Since Śrī Gaurāṅga is none other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, praise corresponding to every one of the moods — dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, and madhura — is, in principle, applicable to Him as well; yet the wise sing Kṛṣṇa's glories only in the manner befitting whichever mood is their own chosen one. No wise practitioner worships Śrī Kṛṣṇa with praise suited to every mood — dāsya, sakhya, and the rest — all at once.

We now consider the author's statement, "all those of great and exalted realization never once offer such praise as 'Gaurāṅga, the nāgara.'" The word "nāgara" does not ordinarily mean "husband," but specifically "paramour" — one who dallies with another man's wife is called that woman's nāgara. Vrajendra-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in the world's own estimation, dallied with the gopīs, who were the wives of others; hence Śrī Kṛṣṇa was called their "nāgara," and they His "nāgarī." Now, when that very Śrī Kṛṣṇa descended at Navadvīpa as Śrī Gaurāṅga, He could rightly be called "Gaurāṅga the nāgara" only if He had, in the guise of their nāgara, dallied there with the wedded women of Navadvīpa. The purport of the author's statement is that Mahāprabhu never once performed any such pastime as "Gaurāṅga the nāgara." He writes: "He never so much as glanced at any woman, even from the corner of His eye; the very word 'woman' the Lord never let fall upon His ears — this became known throughout the world" (1.10.208–209). One who does not so much as glance at a woman from the corner of His eye — how could such a one dally, as their nāgara, with the young women of Nadīyā? For this very reason — because the Lord did not look upon any woman even from the corner of His eye, nor even let the word "woman" fall upon His ears — "all those of great and exalted realization never once offer such praise as 'Gaurāṅga the nāgara'" (1.10.210); for no praise is possible of a thing that has no basis in reality.

Considering, too, Mahāprabhu's own essential nature, He cannot rightly be called "Gaurāṅga the nāgara." It is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, the beloved nāgara of the young women of Vraja, who, in order to taste His own sweetness, has assumed the mood and complexion of Śrī Rādhā and stands manifest as Śrī Gaurāṅga — for the tasting of Kṛṣṇa's own sweetness is impossible without Rādhā's mood or love, and it is for this reason that Kṛṣṇa has assumed Rādhā's mood. Having assumed Rādhā's golden complexion, His own complexion in this form, too, has become golden — He has become Gaurāṅga. The tasting of the sweetness of His own Kṛṣṇa-nature is, then, the very essential activity of the Gaurāṅga-form; and it is for the sake of that very activity that He has taken on Rādhā's mood — so that within Him the mood of Rādhā utterly predominates. In that pastime intrinsic to His own essential nature — that is, in the pastime of tasting the sweetness of His own Vrajendra-nandana form — He therefore considers Himself Śrī Rādhā, and, just as Rādhā regards Kṛṣṇa as her own beloved, He too regards His own Vrajendra-nandana form as His own beloved. "The Lord has taken up the gopīs' mood entirely; He regards Vrajendra-nandana as His own beloved" (Cc. 1.17.270). "Within the Lord's heart is the very image of Rādhikā's own mood; from that very mood arise, without cease, His joys and His sorrows" (Cc. 2.8.193 [approx.]). "The Lord is ever possessed of Rādhikā's own mood; in that mood He considers Himself Rādhā" (Cc. 3.14.13). Thus it is seen that, in the pastime intrinsic to His own essential nature, Śrī Gaurāṅgadeva, in mind and heart, ever regards Himself as the nāgarī — Śrī Rādhā herself; hence, in that pastime, He can never regard Himself as a "nāgara," and could never dally, as their nāgara, with the young women of Nadīyā — nor, indeed, did He ever do so. And even when not absorbed in this pastime intrinsic to His own essential nature, the author has told us that even then He "never so much as glanced at any woman, even from the corner of His eye" (1.10.208). For this very reason the author has said: "Hence all those of great and exalted realization never once offer such praise as 'Gaurāṅga, the nāgara'" (1.10.210).

A question may be raised: did not the Lord's eternal associate Śrīla Narahari Sarkar Ṭhākura of Śrīdhāma-vāsī cherish precisely this mood — regarding Mahāprabhu as his nāgara? Was he then not one of the "exalted"? The answer is this: Śrīla Sarkār Ṭhākura was, in Vraja, the sakhī Madhumatī, one of the nāgarīs of Vrajendra-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the young women's own nāgara; it was in the absorption of that very Vraja-sakhī's mood that he cherished this nāgara-conception toward Mahāprabhu — not in regard to the combined form of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, but in regard to that very Vrajendra-nandana Kṛṣṇa who resides within Mahāprabhu. Yet there is no evidence anywhere that Mahāprabhu, in word or conduct, ever responded to Sarkār Ṭhākura's mood in kind. In any case, since Sarkār Ṭhākura did not cherish this nāgara-conception in regard to Śrī Gaurāṅga suffused with the splendor of Rādhā's own mood, there is no room to read the author's statement at payar 210 as any kind of oblique criticism of Sarkār Ṭhākura.

Śrī Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura has left a number of songs describing pastimes of the Lord's dalliance with the young women of Nadīyā; but that the pastimes described in those songs are wholly without foundation admits of no doubt whatsoever, since neither Vṛndāvana Dāsa's own account, nor even the earlier account of Murāri Gupta, contains the slightest hint of any such pastime. Vṛndāvana Dāsa has written that Mahāprabhu never so much as glanced at a woman from the corner of His eye, nor ever even heard the word "woman" spoken — such a Lord could never, even in imagination, dally with the young women of Nadīyā. It was out of an excess of zeal, in propagating the worship of Gaura in the nāgarī mood, that Śrī Locana Dāsa composed the accounts of many such pastimes of his own imagining (see the discussion of Locana Dāsa's statements in his Caitanya-maṅgala, Bhūmikā, section 53). The pastimes described in those songs, too, are of his own invention; in them he has even cast a shadow of scandal upon the character of the chaste women of Nadīyā. It is known from Vṛndāvana Dāsa's own account that women, too, were captivated on beholding the Lord's Kāma-like beauty and grace, some of them praising the good fortune of mother Śacī, others that of Gaura's own consorts (1.10.53–54) — but that any woman ever cast a desirous glance upon the Lord, neither Vṛndāvana Dāsa nor Murāri Gupta ever says.

