CC Adi 10.15 – The Branches of the Chaitanya Tree

Giriraj Swami: It is the appearance day of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and the disappearance day of Sri Gadadhara Pandita. Srila Prabhupada explains that devotees do not lament on the disappearance days of great acharyas. He gave the example that the rising of the sun and the setting of the sun both are beautiful. We do not distinguish whether we like the rising better or the setting. Similarly, the appearance of the acharya and the disappearance of the acharya both are auspicious.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is very close to us because he was the grand spiritual master or great grand spiritual master of our spiritual master, the founder acharya, Srila Prabhupada. Probably you will know, Srila Prabhupada was the disciple of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was the son, and in one sense the disciple, śikṣā disciple, of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. But because it is the Vaishnava system that generally, the son does not take initiation from the father, so Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura accepted initiation from Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja on the suggestion of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura took birth at a time in India when Lord Chaitanya’s movement was not very well appreciated in the higher circles of society. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had descended to distribute the highest perfection of love of Godhead, of kṛṣṇa-prema, but after the disappearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, many unscrupulous persons, followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, engaged in sinful activities in the name of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. In other words, those who were appearing to be followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or appearing to be Gaudiya Vaishnavas, actually deviated from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu [Unintelligible 00:03:51], and intelligent persons perceived the cheating. They perceived the debauchery.

And therefore, they, not understanding the real teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, [Unintelligible 00:04:13] of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They had a very bad image of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His cult. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he appeared to question what is the highest truth, what is the actual principle of religious life, and in his student days, he studied various books of philosophy, various scriptures. And after reading so many books and examining so many philosophies, he came to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and he came to the conclusion that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was the highest. And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who was Krishna Himself, is the goal of life. Love for Krishna is the goal of life, and the best way to attain the love for Krishna is saṅkīrtana, or the congregational chanting of the holy name of Lord Krishna. 

So, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura envisioned that in the future, there will be one universal religion, which was based on the chanting of the holy names of the Lord, and he also envisioned that in the future, there would be devotees of Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu throughout the world, and the time would come when European, American, Asian, and African devotees of Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would gather together in Sri dhāma Mayapur and chant the holy names of Krishna.

He predicted that very soon, a great personality would come who will spread the holy names of Krishna, who will spread the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. And of course, we know who the person is, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. So, Srila Prabhupada is actually the representative of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and he is the fulfillment of the desire of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Of course, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself had predicted

TEXT 126

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma

COMMENT

“In every town and village of every country of the world, My name or Krishna’s name will be sung or preached.” So, Srila Prabhupada fulfilled the prediction and desire of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, which, through the disciplic succession, is also the prediction and desire of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. 

In his later years, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura resided in Navadvipa dhāma, and he developed many programs for spreading Krishna consciousness. And again, Srila Prabhupada has continued the same programs of Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

One of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s programs was nāma-haṭṭa. Actually, nāma-haṭṭa was originally profound by Sri Nityananda Prabhu in a place in Navadvipa dhāma called Godrumadvipa, specifically at a place called Surabhi Kunj. And for some time, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, to get inspiration from Sri Nityananda Prabhu, had his bhajana-kuṭira at Surabhi Kunj. And taking the idea of Nityananda Prabhu, Bhaktivinoda Thakura expanded the concept of nāma-haṭṭa.

Nāma means the holy name of Krishna, and haṭṭa means marketplace. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura envisioned a marketplace where the commodity being sold was the holy name of Krishna. So, just as any marketplace, there has to be shops where one can purchase what one wants. There have to be shopkeepers. There have to be stockists. So, all the different elements of a marketplace were included in Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s nāma-haṭṭa, and just as if you go to a shop to buy something, you have to have money to pay the price, so similarly, to purchase the holy name, one has to be able to pay a price, and the price is faith.

