Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: His Life Religion and Philosophy

Śrī Caitanya

Mahāprabhu:

Life

The life of Śrī Caitanya narrated here is mainly based on Jadunāth Sirkār’s abridgement of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the most authentic work on Caitanya by Kṛṣṇa Dās Kavirāj (1517-1582). He was a disciple of Raghunāth Dās, a contemporary and personal attendant of Caitanya during his life at Puri. Educated well in Sanskrit and Persian, Kṛṣṇa Dās left his home in Burdwan early in life and wandered towards Vṛndāvan, and settled at Rādhā-kuṇḍ about twelve miles away from Vṛndāvan proper. In his earlier years he wrote mostly in Sanskrit, but at the request of devotees he started writing his magnum opus in Bengali, a classic in that language, in his old age and completed it in 1581, one year before his demise.

Besides Jadunāth Sirkār’s abridged translation of this great work, we have also drawn materials from the abridged edition of ‘Lord Gaurānga’ by Sisir Kumār Ghose, the well-known editor of Amritbasar Pattrika, wherein he has given a very interesting and illuminating account of Caitanya’s early life, based on facts collected from other works in Bengali on this great incarnation.

Early Life

Śrī Caitanya (1486-1533) was born, on 4th February, a lunar eclipse day, at Māyāpur in the township of Navadvip, as the son of Jagannāth Miśra, a learned Pandit of the place and his wife Śaci. Situated about 75 miles to the north of modern Calcutta on the bank of holy Gaṅgā in Nadia District, Navadvip of the 15th century was a prosperous town. It was a great centre of trade and equally of learning. What is called Navya-nyāya, the new system of logic, which had its birth in Mithila, had been introduced to Navadvip before this time. It was developed by a succession of great scholars, at the head of which stands Gaṅgeśa (about 1200 A.D.). Students from all over India flocked to Navadvip to learn Nyāya and get the impremature of some great scholar or institution of Navadvip. Such development of learning was also helped by the liberal patronage extended to students and professors by the prosperous society of Nadia.

Towards the 15th century, which witnessed the advent of Caitanya, Navadvip, though still reputed as a centre of learning, was without any spiritual lustre. Vaiṣṇavism was the religion professed, but the Paṇḍits in general were without spiritual ardour. Consumption of liquor and meat had become common among them with the development of Tantrism. Religion had degenerated into mere rituals, and the intellectualism of the Paṇḍits was spent in acrimonious and demonstrative debates punctuated with feasting and frivolous entertainments. Devotion to God, which is the important teaching of Vaiṣṇavism, found no place in their lives. Stricken to the core of his heart by this decline of Bhakti and ascendency of materialism, Advaita Ācārya, a learned man and a genuine Vaiṣṇava devotee of the Lord, used always to pray to Kṛṣṇa O Lord! if Thou dost incarnate Thyself, then only these creatures will find redemption. It is said that it was in response to the prayers of this devotee that Caitanya appeared on earth.

In the family of Jagannāth Paṇḍita and Śaci, Caitanya was the tenth child to be born. Eight daughters and a boy had preceded him. All the eight daughters died in infancy while the boy Viśveśvara happened to leave hearth and home at the early age of sixteen and take to the wandering life of an itinerant monk. Though the new born boy, the tenth in the family, was given the name of Viśvambhara by his father in the light of his horoscope, his mother Śaci named him Nimāi, a word meaning ‘short lived’ and reminiscent of the bitter taste of the fruit and leaves of Neem tree. She did So because of the belief that such an undesirable association with the name would avert possible dangers from the evil influences that had caused the loss of all her earlier issue. Some say that this name was given to him because he was born under a neem tree. His name was changed in recognition of his beauty into Gaurāṅga (the golden-coloured one) at the time of investiture with the sacred thread, and again into Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya (he who awakens God in the hearts of men) by the spiritual teacher who initiated him into Sannyāsa later.

His life as an infant and as a child was very much reminiscent of that of Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself. It is said that the beaming beauty of the infant was so attractive that the women who came to see him fondled him and passed him from hand to hand, leaving little time for his mother to attend to him. It was found the utterance of the name of Hari pacified him whenever he was crying. When he began to crawl he was often found proceeding to the streets, so much so that he had to be constantly watched. This became all the more so when he began to walk. One day he was found to have caught a cobra. Another day he walked into the street with jewellery adorning his body and fell into the hands of a thief who tried to carry him to his den. But wonder of wonders! The thief lost his way as he proceeded and found himself at Nimāi’s house. The experience had a miraculous effect on the thief, who turned into an ascetic and lived the life of a holy man thereafter. This was the beginning of miraculous conversions in Caitanya’s life.