A pastime of Gaura's dallying, as nāgara, with the young women of Nadīyā would correspond to Śrī Kṛṣṇa's own pastime, as the beloved of the gopīs, with the young women of Vraja. Although the Lover of the gopīs and Vrajendra-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa the nāgara are indeed present within Mahāprabhu, none of the biographers of Gaura's pastimes — neither Murāri Gupta, nor Vṛndāvana Dāsa, nor Kavi-karṇapūra, nor Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja — ever states that the Lord manifested any pastime at Navadvīpa in the mood of Vrajendra-nandana the nāgara. Vṛndāvana Dāsa's own statements — "He never so much as glanced at any woman, even from the corner of His eye," "In this incarnation the very word 'woman' the Lord never let fall upon His ears; it became known throughout the world" — stand directly opposed to any such pastime. It has already been explained that the Lord does not perform every pastime in every one of His forms; even in the Gaurāṅga-form He never manifested the pastime of Vrajendra-nandana the nāgara — which is precisely why none of the biographers, from Murāri Gupta onward, ever mentions any such pastime.

A further question may arise. It has been said above that, because He is the combined form of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and because Rādhā's mood predominates in Him, Śrī Gaurāṅga considers Himself Śrī Rādhā — that is, He is Himself the nāgarī. If that is so, how could He have married Lakṣmīpriyā and Viṣṇupriyā? Does any woman marry another woman? The answer is this. From the statements of Vṛndāvana Dāsa and Kavi-karṇapūra it is known that Lakṣmīpriyā Devī was, in an earlier pastime, Rukmiṇī, and Viṣṇupriyā Devī was, in an earlier pastime, Satyabhāmā (see Bhūmikā, sections 52–53) — both of them queens of Śrī Kṛṣṇa at Dvārakā. Within Gaura, too, resides Dvārakānātha. It was in the very mood of that Dvārakānātha Śrī Kṛṣṇa — that is, as Dvārakānātha Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself — that the Lord married Lakṣmīpriyā Devī and Viṣṇupriyā Devī, not in His character as the combined form of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.

(A note on a purported variant reading. Some say that in payar 210, in place of "hena tabu boi" — that is, in place of "such praise ['Gaurāṅga nāgara'] He does not utter," the variant "'Gaurāṅga nāgara' boi stava nāhi bole" is found [meaning, roughly, "He utters no praise other than 'Gaurāṅga the nāgara'"]. Had Prabhupāda Atulakṛṣṇa Gosvāmī found this variant reading among the manuscripts and printed editions he consulted, he would certainly have noted it among them; but he makes no mention whatsoever of this variant. Nor is it found in any of the printed editions we ourselves have seen or heard of. Were this variant reading accepted, the relevant statements of Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata would then read as follows: "In this way He would jest in the assembly; no one ever saw Him glance at any woman even from the corner of His eye (208). In this incarnation the very word 'woman' the Lord never let fall upon His ears; it became a byword throughout the world (209). Hence all those of great and exalted realization utter no praise but this: 'Gaurāṅga the nāgara' (210). Though every kind of praise is, in truth, applicable to Him, the wise nevertheless sing of Him only in the manner befitting His own essential nature (211)."

Now, the meaning of "hena stava nāhi bole" ["He utters no such praise"] and the meaning of "boi stava nāhi bole" ["He utters no praise but this"] stand in complete and direct contradiction to one another. The former statement means that no exalted devotee ever praises the Lord as "Gaurāṅga the nāgara"; the latter means that every exalted devotee praises the Lord only and precisely as "Gaurāṅga the nāgara," and in no other way whatsoever. Moreover, this "boi" variant is wholly inconsistent with the two preceding payars, 208 and 209, which state that the Lord never so much as glanced at a woman even from the corner of His eye, and, in this incarnation, never even let the word "woman" fall upon His ears. From this it is understood that, far from ever conversing with a woman, the Lord would not even glance at one from the corner of His eye, and would not so much as listen when the subject of women arose in conversation. There could, then, be no possibility whatsoever of the Lord's being "Gaurāṅga the nāgara" — and hence any praise of Him in that character would itself be praise of something wholly unreal, without any basis in fact. Neither of these two payars speaks of any variant reading at all. Read together with payars 208–209 as stated above, the variant payar — "Hence all those of great and exalted realization utter no praise but 'Gaurāṅga the nāgara'" — would mean: "Since praise of the Lord as 'Gaurāṅga the nāgara' is praise of something wholly unreal, every one of the great and exalted devotees offers the Lord precisely this praise, and no other." That this is a wholly illogical statement is easily seen. Nor is the "boi" variant consistent with the following payar, 211 — "though every kind of praise is possible in regard to Him, the wise nevertheless sing of Him only in keeping with His own essential nature" — for it has already been shown above that the "mood of the nāgara" was never the Lord's own essential nature (svabhāva). For all these reasons it is perfectly clear that "'Gaurāṅga nāgara' boi stava nāhi bole" is not what Śrīla Vṛndāvana Dāsa himself wrote. Rather, it was some person of excessive zeal for the Gaura-nāgarī doctrine who wrote this variant reading, and who, in writing it, gave no thought at all to whether it was even consistent with the two payars immediately preceding it.

Songs of the Gaura-nāgarī mood. Something has already been said above of Śrī Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura's compositions in the Gaura-nāgarī mood. Dr. Bimanbihari Majumdār, in his work Śrī Caitanya-caritera Upādāna ("The Sources of Śrī Caitanya's Biography"), discusses "Gaura-nāgarī-bhāva" over several pages beginning at page 52, and there quotes as well a number of nāgarī-mood songs from the Gaura-pada-taraṅgiṇī anthology, some of them bearing the signature-lines (bhaṇitā) of celebrated poets such as Vāsu Ghoṣa. Dr. Majumdār writes: "There are several songs circulating under Vāsu Ghoṣa's name which, on inspection, appear simply to be well-known verses on Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, reworked and passed off under his name — for example: 'At the end of the night, as I lay in the depths of sleep, the nāgara of Gaura seized hold of me; upon my cheek he pressed a kiss, and drank the nectar of my lips; my sleep was broken, the nāgara slipped away, and I lay stunned, my very consciousness undone; in shame I fled my own bed; my companion said, "This deceit of yours is plain to see." One suspects that this has been attributed to Vāsu Ghoṣa simply to lend an appearance of antiquity to the erotic nāgarī mood" (pp. 57–58). And again, at pages 53–54 of the same work, Dr. Majumdār writes: "Just as lustful men write obscene books and publish them under another's name, so too have certain persons in modern times composed a great many nāgarī-mood songs and passed them off under the names of Narahari Sarkār and Vāsu Ghoṣa."