According to one’s faith, one is able to get the holy name. And faith is also not something that one has or one does not have. One may have it to different degrees. And Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that according to the degree of one’s faith, the holy name reveals Himself to the customer proportionately. So, if one’s faith is very slight, one will get nāma-aparādha or nāma-ābhāsa. If one’s faith is somewhat strong, one will get nāma-ābhāsa, and if one’s faith is very strong, he will get the pure name of Krishna and will be able to realize Krishna directly through the holy name or as the holy name.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura took for himself the humble position of a sweeper of the marketplace. In India, the sweeper is considered the lowest caste. Generally, the sweepers go into the streets with brooms and they sweep the streets together in the villages of India, towns. In some places, sweeping the streets is sweeping the stool [Unintelligible 00:11:56], and they also sweep the areas where people specifically go to pass stool. So, they are considered in the caste system to be the lowest, and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura took the position of the sweeper in the marketplace of the holy name.

But what was his business? His business was to make sure the nāma-haṭṭa remained clean and pure, that no contamination of karma or jnana or yoga enters the marketplace. In fact, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura stated very emphatically that no personal motivation should be allowed in the marketplace of the holy name, and if he detected any type of deviation or any type of personal motivation, he would immediately intervene and sweep it away. 

So, following Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Prabhupada has also introduced nāma-haṭṭa. His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaja has actually been very instrumental on Srila Prabhupada’s guidance to elaborate the nāma-haṭṭa program in West Bengal and other places throughout the world. So, Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON are actually fulfilling the desire of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

Another desire of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, which again goes back to Nityananda Prabhu, is the creation of the manifestation of the wonderful temple of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Sri Mayapur dhāma. In fact, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s house was in Godrumadvipa, just across the Jalangi, Antardvipa, where our ISKCON temple is. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura used to reside and chant [Unintelligible 00:14:24], and so on. And outside of his bedroom or his workroom was a veranda, and he used to chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare on the veranda. 

So, one day, when he looked across the river to Mayapur, he saw in a vision a beautiful temple, wonderful temple of Sri Chaitanya, and a spiritual city dedicated to the service of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and to the propagation of saṅkīrtana. So, one year, I happened to visit the house of Bhaktivinoda Thakura and came out of the same veranda and looked across the same river and saw the Mayapur city coming up, and specifically, I saw the puṣpa-samādhi of Srila Prabhupada.

Now, some devotees had commented probably that they did not exactly appreciate the architecture of the samadhi because they thought it wasn’t completely Indian or completely Bengali, but now seeing the samadhi mandir from Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s balcony, I thought that Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was pleased because the architecture actually shows the fulfillment of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s desire and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s desire, that devotees all over the world should become followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Krishna. And I also felt that Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is pleased with all of us in ISKCON who are working together under Srila Prabhupada’s order to spread the saṅkīrtana movement and build the spiritual city in Mayapur.

And again, from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s point, I imagined he wasn’t so concerned with individual persons or events, in this way or that way, but he was seeing the general effort to fulfill the prediction and desire of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, and the disciplic succession. 

So, with great difficulty, Srila Prabhupada was able to procure land in Mayapur. He actually faced much opposition in his efforts to acquire land, and Srila Prabhupada believed that his godbrothers were opposing his efforts to procure land in Mayapur. But eventually, he got the land and he built a small hut, and gradually, the Mayapur project got shape.

So, once, I was in Calcutta at that time, and we got news from England that Srila Prabhupada was very enthusiastic about building at Mayapur, and that he had personally designed the plan for the first building with various disciples, and he was bringing the plans with him to India, and he was very anxious to begin construction.

So, sometimes, there is flooding in Mayapur, and when Srila Prabhupada came to Calcutta, he did something very interesting. After getting the devotee’s enthusiasm very high for the project, he raised the question of the flooding, whether Mayapur is actually the right place to attempt the big temple because flooding could destroy the temple, could destroy the communities of devotees around the temple. And he completely put all the devotees into confusion and he was arguing, “Maybe we should actually put the temple at Birnagar, the birthplace of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, rather than in Mayapur.” 

So, in other instances also, I saw Srila Prabhupada take different sides for the same argument and argued different sides very forcefully. Once in Bombay, we were faced with a difficult decision, who can try to get permission to build the temple of Juhu, whether to give a little bride or not, because in India, to get permits from the government without something is very difficult, almost impossible, and Srila Prabhupada and his friends and devotees were trying for months and months but they just could not get permission to build.