Nimāi’s beauty was exquisite. His complexion rivalled the brilliance of molten gold. His palms and the soles of his feet looked as if they were painted with vermilion. His lips were ruddy like Bimba fruit, and his eyes were most lovely, elongated like lotus petals and moist as it were with lotus honey.

Many supernatural phenomena were seen manifesting on the boy’s body. While sleeping a moonlike aura was sometimes found floating over him and in his bed room many luminous figures appeared before his mother. Once when the mother asked him to go to the next room where his father was seated, both the parents heard the sounds of anklet worn by children, as Nimāi was walking. This was interpreted as an indication of the presence of Gopāla in him. But all this only raised fears in the mind of mother Śaci, who felt that they presaged some evil to her beloved Nimāi.

As he grew up he began to indulge in many pranks like boy Kṛṣṇa, delighting the hearts of people. In the play field he would lose himself in play forgetful even of food, and only the tears of his mother would bring him back home. Restless by nature, he often ran out of his house to those of others and asked for whatever he saw, be it fried rice, bananas or sweets. Every one gave him with pleasure whatever he asked for. Sometimes he took liberties in others’ houses, by stealthily drinking their milk, or eating their rice and other edibles. When he found nothing to eat he would break their utensils. If caught redhanded, he would implore in a very winning manner. Let me off this time. I shall not come here again to steal. None felt angry with him. Only they marvelled at his cleverness and his very attractive poses.

He was given to dancing with companions, chanting Hari’s name with hands uplifted. Once this impromptu dance became so exciting and thrilling that an old and learned passerby was caught up in that devotion-charged atmosphere and joined the group of boys who were dancing with Nimāi in the centre.

The boy began to develop traits of character that seemed shocking to his parents. They were orthodox Brāhmaṇas and mother Śaci observed the caste rules strictly. The boy would tease her by violating them, but when criticised by his mother for this, his reply was: The idea of external purity is a delusion. If the angry mother took a rod in hand to punish him for his wilful breach of caste rules, the boy would run into unclean places where the mother would not dare to go. Much worse, he would touch a Chamar, an untouchable, and threaten to pollute the mother by touching her in his supposedly unclean state. This would make Śaci run indoors.

Certain unusual signs of divinity also began to manifest in him. Śaci, in consultation with old matrons of the village, believed that Nimāi was possessed by some evil spirit and that offerings made to the goddess Ṣaṣṭi could save him from the grip of these spirits. The mother prepared the offerings and was taking them to the temple of the goddess. Nimāi suddenly appeared before her and demanded the food to satisfy his excruciating hunger, and snatched it away from the mother. When he was about five, he began to cry one day in utter distraction. Nothing would pacify him. When finally questioned about what he wanted, he replied, I want the offerings which Jagadīs and Hiraṇya have prepared for God. A shocking demand indeed! The two persons mentioned were pious Brāhmaṇas who, after observing Ekādaśi by fasting, had prepared some offerings to be made to Kṛṣṇa, before they broke their fast. How did the boy know of it, and more so how could he demand it? The two Brāhmaṇas came to know of this, and hastened to see what the matter was. Strangely they felt that Śrī Kṛṣṇa had entered into the boy and was demanding the food. They therefore brought the offerings and fed Nimāi as Bāla-Gopāla. In later years they became the ardent followers of Caitanya.

A still more wonderful conversion was that of a hard-baked Advaitin, named Murāri Gupta, who was an adept in the highly philosophical and abstract text Yogavāsiṣṭha. Young Nimāi often made fun at his expense mimicking his gestures and pedantic postures while he expounded the text to ardent listeners. What a perverted child you are! remarked Murāri, which provoked from the Nimāi the threat I shall teach you a lesson at dinner time. One day while Murāri was at his meal, Nimāi suddenly appeared and fouled his dish. Murāri was stunned at this. When he recovered from his stupor, he heard the child telling, ‘O Murāri, give up your false and dangerous doctrine that you are one with the Almighty God. Giving up these pretensions, worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa." This had a wonderful effect on Murāri.