From all these statements it is understood that one ought never uncritically accept any song in the Gaura-nāgarī mood, found bearing the name of some celebrated poet, as genuinely his own composition. Whatever the ancient and authoritative writers of the Lord's biography have themselves recorded concerning Śrī Gaura's own essential nature and pastimes — any account that expresses a view contrary to that record is itself unreal, and hence unworthy of acceptance.

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V.212–217. In this way the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha continued to sport in the mellow of learning. All around Him shone the circle of His disciples, and in their midst, filled with the greatest zest, the Lord went on teaching — even while, say, some attendant stood applying oil to His head, He would go on expounding the scriptures in manifold ways, each explanation delivered in His own inimitable relish. From dawn until the mark of two praharas [midday] He would teach, and only then would that very treasure-house of virtues set off to bathe in the Gaṅgā; and thus half the night, too, would pass in just this way, day after day. Thus, at Śrī Mukunda Sañjaya's house, He Himself would make all His students turn over and reflect upon what had just been taught; and so, having studied a full year at the Lord's own feet, they all became true paṇḍitas, established in the proper conclusions (siddhānta) of the scriptures.

Explanation. Nija-rase (a variant reads nijāveśe, "in the absorption of His own relish") — "in His own relish for learning." Cintāyena (a variant reads paḍhāyena, "teaches again") — He would make them reflect upon, turn over in their minds, what had already been taught them; that is, He would explain once more, and thoroughly, what He had taught before, so that it would be firmly grasped.

V.218–220. Thus the Lord remained ever absorbed in the mellow of learning; and all this while mother Śacī pondered ceaselessly the matter of His marriage. Throughout all of Navadvīpa, her mind never at rest, she sought at every moment a girl worthy of her son. Now in that same Navadvīpa there resided a most fortunate man, of a compassionate nature, named Śrī Sanātana.

Explanation. Having narrated at length the Lord's grief on Lakṣmīpriyā Devī's passing and His resumption of His teaching duties, the author now turns to the occasion of the Lord's second marriage, to Śrī Viṣṇupriyā Devī.

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V.221–226. This Sanātana was guileless, supremely magnanimous, and a devotee of Viṣṇu, devoted to the service of guests and to the welfare of others; truthful in speech, of controlled senses, born in a great lineage — his very title, "Rājapaṇḍita," was renowned everywhere. In worldly dealings, too, he was a man of great means, sustaining many without the least strain upon himself. His daughter was of the most excellent conduct — that mother of the universe [as she would become] seemed the very embodiment of Lakṣmī herself. Mother Śacī, seeing her one day, understood at once in her heart that this girl was a fit match for her son: from her very childhood the girl had bathed in the Gaṅgā two or three times a day, and beyond devotion to her parents and to Viṣṇu she knew nothing else. Seeing mother Śacī at the bathing-ghāṭ, day after day, she would bow low and offer obeisance at her feet; and mother Śacī, in turn, would bless her with great affection: "May Kṛṣṇa's grace grant you a fitting husband."

Explanation. Rājapaṇḍita was, as stated at payar 220, this same Sanātana. His epithet "Rājapaṇḍita" is confirmed in payar 222. Kavi-karṇapūra states that his name was Sanātana Miśra, and that in the Lord's earlier, Dvāpara pastime he was none other than King Satrājit, the father of Satyabhāmā (Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā 47). It is from Vṛndāvana Dāsa's and Kavi-karṇapūra's own statements that we know Viṣṇupriyā Devī, this daughter of Sanātana Miśra, was, in that earlier pastime, Satyabhāmā herself (see the Bhūmikā, sections 52–53).

V.227–236. While bathing in the Gaṅgā, mother Śacī cherished this very wish in her heart: "May this girl be joined in marriage to my son." And Rājapaṇḍita himself, together with his entire family, likewise cherished, unspoken, this same wish — to give his daughter to the Lord in marriage. Then, as providence would have it, Śacī summoned Kāśīnātha Paṇḍita and said to him: "My son, hear one word: tell Rājapaṇḍita that, if it be his wish, let him then give his daughter in marriage to my son." Kāśīnātha Paṇḍita set off at that very moment, calling upon Durgā and Kṛṣṇa, toward Rājapaṇḍita's own house. Seeing Kāśīnātha, Rājapaṇḍita himself, with great respect, brought out a seat for him and, with all due courtesy, asked him: "For what purpose have you come?" Kāśīnātha said: "There is one matter — if it appeals to your heart, then agree to it with all your will."

Explanation. Kāśīnātha Paṇḍita was a professional matchmaker (ghaṭaka) residing at Navadvīpa. In the Lord's earlier, Dvāpara pastime, it was this same person who, as the one whom King Satrājit sent to Śrī Kṛṣṇa to propose the marriage of his own daughter Satyabhāmā, now appears in Gaura's pastime as Kāśīnātha Paṇḍita (Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā 50).

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V.237–243. [Kāśīnātha said:] "Give your daughter to Viśvambhara Paṇḍita [the Lord] — this match befits you in every way. That divine husband alone is worthy of your daughter, and this most virtuous lady alone is a fitting wife for Him — just as Kṛṣṇa and Rukmiṇī were mutually suited to one another, so too are Viṣṇupriyā and Nimāñi Paṇḍita." Hearing this, the brāhmaṇa, together with his wife and all his kinsfolk, began to deliberate, weighing what each of them thought; and all of them said: "What further need is there to deliberate? By all means go at once and see this matter through." Then Rājapaṇḍita, his heart full of joy, said to Kāśīnātha Paṇḍita: "I shall in every way give my daughter in marriage to Viśvambhara Paṇḍita, O brāhmaṇa — there is nothing more to be said."

