Lord Caitanya distributed love of Krishna through chanting and dancing, transforming the world in forty-eight blessed years.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Chanting Cc Ādi-līlā 13th Chapter, Verses 1–124 — July 13, 1974, Los Angeles 740713CH-LOS ANGELES [22:58 Minutes] Chanting Cc-Adi-13th Ch_740713CH-LOS ANGELES The Advent of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Prabhupāda: Hmm. TEXT 1 sa prasīdatu caitanyadevo yasya prasādataḥ tal-līlā-varṇane yogyaḥ sadyaḥ syād adhamo ‘py ayam I wish the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, by whose mercy even one who is fallen can describe the pastimes of the Lord. TEXT 2 jaya jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya gauracandra jayādvaitacandra jaya jaya nityānanda All glories to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Advaitacandra! All glories to Lord Nityānanda Prabhu! TEXT 3 jaya jaya gadādhara jaya śrīnivāsa jaya mukunda vāsudeva jaya haridāsa All glories to Gadādhara Prabhu! All glories to Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura!
All glories to Mukunda Prabhu and Vāsudeva Prabhu! All glories to Haridāsa Ṭhākura! TEXT 4 jaya dāmodara-svarūpa jaya murāri gupta ei saba candrodaye tamaḥ kaila lupta All glories to Svarūpa Dāmodara and Murāri Gupta! All these brilliant moons have together dissipated the darkness of this material world. TEXT 5 jaya śrī-caitanyacandrera bhakta candra-gaṇa sabāra prema jyotsnāya ujjvala tri-bhuvana All glories to the moons who are devotees of the principal moon, Lord Caitanyacandra! Their bright moonshine illuminates the entire universe. TEXT 6 ei ta’ kahila granthārambhe mukha-bandha ebe kahi caitanya-līlā-krama-anubandha Thus I have spoken the preface of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Now I shall describe Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pastimes in chronological order. TEXT 7 prathame ta’ sūtra-rūpe kariye gaṇana pācṭe tāhā vistāri kariba vivaraṇa First let me give a synopsis of the Lord’s pastimes. Then I shall describe them in detail. TEXT 8 śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya navadvīpe avatari āṭa-calliśa vatsara prakaṭa vihari Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, adventing Himself in Navadvīpa, was visible for forty-eight years, enjoying His pastimes. TEXT 9 caudda-śata sāta śake janmera pramāṇa caudda-śata pañcānne ha-ila antardhāna In the year 1407 of the Śaka Era (A.D. 1486), Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared, and in the year 1455 (A.D. 1534) He disappeared from this world. TEXT 10 cabbiśa vatsara prabhu kaila gṛha-vāsa nirantara kaila kṛṣṇa-kīrtana-vilāsa For twenty-four years Lord Caitanya lived in the gṛhastha-āśrama [household life], always engaging in the pastimes of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. TEXT 11 cabbiśa vatsara-śeṣe kariyā sannyāsa āra cabbiśa vatsara kaila nīlācale vāsa After twenty-four years He accepted the renounced order of life, sannyāsa, and He resided for twenty-four years more at Jagannātha Purī. TEXT 12 tāra madhye chaya vatsara—gamanāgamana kabhu dakṣiṇa, kabhu gauḍa, kabhu vṛndāvana Of these last twenty-four years, He spent the first six continually touring India, sometimes in South India, sometimes in Bengal and sometimes in Vṛndāvana. TEXT 13 aṣṭādaśa vatsara rahilā nīlācale kṛṣṇa-prema-nāmāmṛte bhāsā’la sakale For the remaining eighteen years He continuously stayed in Jagannātha Purī.
