Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

“ Adwaitacharya and Nityananda were in charge of Bengal; and Roopa and Sana tan in that of Upper India. Little is known of the sage's life during these eighteen years. The probability is that he spent his days and nights in proclaiming the glory of Hari, and in converting people to Vaishnavism. But as years passed on, Chaitanya gave signs of mental abstraction. His disciples could perceive it. A certain evening, when the sky was clear, the moon shone in full effulgence and nature presented a most charming appearance. Chaitanya had gone out for his usual walk. ”

“ Of the same age and temperament as Chaitanya, Nityananda was but an alter ego of his leader in piety and earnestness. Sankeerthan was performed with all the greater enthusiasm. Thousands of persons were converted to the renewed faith. The star of Vaishnavism was cheeringly in the ascendant in Bengal. And at this time Chaitanya took a most daring step which entitles him to the lasting gratitude of posterity. Himself placed on the highest step of the social ladder, this Brahman of Brahmans made bold to wage a crusade against caste. ”

“ Such asceticism may, as a general rule, be objectionable; but the smaller of two inevitable evils must always be preferred; and Chaitanya did this. Now began that famous Sankeerthan which is indissolubly associated with the saint's name and has, since his time, become, with every religionist, a favourite method of preaching a creed. With the praise and glory of Harion their tongues and with an enthusiastic clapping of hands, Chaitanya and his followers roamed over the streets of Nuddea, inviting one and all to devote their lives to Bhakti. ”

“ The Pandit goes out to convince and returns converted, Baffled by Chaitanya's array of arguments and moved by his glowing words and inspiring life, Sarvabhowma saw the sacred truth that, not by learning, not even by laudable acts, but by child-like faith and wife-like devotion alone, can a man know the great Lord of all. ”

“ Chaitanya, the apostle of Vaishnavism in Bengal, was born at Navadweepa (Nuddea) , in 1485 of the Christian Era; and was, therefore, two years younger than that immortal champion of Christian Protestantism, Martin Luther.* [1] Portents and miracles have always heralded a great man into the world. Nature is supposed to rejoice at the advent of a noble soul, by breaking through its law and uniformity. Chaitanya was in the womb for thirteen months. The termination of an eclipse coincided with the first dawn of the future saint. ”

“ In his own person, Chaitanya set a noble example, for others to note and to follow, of unsparing self-sacrifice and unflinching patriotism. The loving mother might rend the sky with her sobs, the affectionate wife might break her heart in despair ”

“ The world faded away into empty nothingness. His task by day and rest by night was an enthusiastic singing of the praise and glory of Hari. But after a time, at the earnest request of his friends, Chaitanya reopened his school, but only to close it once for all. On the first day of the reopening, he completely digresses from the topic on hand. "Hari," he bursts out all of a sudden, "is the soul of all the sastras. Hari is the Almighty Being. Theirs is a fruitless task who endeavour to acquire knowledge without the helping grace of Hari. ”

“ But let us hope and pray that, not only Bengal, but the whole country will work together in reviving the glorious spirit of one who was himself the champion of unity. Let us hope and pray that our countrymen will yet kneel by the tomb of Chaitanya; and, imbibing an iota of bis self-sacrifice and earnestness, work incessantly and work without end, until, stripped of all superstition and evry relic of idolatry, India comes to accept that Great God, "the One only without a second", the Father, Mother, Friend and Guide of all ”

“ You may say there was some original Chaitanya there, but the souls themselves were the Chaitanya, nothing else is necessary. If human souls have it too, what necessity is there for a God, as say the Jains, who, unlike the Buddhists, believe in souls and do not believe in God. Where are you logical, where are you moral? And when you criticise Advaitism and fear that it will make for immorality, just read a little of what has been done in India by dualistic sects. If there have been twenty thousand Advaitist blackguards, there have also been twenty thousand Dvaitist blackguards. ”

“ He has made peace with the whole world by his humility. He has nothing but blessings for all, sincere blessings even in return for curses, and prostrates at full length prone to the ground before everyone. He follows the saying of the Lord Chaitanya that a Vaishnav should be lowlier than a blade of grass; more forbearing and charitable than a tree, which spreads its shade and offers its fruits even to one who cuts down its branches; should never seek respect for himself but pay respect even to those who are respected by none; that a Vaishnav should at all times sing of Krishna. ”