V.244–250. [Kāśīnātha, in turn, said to Rājapaṇḍita:] "If it be the good fortune of my whole family, then may this daughter attain just such a match. Go yourself, then, and tell them everything there; I have already given my word most firmly — it shall by all means be done." Hearing this, the excellent Kāśīnātha Miśra returned with great satisfaction and related the whole matter before Śacī. Hearing that the matter was settled, mother Śacī was well pleased, and all the preparations at once began. Hearing of the Lord's marriage, all His disciples were filled with the greatest joy. Buddhimanta Mahāśaya spoke up first: "Let the whole expense of this wedding fall upon me." Mukunda Sañjaya replied: "Listen, my friend and brother — must the whole burden be yours, and none at all mine?"

Explanation. Buddhimanta Khān was an extremely wealthy and generous brāhmaṇa of Navadvīpa, deeply devoted to the Lord — "Buddhimanta Khān, so very dear to Caitanya, was from birth His obedient servant, foremost among His attendants" (Cc. 1.10.72) — and it was he who, of his own will and out of pure love, bore the entire expense of the Lord's wedding with Viṣṇupriyā Devī. A variant reading at payar 250 — "is the whole burden truly mine [alone]?" in place of "must the whole burden be yours" — suggests that Mukunda Sañjaya wished to share half the expense himself.

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V.251–257. Buddhimanta Khān said: "Listen, everyone — in this wedding there shall be nothing done in the humble style of a poor brāhmaṇa's marriage; I shall see to it that this wedding of the Paṇḍita [the Lord] is conducted in such splendor that people will take it for a prince's own." Then all together, on an auspicious day and at an auspicious hour, they joyfully fixed the moment for the adhivāsa rite [the ceremony performed on the eve of the wedding proper]. Great canopies were stretched out on every side, and plantain trees were brought and set up all around; full water-pots, lamps, unhusked paddy, curd, mango leaves, and every other article of good omen that custom prescribes were gathered together in one place, and the whole ground was traced over with ālpanā, the auspicious rice-paste designs. Every Vaiṣṇava and every brāhmaṇa, indeed every worthy person to be found in Navadvīpa, was invited.

V.258–265. [Each invitee was told:] "Come to the adhivāsa and partake of betel in the evening." As the afternoon came on, the musicians arrived and struck up their music — mṛdaṅga, śānāi, jaya-ḍhāk, and cymbals, a whole tumult of instruments rising up. Bards recited verses of praise (rāyabāra), and the chaste women of the house raised the ululating cry of victory (jaya-jayakāra). The brāhmaṇas began the loud recitation of Vedic mantras befitting the occasion, and in their midst sat that jewel of the twice-born race [the Lord Himself], with the assembly of brāhmaṇas seated all around, every mind filled with eager wonder. Then sandal-paste, betel, and fine garlands were brought out and given, one by one, to each of the brāhmaṇas — a garland for the head, sandal-paste smeared over the whole body, and to each a single box of betel-leaf.

Explanation. Ādhivāsa-sāmagrī, "the articles for the adhivāsa" — according to Śrīpāda Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī's Satkriyā-sāra-dīpikā, the prescribed articles for this rite are: Gaṅgā-clay, fragrant substances, a stone, unhusked paddy, dūrvā grass, flowers, fruit, curd, ghee, the auspicious svastika mark, vermilion, a conch, collyrium, gorocanā, mustard seed, a horn, silver, thread, a lamp, a mirror, fragrant powder, a turmeric-dyed cord, sacred thread, a cāmara whisk, and a cloth.

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V.266–273. Navadvīpa was full of brāhmaṇas — so many came and went that no end of them could be counted. Among them were not a few who were most covetous: having received their share once, they would slip away, change their dress, and come round again as though new arrivals, again and again, mingling in the great crowd, carrying off sandal-paste, betel-nut, and garlands each time unrecognized. The Lord Himself saw all this, and only smiled; then He quietly gave the order that everyone — whoever came, and however many times — should be given betel and garlands: "Let there be no anxious counting; give freely to whoever wishes it, three times over." Whoever had taken once, and came to take yet again, was thus provided for by this very order of the Lord's: "Should someone later recognize a man and speak ill of him for it, that would be a real fault, a sin incurred through such deceit" — this was the thought hidden in the Lord's heart, dear as He was to brāhmaṇas: "If everyone receives his portion three times over, their want will be entirely satisfied, and they will no longer need to resort to any trickery at all."

Explanation. Pratikāra, "shielding" or "remedy," here means protection both from public disgrace and from the sin such deceit would otherwise incur; see the three payars above. By His own quiet order that every single person be given his portion three times over, the Lord ensured that the covetous brāhmaṇas' inward craving would be so fully satisfied that they would feel no further need to resort to any deceitful means — and so He spared them equally from public humiliation and from sin. Without the Lord's own mercy, a person, even receiving some desired thing again and again through legitimate means, will still resort to illegitimate means to obtain still more of it; such is the nature of greed. It was to forestall precisely this that the Lord acted as He did.

V.274–280. Having received their portion three times over, everyone was well content, and no one resorted to deceit any further. In this way garlands, sandal-paste, and betel became, as it were, inexhaustible — no one could fathom quite how. Whatever the people took, however much fell upon the ground meant for distribution among them, it was still enough, had it been needed, to see through even five such weddings at once. Every heart was filled with delight, and all exclaimed: "Blessed, blessed, thrice blessed is this adhivāsa! We have indeed beheld, here in Navadvīpa, the very lord of countless riches — no father anywhere has ever held so magnificent an adhivāsa as this!"