Chanting the nectarean Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, He inundated everyone there in a flood of love of Kṛṣṇa. TEXT 14 gārhasthye prabhura līlā—‘ādi’-līlākhyāna ‘madhya’- ‘antya’-līlā—śeṣa-līlāra dui nāma The pastimes of His household life are known as the ādi-līlā, or the original pastimes. His later pastimes are known as the madhya-līlā and antya-līlā, or the middle and final pastimes. TEXT 15 ādi-līlā-madhye prabhura yateka carita sūtra-rūpe murāri gupta karilā grathita All the pastimes enacted by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His ādi-līlā were recorded in summary form by Murāri Gupta. TEXT 16 prabhura ye śeṣa-līlā svarūpa-dāmodara sūtra kari’ granthilena granthera bhitara His later pastimes [the madhya-līlā and antya-līlā] were recorded in the form of notes by His secretary, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, and thus kept within a book. TEXT 17 ei dui janera sūtra dekhiyā śuniyā varṇanā karena vaiṣṇava krama ye kariyā By seeing and hearing the notes recorded by these two great personalities, a Vaiṣṇava, a devotee of the Lord, can know these pastimes one after another. TEXT 18 bālya, paugaṇḍa, kaiśora, yauvana,—cāri bheda ataeva ādi-khaṇḍe līlā cāri bheda In His original pastimes there are four divisions: bālya, paugaṇḍa, kaiśora and yauvana [childhood, early boyhood, later boyhood and youth]. TEXT 19 sarva-sad-guṇa-pūrṇāṁ tāṁ vande phālguna-pūrṇimām yasyāṁ śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanyo ’vatīrṇaḥ kṛṣṇa-nāmabhiḥ I offer my respectful obeisances unto the full-moon evening in the month of Phālguna, an auspicious time full of auspicious symptoms, when Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu advented Himself with the chanting of the holy name, Hare Kṛṣṇa. TEXT 20 phālguna-pūrṇimā-sandhyāya prabhura janmodaya sei-kāle daiva-yoge candra-grahaṇa haya On the full-moon evening of the month of Phālguna when the Lord took birth, coincidentally there was also a lunar eclipse. TEXT 21 ‘hari’ ‘hari’ bale loka haraṣita hañā janmilā caitanya-prabhu ‘nāma’ janmāiyā In jubilation everyone was chanting the holy name of the Lord—“Hari! Hari!”—and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then appeared, after first causing the appearance of the holy name. TEXT 22 janma-bālya-paugaṇḍa-kaiśora-yuvā-kāle hari-nāma laoyāilā prabhu nānā chale At His birth, in His childhood and in His early and later boyhood, as well as in His youth, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, under different pleas, induced people to chant the holy name of Hari [the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra]. TEXT 23 bālya-bhāva chale prabhu karena krandana ‘kṛṣṇa’ ‘hari’ nāma śuni’ rahaye rodana In His childhood, when the Lord was crying He would stop immediately upon hearing the holy names Kṛṣṇa and Hari. TEXT 24 ataeva ‘hari’ ‘hari’ bale nārīgaṇa dekhite āise yebā sarva bandhu jana All the friendly ladies who came to see the child would chant the holy names, “Hari, Hari!” as soon as the child would cry. TEXT 25 ‘gaurahari’ bali’ tāre hāse sarva nārī ataeva haila tāṭra nāma ‘gaurahari’ When all the ladies saw this fun, they enjoyed laughing and called the Lord “Gaurahari.” From then on, Gaurahari became another of His names. TEXT 26 bālya vayasa—yāvat hāte khaḍi dila paugaṇḍa vayasa—yāvat vivāha nā kaila His childhood lasted until the date of hāte khaḍi, the beginning of His education, and His age from the end of His childhood until He married is called paugaṇḍa.
TEXT 27 vivāha karile haila navīna yauvana sarvatra laoyāila prabhu nāma-saṅkīrtana After His marriage His youth began, and in His youth He induced everyone to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra anywhere and everywhere. TEXT 28 paugaṇḍa-vayase paḍena, paḍāna śiṣyagaṇe sarvatra karena kṛṣṇa-nāmera vyākhyāne During His paugaṇḍa age He became a serious student and also taught disciples. In this way He used to explain the holy name of Kṛṣṇa everywhere. TEXT 29 sūtra-vṛtti-pāṭji-ṭīkā kṛṣṇete tātparya śiṣyera pratīta haya,—prabhāva āścarya When teaching a course in grammar [vyākaraṇa] and explaining it with notes, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught His disciples about the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa. All explanations culminated in Kṛṣṇa, and His disciples would understand them very easily. Thus His influence was wonderful. TEXT 30 yāre dekhe, tāre kahe,—kaha kṛṣṇa-nāma kṛṣṇa-nāme bhāsāila navadvīpa-grāma When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a student, He asked whomever He met to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.