“ By the followers of this sect, also, an extravagant degree of reverence is habitually paid to their gurus or spiritual heads. Indeed, Chaitanya himself, as well as his immediate disciples, have come to be regarded as complete or partial incarnations of the deity to whom adoration is due, as to Krishna himself; and their modern successors, the Gosains, share to the fullest extent in the devout attentions of the worshippers. ”

“ Of the hymns themselves the first five are invocations of Chaitanya and Nityânand, and one is in praise of the ceremony of Kîrtan. There is nothing very remarkable in any of them. Number 5 may be taken as a specimen, as it is perhaps the best of the batch.
"Nand's son, lover of the Gopîs, lord of Râdhâ, the playful Syâm:
Is he, Sachi's son, the Indra of Nadiya, the heart-charming dwelling of gods and saints; victory to him who is love embodied to his own beloved, hail! hail to him who is the joy of the existence of his well-beloved! ”

“ It is a pity that our people in Bengal know so very little about the great religious leaders in India, who have been born in other parts of the country; and for the matter of that, during the whole of the Mohammedan period, with the exception of our Chaitanya, all the great religious leaders were born in Southern India, and it is the intellect of Southern India that is really governing India now; for even Chaitanya belonged to one of these sects, a sect of the Mâdhvas. According to Ramanuja, these three entities are eternal — God, and soul, and nature. ”

“ He had neither hunger, nor thirst, nor sleep, nor consciousness of his physical form. The meaning of the word Chaitanya is "indivisible and absolute intelligence." Vaishnava Charan used to say that Chaitanya Deva, the Incarnation of Divine Love, was like a bubble on the ocean of that Absolute Intelligence. Divine Love is the rarest thing in the world. He who can love God as a devoted wife loves Divine Love and ecstasy. her husband, attains to Divine Love. pure love is difficult to acquire. In pure love the whole heart and soul must be absorbed in God. ”

“ Every thing that K.rish.na had done Chaitanya must do too, thus we read of his dancing on the shoulders of Murari Gupta, one of his adherents; and his followers, like himself, had fits, foamed at the mouth, and went off into convulsions, much after the fashion of some revivalists of modern times. The young students at the Sanskrit schools in Nadiya naturally found all this very amusing, and cracked jokes to their hearts' content on the crazy enthusiasts. ”

“ There is no evidence of Chaitanya having ever preached in the Dravidian country, and the tenets of the Sātānis of this Presidency differ widely from those of the followers of Chaitanya. The former worship only Krishna, while the latter venerate Vishnu in the form of Nārāyana also. The Sātānis, too, have as much reverence for Rāmānuja as the followers of Chaitanya have towards their guru, who is said to be an incarnation of Krishna. With [299] regard to their religion, it will suffice to say that they are Tengalai Vaishnavites. ”

“ Lastly, it must be the aim of every man to gain Krishna’s love, and Bhakti is the way that leads to it. Chaitanya defined Bhakti as an uninterrupted tendency of the heart towards God, just like the flow of a river towards the sea.
It is difficult to understand how the followers of Mohammed could ever have been induced to use the name of Krishna for that of Allah, but we know that it was so, and the same religious amalgamation between Hinduism and Islam was attempted by Nânak, the contemporary of Chaitanya. The Sîkhs, though much changed in time, are the followers of that reformer. ”

“ From Navadwip and many villages men flocked to see the Master. For many days the Acharya supplied them all with food, drink and quarters; his store was inexhaustible, the more he spent the more was it filled again. From that day forward Shachi herself did the cooking, and the Master dined in the company of the faithful. In the day they had the Acharya's love and the sight of the Master, at night His dance and song. While He was singing all passions swept over Him, now He stood still, now trembled, now shed tears of joy or uttered broken words, now He fainted. ”