Explanation. Haila ananta, "became inexhaustible": though everyone was given garlands, betel, and the rest three times over, still these articles suffered no diminishment whatsoever. It was Anantadeva [Śeṣa] himself who, manifesting in the very form of these garlands, betel-nuts, and the rest, was thereby rendering service to the Lord — for, as explained in the commentary on payar 1.1.6, this same Anantadeva is capable of manifesting himself as whatever article of service the Lord's pastime requires. That it was Anantadeva who, in this way, served the Lord throughout the adhivāsa in the very form of the betel and garlands, no one there present could perceive — such was the working of the Lord's own pastime-potency.

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V.281–286. Then Rājapaṇḍita, his heart full of joy, arrived bringing all the articles for the adhivāsa, together with the brāhmaṇas and his own kinsfolk, amid a great tumult of music, dance, and song. With deep reverence, and in the prescribed Vedic manner, at the auspicious hour, they touched the Lord with fragrant substances [performed the gandha-sparśa rite proper to the adhivāsa]. At that very moment a great cry of "Jaya! Jaya! Hari!" arose, and the chaste women pronounced words of blessing and victory; amid music and song it seemed as if the very embodiment of supreme bliss had descended there. Having thus completed the auspicious rite of adhivāsa, Sanātana, the foremost of brāhmaṇas, returned to his own home.

V.287–293. In just this same way, the Lord's own intimate attendants went and performed the adhivāsa rite for Lakṣmī [Viṣṇupriyā] as well, at an auspicious hour; and every other custom of the folk (lokācāra) proper to the occasion, both households joyfully carried out. Then, early the next morning, after bathing in the Gaṅgā and first worshipping Viṣṇu, Gauracandra Bhagavān, together with all His own intimate circle, sat down to perform the nāndīmukha rite [the propitiatory rite for one's departed ancestors, prescribed before any auspicious undertaking]. Music, dance, and song rose up in a great tumult, and cries of "Jaya! Jaya!" went up on every side, auspicious and joyful. Full water-pots, unhusked paddy, curd, lamps, and mango leaves were set up without number at every door and courtyard, and banners of every hue fluttered on all sides; plantain trees were planted and mango-boughs bound in place.

Explanation. Nāndīmukha-karma is a rite of auspicious observance that a householder must perform before any joyous undertaking such as a marriage. It is also called the nāndīmukha-śrāddha, or the ābhyudayika-śrāddha and vṛddhi-śrāddha. "One's father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and, on the mother's side, one's grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather — these six are called nāndīmukha"; the offering of piṇḍa is performed for the sake of the satisfaction of these six ancestors (per the Śabda-kalpadruma lexicon).

V.294–300. Then mother Śacī, together with the chaste women of the house, joyfully carried out the customary folk-rites. First they worshipped the Gaṅgā with glad hearts, then, amid music, went to the shrine of Ṣaṣṭhī; having worshipped Ṣaṣṭhī, they went from house to house among their kinsfolk performing the customary folk-rites, and then returned home. Then they filled the hands of the women with puffed rice, plantain, oil, betel, and vermilion, giving to each in turn; by the Lord's own power these articles, too, proved inexhaustible, and Śacī gave to each woman five or seven times over. All the women then bathed in the oil thus given — so overflowing was the supply that not one felt her portion insufficient. Thus did the mother of Lakṣmī [Viṣṇupriyā's own mother] rejoice with the greatest delight in her daughter's house.

Explanation. Ṣaṣṭhī is Ṣaṣṭhī-devī, a village deity; it is popularly believed that her grace brings long life and well-being to one's children.

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V.301–306. Śrī Sanātana Paṇḍita, his heart overflowing with delight, cast in the whole of his wealth without any reserve, and floated upon a very sea of bliss. Having thus seen every prescribed rite through to its completion, Śrī Gaurasundara sat down for a while at ease. Then, giving food and fine cloth to all the assembled brāhmaṇas, that most excellent of hosts gave to every one of them full satisfaction; to each according to his worth, and to each a gift befitting him, he rendered honor to the whole company alike. The brāhmaṇas, in the greatest affection, pronounced their blessings and all set off homeward to take their meal. Then, as the afternoon came on, the Lord's own attendants began to array Him in the adornment befitting a bridegroom.

Explanation. Beśa — the ornamentation and dress proper to a bridegroom on his wedding day.

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V.307–313. They anointed His whole body with sandal-paste, and worked fragrant compound into it everywhere, layer upon layer. Upon His forehead they traced a crescent of sandal-paste, and in its very center a lovely tilaka mark of fragrant paste. A wondrous crown shone upon His head, and His whole body was covered over with fragrant garlands. They dressed Him in a fine silken wedding-cloth, tied in the three-fold trikaccha style, and lined His eyes with collyrium. Having bound paddy-grain, dūrvā grass, and a thread about His hand, they gave Him a fresh plantain-shoot and a mirror to hold. Two golden earrings shone at the roots of His ears, and an ornament of nine gems was bound about His upper arm. Thus, whatever beauty belongs to whatever limb, all of it did His attendants arrange there in its fullness, and with the greatest delight.

Explanation. Gandha is a fragrant compound made from aguru and similar substances. Trikaccha-vidhāna, "the three-fold tucking" of the wedding-cloth — see the commentary on payar 1.6.184. Rastā means the plantain; rastā-mañjarī is a fresh plantain-shoot; sūtra kare means binding a thread about the hand — these, together with paddy and dūrvā grass bound to the wrist, and a mirror and plantain-shoot placed in the hand, are among the customary articles a Bengali bridegroom holds. Nava-ratna, "the nine gems," are pearl, ruby, cat's-eye (vaidūrya), gomeda, diamond, coral, padmarāga, emerald, and sapphire (per the Amara-prakāśa lexicon); śruti-mūle means "at the root of the ear," i.e., the earlobe. Variant readings exist for this couplet: "sāje" ("adorns") for "dole" ("swings"), and "bāhu-mājhe" ("in the middle of the arm") for "bāhu-mūle" ("at the base of the arm") — in any case, an armlet of nine gems bound about the upper arm is meant.

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V.314–317. Beholding the Lord's form, every man and woman there was overwhelmed, forgetting themselves entirely. When but a single prahara of daylight yet remained, everyone said: "Now make your auspicious departure! First circle the whole of Navadvīpa for a prahara, and then, at the hour of godhūli [the cow-dust hour, dusk], go on to the bride's house." Then Buddhimanta Khān, having had a divine palanquin made ready, brought it forward in delight and set it in place.