So, one of [Unintelligible 00:20:55] made a proposal to Srila Prabhupada that we have to give something. He knew the person, he knew the amount, and he [Unintelligible 00:21:09]. So, one night, the night before he had to give answer to the builder, he discussed with us until very late the pros and cons and he would argue one side and we would be convinced, and he would argue the other side and we would be convinced, and then he would argue the first side again and we would be convinced, and then he would argue the second side and we were completely bewildered. Finally, we ended up on the other side, about eleven at night, and I was, frankly speaking, just struggling to stay awake at the time. Srila Prabhupada just stood up and walked out of the room. And then the next morning, the life member devotee friend came to get the answer, and Srila Prabhupada, without any hesitation, gave the answer exactly the opposite of what was concluded the night before. 

So, in a similar way, Srila Prabhupada raised the issue [Unintelligible 00:22:27], and he really had us thinking that maybe we should. Srila Prabhupada was instructing us to not just blindly rush forward on the basis of enthusiasm, but to be cautious and analyze the situation from different points of views, and then come to a conclusion, after fully examining all the different possibilities and pros and cons. But, now of course, we all know that the temple was planned for Mayapur. Srila Prabhupada himself laid the cornerstones in 1977 and devotees are working very seriously to fulfill the temple, and if any of you have seen any of the presentations about the Sri Mayapur project, I think you would be very impressed. I know that every presentation that I have seen or [Unintelligible 00:23:28]. 

So again, Srila Prabhupada and his followers in ISKCON are working to fulfill the desire and the prediction of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Sri Nityananda Prabhu, and we also have our heart’s desire. Every book that’s distributed in Krishna consciousness also will go for the Mayapur project. And Srila Prabhupada was so eager to fulfill the desire of his predecessors, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, that he very clearly instructed us what he wanted us to do and very clearly told us what the result would be. And when he was in Calcutta, speaking to us about the property, he said that if we all built the magnificent temple in Mayapur, the spiritual city of Mayapur, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura will personally come and take us all back home, back to Godhead.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura ki jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

So, we could say so many things about the life and precepts of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, but the conclusion is that Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON are the embodiment of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s desires and instructions and predictions, and we are all intimately connected with Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and all the predecessors, acharyas, through Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada wrote in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta that ISKCON has been formed to execute the will of his own spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and of course all the acharyas. So, whatever we are doing is fully authorized and approved and potent by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and predecessor acharyas and ultimately, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna Chaitanya.

Today is also the disappearance day of Sri Gadadhara Pandita, who is worshiped as Gaura-Gadadhara, worshiped by Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and I will just read two selections about it from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

We read from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Ten, “The Trunk, Branches and Subbranches of the Caitanya Tree,” Text Fifteen.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (147–53) it is stated, “Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency, formerly known as Vṛndāvaneśvarī.

COMMENT

Who is Vṛndāvaneśvarī? Srimati Radharani.

PURPORT (continued)

“Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency, formerly known as Vṛndāvaneśvarī, is now personified in the form of Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has pointed out that in the shape of Lakṣmī, the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa, she was formerly very dear to the Lord as Śyāmasundara-vallabhā. The same Śyāmasundara-vallabhā is now present in Lord Caitanya’s pastimes as Gadādhara Paṇḍita. Formerly, as Lalitā-sakhī, she was always devoted to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Thus Gadādhara Paṇḍita is simultaneously an incarnation of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and Lalitā-sakhī.” In the twelfth chapter of this part of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta there is a description of the descendants or disciplic succession of Gadādhara Paṇḍita.

COMMENT

Now, we shall read one short pastime, which illustrates an important principle about Sri Chaitanya [Unintelligible 00:30:34].

Lord Chaitanya was residing in Jagannatha Puri, and He had the desire to travel to Sri Vrindavan dhāma. So, all of the devotees in Jagannatha Puri were very much attached to His association and service there, and they never wanted to be separated from Him. Still, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very eager to proceed to Vrindavan. 