“ Their worship is addressed to Narayana, i.e. Vishnu, as the Supreme Being, together with Lakshmi, as well as to Krishna and Radha. The sect is said to be gaining ground in Gujarat. Chaitanya, the 511 founder of the great Vaishnava sect of Bengal, was the son of a high-caste Brahman of Nadiya, the famous Bengal seat of Sanskrit learning, where he was born in 1485, two years after the birth of Martin Luther, the German reformer. ”

“ The dinner had come after five days of fasting; so the wild dance greatly fatigued Him, but He felt it not to His ecstasy. Nityananda held Him back by main force; the Acharya ended the kirtan, and laid the Master in His bed with every care.
In the same way ten days were passed in dinners and singing. In the morning the Acharya brought mother Shachi in a litter followed by the faithful. All the people of Navadwip came,—old and young, men and women,—forming a vast crowd. The Master was dancing and singing the Name, when Shachi arrived at Adwaita's house, and He fell prone at her feet. ”

“ Nothing could be more opposed to the spirit of Vishnu-worship than self-immolation. Accidental death within the temple renders the whole place unclean. According to Chaitanya, the apostle of Jagannath, the destruction of the least of God’s creatures is a sin against the Creator. ”

“ The Master said, "True are the words of this Brahman, who chose the service of Mukunda as his life's task. The highest robe [in which a man can clothe himself] is devotion to the Supreme Soul, the service of Mukunda which brings salvation. That robe he put on. Now shall I go to Brindaban and serve Krishna in solitude."
So saying the Master moved day and night, the picture of religious ecstasy, heedless which way He walked. Nityananda, Acharya Ratna, and Mukunda, all three followed Him. ”

“ The direct recipients of the grace of Shankara, Ramanuja, Shri Chaitanya and Buddha were the all - renouncing Sannyasins. It is men of this stamp who have been through succession of disciples spreading the Brahma - vidya (knowledge of Brahman) in the world. Where and when have you heard that a man being the slave of lust and wealth has been able to liberate another or to show the path of God to him? Without himself free, how can he make others free? ”

“ At these sweet words, the Acharya and others went to Shachi and told her of His wish. Shachi, the Mother of the World, answered, "I shall be happy if He stays here, but if He is blamed it will grieve me. This plan strikes me as a happy solution: let Him live on the Niláchal (Puri) , which is as it were a next door house from Navadwip; men pass frequently between the two places, and I shall always get news of Him. You all may come and go, and He too may sometimes visit Navadwip at the Ganges bath. I count not my own joy or sorrow. What makes Him happy is happiness to me." ”

“ Thousands upon thousands of such Vaishnavs, both male and female, can be found to-day in the Holy Land of Brindāban and the Holy City of Nuddea, the birthplace of Chaitanya, whose Christ-spirit and ecstatic life are unparalleled in the religious history of any other country, ancient or modern. They represent demonstrated living proofs of the power of the Lord's Name upon the human mind. ”

“ There seems to be something almost contradictory in representing the highest and purest emotions of the mind by images drawn from the lowest and most animal passions.
"Ut matrona meretrici dispar erit atque discolor."
So must also Vaish.navism differ from true religion, the flesh from the spirit, the impure from the pure. The singing of hymns about Râdhâ and K.rish.na is much older than Chaitanya's age. ”

“ The followers of the former are now found chiefly in Rajputana and Gujarat. They are known as Vallabhacharyas, and their gosains or high priests as maharajas, to whom semi-divine honours are paid. The licentious practices of this sect were exposed in a lawsuit before the high court at Bombay in 1862. Chaitanya was the Vaishnav reformer of Bengal, with his home at Nadiya. A third influential Krishna-preacher of the 19th century was Swami Narayan, who was encountered by Bishop Heber in Gujarat, where his followers at this day are numerous and wealthy. ”

“ When an Oriya Brāhman is charged with being a meat eater, he retorts that it is not nearly so bad as marrying a mathulakanya (maternal uncle's daughter) . The marriage tāli or bottu is dispensed with by Oriya Brāhmans, who, at marriages, attach great importance to the pānigrahanam (grasping the bride's hand) and saptapadi (seven steps) . The Oriya Brāhmans are both Smarthas and Vaishnavas who are generally Paramarthos or followers of Chaitanya. ”