Explanation. Śubha vijaya is the auspicious departure undertaken for the purpose of going to the wedding-hall. The word dolā here means specifically a caturdolā, a palanquin borne aloft on the shoulders of four (or more) bearers — for a bridegroom customarily travels to the wedding in just such a conveyance. Buddhimanta Khān had, in every particular, arranged for the Lord's wedding a splendor fit for a prince; hence a tall and stately caturdolā, borne up by several men together, is clearly what is intended here.

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V.318–323. There arose a supreme tumult of music and song, and the brāhmaṇas raised auspicious Vedic chanting. The bards began to recite the rāyabāra, the panegyric verses proper to such an occasion, and on every side it seemed as though Ānanda [Bliss] itself had descended there in bodily form. Then the Lord circumambulated His mother in reverence, and, bowing to the assembled brāhmaṇas, paid them the highest honor. Śrī Gaurāṅga Mahāśaya then took His seat upon the palanquin, and on every side arose the auspicious cry of victory; the women raised the ululating jaya-jayakāra, and there was no sound anywhere but this one auspicious din. First of all He made His auspicious departure to the bank of the Gaṅgā — and there, the poet tells us, "He bore the full moon upon His head."

Explanation. A variant reading for payar 321 has "Gaurāṅga" in place of "maṅgala" [i.e., the cry raised was "Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!" rather than a generic auspicious shout].

The second half of payar 323 — "pūrṇacandra dharilena śirera upare," "He bore the full moon upon His head" — does not, in the author's own judgment, yield its intended meaning easily; several possible readings may be offered here for the consideration of the discerning, though which of them, if any, is truly satisfactory must be left to their own scrutiny. Taken in its first, literal sense, pūrṇacandra would mean the moon itself, full-orbed in the sky, as seen on the night of the full moon; and dharilena, "he held" or "he bore." But understood so, the line yields no coherent sense at all — for no one can seize hold of the full moon shining in the sky above his own head, nor bring it down from the heavens to rest it upon his own head or another's; nor, in any case, could the moon in its literal sense be visible in the sky at all at this hour, a single prahara before evening. Let us, then, consider the word's secondary sense. In its secondary sense, "pūrṇacandra" may denote a face as captivating and as lovely as the full moon. The Lord's own face, arrayed in His bridal splendor, was every bit as spotless and enchanting as the unblemished full moon; and since He sat, at that moment, in the palanquin borne up on the bearers' shoulders, that very moon-like face of His was, quite literally, held aloft above the heads of everyone there. From this a serviceable meaning does emerge: the Lord bore up, above the heads of all present, His own face — a face as lovely and as captivating to every heart as the spotless full moon. One might compare this to how five-faced Śiva is said "to bear five faces," or four-faced Brahmā "to bear four faces" — so, too, may it be said of Gaurasundara, whose face was like the full moon, that "He bore the full moon [in its secondary sense] aloft." The essential meaning, then, would be that everyone beheld, above their own heads, the Lord's moon-like face, held aloft there in the palanquin — that face being the Lord's very own. Yet even granting that such a meaning can be drawn out, it cannot be denied that it is a strained one. Alternatively, if the Lord had, for some reason, at that very moment raised His own hand to His own face, one could equally say that "He held His own moon-like face" — but this, too, is no less a strained construction. (A variant reading has dekhilena, "beheld," in place of dharilena, "held" or "bore" — yielding, roughly, "everyone beheld the full moon above their heads" — but this reading fares no better, since who beheld it is left wholly unspecified, and, in any case, no literal full moon can ever be seen in the sky, above anyone's head, at an hour still short of evening.)

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V.324–336. Thousands upon thousands of lamps were lit, and every manner of festive spectacle began. Ahead of all marched Buddhimanta Khān's own armed retainers, advancing in two files as a guard of honor; banners of every hue followed behind them, and jesters, variously and colorfully attired, went along making their sport. Troupes of dancers beyond counting danced on in the greatest delight; jaya-ḍhāk, vīra-ḍhāk, mṛdaṅga, kāhāl, paṭaha, ḍagaṛ, conch-shells, flutes, cymbals, bargo, and horns — the whole fivefold ensemble of instruments sounded together, and who could ever number all the instruments that played there? Lakhs upon lakhs of children moved among the musicians, dancing about at the sight of the Lord and laughing for joy at that great spectacle — what wonder, then, that even the most sober and learned should cast off their reserve and dance as well? Coming first to the bank of the Gaṅgā, they paused there a while for dance, song, and joyful music; then, showering flowers and bowing before the Gaṅgā, they wandered on in sport throughout the whole of Navadvīpa. Beholding this superhuman splendor of a wedding, everyone's heart was filled with the greatest wonder, and all exclaimed: "We have witnessed many a grand wedding, but never, in any age, one so magnificent as this!" Seeing the Lord in this way, every man and woman — all the fortunate souls of Nadīyā — floated in bliss.

Explanation. Pāṭoẏāra is an armed foot-soldier, a sentinel (per the Amara-prakāśa lexicon); Buddhimanta Khān's own retainers marched ahead of the palanquin, variously armed, in two files. Vidūṣaka denotes one who makes jests and pleasantries in speech; nānā kāche means "variously and colorfully attired." Payars 328–329 list a great many musical instruments by name; variant readings exist for a few of them — "kāṛā" for "paṭaha," and "toḍaṅga" for "bargo." Īśvare refers to Gauracandra. Amānuṣī means "superhuman" — of a kind never witnessed in the world of ordinary mortals.

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V.337–341. Now, all those brāhmaṇas who had lovely daughters of their own at home grew despondent at the sight, saying: "We could not give our daughter to a bridegroom such as this — surely it is our own want of merit; how, then, could it ever have come about?" Obeisance at the feet of the people of Navadvīpa, who alone had the power to witness such bliss as this! In this way the Lord wandered, town to town, joyfully throughout the whole of Navadvīpa; and, as the hour of godhūli [dusk] came on, He arrived at Rājapaṇḍita's own house.