Madhya-līlā, Chapter Sixteen, “The Lord’s Attempt to Go to Vṛndāvana,” Text One Hundred Twenty-Five.

TEXT 125

svagaṇa-sahite prabhu prasāda aṅgīkari’
uṭhiyā calilā prabhu bali’ ‘hari’ ‘hari’

TRANSLATION

After accepting the prasādam, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stood up and started to go, chanting the holy names, “Hari! Hari!”

TEXT 126

Rāmānanda Rāya, Mardarāja and Śrī Haricandana always went with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and rendered various services.

TEXT 127

Paramānanda Purī Gosvāmī, Svarūpa Dāmodara, Jagadānanda, Mukunda, Govinda, Kāśīśvara, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Vakreśvara Paṇḍita, Gopīnātha Ācārya, Dāmodara Paṇḍita, Rāmāi, Nandāi and many other devotees accompanied the Lord. I have mentioned only the chief devotees. No one can describe the total number.

TEXT 128

gadādhara-paṇḍita yabe saṅgete calilā
‘kṣetra-sannyāsa nā chāḍiha’ — prabhu niṣedhilā

TRANSLATION

When Gadādhara Paṇḍita started to go with the Lord, he was forbidden to come and was asked not to give up the vow of kṣetra-sannyāsa.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

When one takes kṣetra-sannyāsa, he leaves his household life and goes to a place of pilgrimage devoted to Lord Viṣṇu. Such places include Puruṣottama (Jagannātha Purī), Navadvīpa-dhāma and Mathurā-dhāma. The kṣetra-sannyāsī lives in these places alone or with his family. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura considers kṣetra-sannyāsa to be the preferable vānaprastha situation in this Age of Kali. Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya lived in this way, and he has been called a kṣetra-sannyāsī — that is, a sannyāsī living in Jagannātha Purī.

COMMENT

So, according to the vow of kṣetra-sannyāsa, one will not spend a night outside of the dhāma where he has taken the vow. He may go outside but he must return at night to spend the night there.

TEXT 131

paṇḍita kahe, — “yāhāṅ tumi, sei nīlācala
kṣetra-sannyāsa mora yāuka rasātala”

TRANSLATION

When he was requested to return to Jagannātha Purī, Gadādhara Paṇḍita told the Lord, “Wherever You are staying is Jagannātha Purī. Let my so-called kṣetra-sannyāsa go to hell.”

COMMENT

Hare Krishna.

TEXT 132

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked Gadādhara Paṇḍita to remain at Jagannātha Purī and engage in Gopīnātha’s service, Gadādhara Paṇḍita replied, “One renders service to Gopīnātha a million times simply by seeing Your lotus feet.”

TEXT 133

prabhu kahe, — “sevā chāḍibe, āmāya lāge doṣa
iṅhā rahi’ sevā kara, — āmāra santoṣa”

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then said, “If you abandon His service, it will be My fault. It is better that you remain here and render service. That will be My satisfaction.”

TEXT 134

paṇḍita kahe, — “saba doṣa āmāra upara
tomā-saṅge nā yāiba, yāiba ekeśvara

TRANSLATION

The Paṇḍita replied, “Do not worry. All the faults will be on my head. I shall not accompany You but shall go alone.

COMMENT

So, Lord Chaitanya told Gadadhara Pandita, “If you give up the service of Gopinatha, it will be My fault. The blame will come in My head.” But Gadadhara Pandita replied, “Do not worry, my Lord. I will not accompany You. I will go alone. So, all the blame will come on me.”

TEXT 135

āi’ke dekhite yāiba, nā yāiba tomā lāgi’
‘pratijñā’-‘sevā’-tyāga-doṣa, tāra āmi bhāgī”

TRANSLATION

“I shall go to see Śacīmātā, but I shall not go for Your sake. I shall be responsible for the abandoning of my vow and service to Gopīnātha.”