In this way He inundated the whole town of Navadvīpa with the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. TEXT 31 kiśora vayase ārambhilā saṅkīrtana rātra-dine preme nṛtya, saṅge bhakta-gaṇa Just prior to His youthful life, He began the saṅkīrtana movement. Day and night He used to dance in ecstasy with His devotees. TEXT 32 nagare nagare bhrame kīrtana kariyā bhāsāila tri-bhuvana prema-bhakti diyā The saṅkīrtana movement went on from one part of the town to another, as the Lord wandered everywhere performing kīrtana. In this way He inundated the whole world by distributing love of Godhead. TEXT 33 cabbiśa vatsara aiche navadvīpa-grāme laoyāilā sarva-loke kṛṣṇa-prema-nāme Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu lived in the Navadvīpa area for twenty-four years, and He induced every person to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and thus merge in love of Kṛṣṇa. TEXT 34 cabbiśa vatsara chilā kariyā sannyāsa bhakta-gaṇa lañā kailā nīlācale vāsa For His remaining twenty-four years, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, after accepting the renounced order of life, stayed at Jagannātha Purī with His devotees.
TEXT 35 tāra madhye nīlācale chaya vatsara nṛtya, gīta, premabhakti-dāna nirantara For six of these twenty-four years in Nīlācala [Jagannātha Purī], He distributed love of Godhead by always chanting and dancing. TEXT 36 setubandha, āra gauḍa-vyāpi vṛndāvana prema-nāma pracāriyā karilā bhramaṇa Beginning from Cape Comorin and extending through Bengal to Vṛndāvana, during these six years He toured all of India, chanting, dancing and distributing love of Kṛṣṇa. TEXT 37 ei ‘madhya-līlā’ nāma—līlā-mukhyadhāma śeṣa aṣṭādaśa varṣa—‘antya-līlā’ nāma The activities of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His travels after He accepted sannyāsa are His principal pastimes. His activities during His remaining eighteen years are called the antya-līlā, or the final portion of His pastimes. TEXT 38 tāra madhye chaya vatsara bhaktagaṇa-saṅge prema-bhakti laoyāila nṛtya-gīta-raṅge For six of the eighteen years He continuously stayed in Jagannātha Purī, He regularly performed kīrtana, inducing all the devotees to love Kṛṣṇa simply by chanting and dancing. TEXT 39 dvādaśa vatsara śeṣa rahilā nīlācale premāvasthā śikhāilā āsvādana-cchale For the remaining twelve years He stayed in Jagannātha Purī, He taught everyone how to taste the transcendental mellow ecstasy of love of Kṛṣṇa by tasting it Himself. TEXT 40 rātri-divase kṛṣṇa-viraha-sphuraṇa unmādera ceṣṭā kare pralāpa-vacana Day and night Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu felt separation from Kṛṣṇa. Manifesting symptoms of this separation, He cried and talked very inconsistently, like a madman. TEXT 41 śrī-rādhāra pralāpa yaiche uddhava-darśane seimata unmāda-pralāpa kare rātri-dine As Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī talked inconsistently when She met Uddhava, so also Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu relished, both day and night, such ecstatic talk in the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. TEXT 42 vidyāpati, jayadeva, caṇḍīdāsera gīta āsvādena rāmānanda-svarūpa-sahita The Lord used to read the books of Vidyāpati, Jayadeva and Caṇḍīdāsa, relishing their songs with His confidential associates like Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī. TEXT 43 kṛṣṇera viyoge yata prema-ceṣṭita āsvādiyā pūrṇa kaila āpana vāñchita In separation from Kṛṣṇa, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu relished all these ecstatic activities, and thus He fulfilled His own desires. TEXT 44 ananta caitanya-līlā kṣudra jīva hañā ke varṇite pāre, tāhā vistāra kariyā The pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu are unlimited.