Explanation. Vimariṣa means "despondent, sorrowful" (a variant reading has "tabe" for the second "sabe" in payar 337).

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V.342–353. A great cry of victory arose there, and the two wedding-bands — bride's side and groom's side — struck up their music, each vying loudly with the other. Rājapaṇḍita himself came forward with the greatest reverence and, lifting the Lord down from the palanquin, seated Him upon his own lap; he showered flowers over Him in his own delight, and, beholding his son-in-law, was so overcome with joy that he lost all awareness of his own body. Then the brāhmaṇas came forward to perform the varaṇa rite [the formal ceremonial welcome of the bridegroom], bringing with them all the articles proper to it, and duly offered pādya [water for the feet], arghya, ācamanī [sipping-water], cloth, and ornaments, according to the prescribed rite. Then Rājapaṇḍita's own wife, together with the women of the house, came forward to perform the auspicious rites: they placed paddy and dūrvā grass upon the Lord's head, and waved before Him the ārati lamp with its seven wicks of ghee; scattering puffed rice and cowries, they raised the cry of victory — and so, in this manner, they performed every one of the customary folk-rites. Then, adorned with every ornament, Lakṣmī Devī [Viṣṇupriyā] was brought forth and seated upon her own āsana; and the Lord's own attendants, with joy, lifted the Lord as well onto His seat. Then, holding up a cloth between them as a screen, according to folk custom, they made the bride and groom circle one another seven times; and Lakṣmī, having circled seven times, came to stand before Him with folded hands in obeisance.

Explanation. The two wedding-bands, dui bādya-bhāṇḍa, belonged respectively to the bridegroom's party and the bride's party, and played in loud and joyful rivalry with one another. Deha nāhi jāne — Rājapaṇḍita, overcome with an excess of joy, lost all awareness even of his own body (variant readings keha and dohā shift the sense slightly: either "no one there could be aware of anything else," everyone having become equally lost in bliss at the sight of his son-in-law Gauracandra, or "he knew of no second thing anywhere" apart from Gauracandra — his entire consciousness having become absorbed and dissolved in Him alone). Varaṇa-byabahāra is the customary conduct proper to the ceremonial reception of a bridegroom. Antaḥpaṭa is a cloth held up between bride and groom to screen them from onlookers during this part of the rite; Lakṣmī here, as throughout, denotes Viṣṇupriyā, "she who is like Lakṣmī."

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V.354–365. Then a shower of flowers began to pass back and forth between them, and the two wedding-bands struck up their music with the greatest force; on every side, men and women alike raised the cry of victory, and it seemed as though Ānanda itself had come down and taken up its own residence there. First, Lakṣmī, the mother of the universe, offered herself at the Lord's own feet, placing a garland about them; then Gaurācandra Prabhu, smiling gently, lifted the garland up and placed it about Lakṣmī's neck. Then flowers began to be exchanged between Lakṣmī and Nārāyaṇa [between bride and groom] in the greatest eagerness and delight; and, unseen by any mortal eye, Brahmā and all the gods, too, joined in showering flowers there in their own sport. In joyous rivalry, the bride's people and the groom's people each lifted up their own — now the groom's party would raise the Lord up high, now the bride's party would raise Lakṣmī — each side laughingly telling the Lord, again and again, who had won. The Lord smiled gently, His lovely face alight, and all who saw Him smiled back in the very bliss of paradise. Thousands upon thousands of great oil-lamps blazed, and the ear could catch nothing at all amid the tumult of music. Amid the great and triumphant din raised at that mutual first beholding of their faces [the śubha-dṛṣṭi], it seemed as if the whole universe itself had been touched by the sound. In this way, having exchanged that first auspicious glance in the greatest delight, Śrī Gaurasundara took His seat together with Lakṣmī.

Explanation. Ānanda āsiyā, "Ānanda [Bliss] itself descended" — so very great was everyone's joy that it seemed as if Bliss personified had come down to dwell there in person. Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇe means Viṣṇupriyā and Gaurācandra, toward one another. Ānande bibāde, "in joyous rivalry" (a variant reads ānanda): a playful contest of joy, in which lakṣmī-gaṇe — the people of the bride's party — and prabhu-gaṇe — the people of the groom's party — each lifted up their own candidate, each trying to outdo the other. Mukha-candrikā is the mutual, mangala first sight exchanged between bride and groom — the śubha-dṛṣṭi of Bengali custom.

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V.366–373. Then Rājapaṇḍita, his heart full of the greatest joy, resolved to perform the formal gift of his daughter [kanyā-sampradāna]. Duly offering pādya, arghya, and ācamanī according to the prescribed rite, he took up the ritual vow [saṅkalpa]. Desiring only the pleasure of Viṣṇu, Lakṣmī's own father placed his daughter's hand into the Lord's own hand. Then, giving many gifts as dowry — fine milch-cows, land, a bedstead, and maidservants and menservants — he rejoiced with delight. Lakṣmī was seated at the Lord's left side, and then, at the last, the rite of homa [the sacred fire-offering] was performed. Having carried out every observance of Vedic rite and folk custom alike, they then brought the bride and groom into the house. (Vaikuṇṭha itself, as it were, had come to dwell in Rājapaṇḍita's house; and then they went in to sit down together for the wedding feast.) Having eaten, they passed a joyous and most auspicious night; Lakṣmī and Kṛṣṇa remained together there in delight.

Explanation. Varaṇa-byabahāra and the rites of pādya, arghya, and ācamanī here belong to the kanyā-sampradāna, the formal bestowal of the bride, distinct from the earlier varaṇa of the bridegroom. The couplet at payar 372 — "Vaikuṇṭha itself had come to dwell in Rājapaṇḍita's house" — stands set off in parentheses in the source itself, marking it as a couplet of doubtful authenticity, possibly a later interpolation; it is rendered here all the same, since no manuscript authority for omitting it outright is cited.

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V.374–380. Throughout Sanātana Paṇḍita's whole household, such joy arose as no one there could ever fully tell. Nagnajit, Janaka, Bhīṣmaka, and Jāmbavān — how blessed were they, in ages past, to have given their own daughters [Nāgnajitī, Sītā, Rukmiṇī, and Jāmbavatī] to the Lord in marriage! That very same fortune has Sanātana now attained, together with his whole family, by virtue of his own past service unto Viṣṇu. Then, whatever folk-customs remained to be performed on the morning after that night, He who is the very essence of all the worlds duly saw them all carried out. When the afternoon came on, the hour arrived for the return home, and music, dance, and song swelled once more to a great tumult. On every side arose the cry of victory, and the women raised their ululating jaya-kāra; the brāhmaṇas pronounced their blessings, and everyone began reciting the ślokas proper to a departure.

Explanation. Nagnajit was the father of Nāgnajitī, one of Śrī Kṛṣṇa's principal queens; Janaka was the father of Sītā Devī, queen of Śrī Rāmacandra; Bhīṣmaka was the father of Rukmiṇī Devī, queen of Śrī Kṛṣṇa; Jāmbavān was the father of Jāmbavatī, likewise a queen of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-bhuvanera sāra, "the very essence of all the worlds," refers to Śrī Gaurāṅga Himself.

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V.381–390. Ḍhāk, paṭaha, śānāi, bargo, and cymbals sounded on every side, each instrument vying loudly with the next; then the Lord, bowing to all the honored elders present, mounted the palanquin together with Lakṣmī. Crying "Hari! Hari!" amid the raised cry of victory, that jewel of the twice-born race set off, taking her with Him. All the people who saw them pass along the road blessed them again and again, in every manner of praise. Women, seeing them, exclaimed: "How blessed is she! For how many births must she have served Kamalā and Pārvatī, to attain a fortune such as this!" Some said: "Surely this is Hara and Gaurī"; others, "Surely this is Kamalā and Śrī Hari"; others still, "These two, surely, are Kāmadeva and Rati"; and others, "To my mind, these are Indra and Śacī." Yet others said: "Surely this is Rāmacandra and Sītā" — so spoke all the pious and fortunate women there. Blessed indeed were the men and women of Nadīyā who had the good fortune to witness such splendor! By the very auspicious glance of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, all the people of Nadīyā were filled, that day, with the deepest bliss.

Explanation. The instrument-names in payar 381 have variant readings, as in the earlier procession scene. Sarva-bhuvanera sāra — see the previous note. A variant for payar 390 reads "hena nadīyāte" or "e navadvīpete" in place of "haila nadīyāte," without altering the sense.

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V.391–397. Amid dance, song, music, and a constant shower of flowers, they came on in the greatest delight along the whole of the road; and then, at an auspicious moment, amid every good omen, Lakṣmī and Kṛṣṇa arrived home in the greatest joy. Then mother Śacī, together with the chaste and devoted women of the house, joyfully brought the new daughter-in-law into her home. Having come home, Lakṣmī and Nārāyaṇa took their seats, and the whole universe seemed filled with the sound of victory. What bliss there was that day is beyond all telling — what person could ever describe that glory? Whoever beholds, with his own eyes, the very form of the Lord's wedding — though he be laden with every kind of sin — goes even so to the abode of Vaikuṇṭha, freed from it all. That very wedding of the Lord the people of Nadīyā beheld directly, with their own eyes; and it is for this very reason that He bears the name "the compassionate protector of the fallen" [dayāmaya dīna-nātha].

Explanation. Mūrti here means the very form, the very image, of the Deity; bibhā means "wedding." Sarva-pāpa-yukto — "though joined with every kind of sin" — a variant reading softens this to sarva-pāpa-mukta, "freed from all sin," but the unsoftened reading conveys the far more remarkable claim that the source itself intends: that the sheer potency of beholding this wedding-pastime directly delivers to Vaikuṇṭha even a soul burdened with every conceivable sin, not merely one already free of it.

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V.398–405. Then the Lord gave satisfaction, with cloth, wealth, and kind words, to all the actors, bards, and beggars gathered there; and to all the brāhmaṇas and His own attendants, the Lord Himself, in delight, personally gave cloth to each one. The Lord then embraced Buddhimanta Khān — his joy on that account was beyond all telling. These pastimes of the Lord never truly come to any end or destruction — the Vedas themselves declare that His every "appearance" and "disappearance" is of this same nature. Whatever pastimes have thus occurred within but a single day, who could ever describe them all, even given a hundred years to do so? Bearing upon my head the command of Śrī Nityānanda Svarūpa, I have written only the barest thread of an account, according to the measure of His own mercy. Whoever reads or hears of these pastimes of the Lord shall surely come, in the end, to sport together with Gaurācandra Himself. Knowing Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Nityānanda-candra to be one and the same truth, Vṛndāvana Dāsa sings at the pair of Their feet.

Explanation. Ei saba līlāra kabhu nāhi paricheda, "these pastimes never truly come to any end" — even the Lord's manifest pastimes (prakaṭa-līlā), performed after His descent into a given universe, are themselves eternal. When a given pastime concludes within one universe, that very same pastime is, at that same instant, still unfolding in another; hence, though a manifest pastime appears to begin and end within any single universe — exactly as an ordinary embodied being's birth and death appear to begin and end — considered across the sum total of all universes, no pastime of the Lord's is ever truly extinguished. (This matter is discussed at length in the commentary on Caitanya-caritāmṛta 2.20.319–325, and see also the note on payar 1.2.282 above.) Kṛpā-anusāre, "according to His mercy" — that is, according to the mercy of Śrī Nityānanda. (On the closing verse, see the commentary on payar 1.2.285.)

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ইতি শ্রীচৈতন্যভাগবতে আদিখণ্ডে শ্রীবিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া-পরিণয়-বর্ণনং নাম দশমোঽধ্যায়ঃ॥ ১০॥

Thus ends the Tenth Chapter, entitled "The Description of Śrī Viṣṇupriyā's Marriage," in the Ādi-khaṇḍa of Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata.

ইতি আদিখণ্ডে দশম অধ্যায়ের নিতাই-করুণা-কল্লোলিনী টীকা সমাপ্তা।

Thus concludes the Nitāi-karuṇā-kallolinī commentary on the Tenth Chapter of the Ādi-khaṇḍa.