COMMENT

Because Lord Chaitanya Had decided that on the way to Vrindavan, He would pass through Nadia to see the river Ganges and His mother.

TEXT 136

Thus Gadādhara Paṇḍita Gosvāmī traveled alone, but when they all arrived at Kaṭaka, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu called him, and he went into the Lord’s company.

TEXT 137

No one can understand the loving intimacy between Gadādhara Paṇḍita and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Gadādhara Paṇḍita gave up his vow and service to Gopīnātha just as one gives up a piece of straw.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Just to get Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s association, Gadādhara Paṇḍita gave up his life’s vow to engage in Gopīnātha’s service. This kind of loving affection can be understood only by very confidential devotees. Ordinarily, no one can understand its purport.

COMMENT

The vows that one takes in one’s devotional life are most important. In fact, one’s vows are more important than one’s life. We read the example of Chota Haridasa. Chota Haridasa was in the renounced order of life, but he looked lustfully upon some woman and consequently, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu rejected him. Although Lord Chaitanya is the ocean of mercy, He rejected Chota Haridasa, and although almost all the devotees of Lord Chaitanya appealed to Lord Chaitanya to be merciful to Chota Haridasa, the Lord remained fixed. Thereafter, Lord Chaitanya received the news that Chota Haridasa has given up his body at the confluence of the Ganges and the Yamuna or the Triveni at [Unintelligible 00:39:01], and when Lord Chaitanya got the news, He said, “Very good. He has achieved the proper result.”

So, one’s vows are extremely important. They are more important than one’s own life. [Unintelligible 00:39:34] also in the story of Rāmāyaṇa that Lord Ramachandra was more dear to Maharaja Dasaratha than his own life, but because Maharaja Dasaratha had given his word that he will give a boon to his wife, Kaikeya, when she desires, he has to stick to his promise. And the boon that she desired was that Lord Ramachandra should be banished into the forest. But because he had given his word, he could not break his promise. But Lord Ramachandra was more dear to him than his own life. He could not live without Lord Ramachandra. And after banishing Lord Ramachandra into the forest, Maharaja Dasaratha gave up his life. He died due to the shock of separation. So, for a devotee, one’s vow is more valuable than one’s life. One can give up his life but one cannot give up his vow.

Now, of course, we are deep in Kali-yuga and people take vows at the time of initiation and then break them. In the beginning, when Srila Prabhupada gave initiation, not only initiation but performed marriages, he assumed that the devotees involved in the ceremonies would keep their promises to maintain their vows, and he was actually very disappointed to find that devotees actually take vows in front of the fire, in front of the spiritual master, in front of the Deity, in front of the Vaishnavas, and then break them. Initiation vows, marriage vows.

So, anyway, that’s a fact, but the point that I am making is how important those vows are. So, for Gadadhara Pandita to break the vow was not a small thing. For us it may be small, but for someone like Gadadhara Pandita it was not a small thing, and how someone as exalted as Gadadhara Pandita could abandon a vow as important as kṣetra-sannyāsa and service to the Deity of Gopinatha was very hard to understand. Only very confidential devotees can understand. It wasn’t a small thing. It was a big thing, [Unintelligible 00:42:36].

TEXT 138

tāṅhāra caritre prabhu antare santoṣa
tāṅhāra hāte dhari’ kahe kari’ praṇaya-roṣa

TRANSLATION

Gadādhara Paṇḍita’s behavior was very pleasing to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s heart. Nevertheless, the Lord took his hand and spoke to him, displaying the anger of love.

TEXT 139

‘pratijñā’, ‘sevā’ chāḍibe, — e tomāra ‘uddeśa’
se siddha ha-ila — chāḍi’ āilā dūra deśa

TRANSLATION

“You have abandoned Gopīnātha’s service and broken your vow to live in Purī. All that is now complete because you have come so far.

TEXT 140

“Your wanting to go with Me is simply a desire for sense gratification. In this way, you are breaking two religious principles, and because of this I am very unhappy.

TEXT 141

“If you want My happiness, please return to Nīlācala. You will simply condemn Me if you say any more about this matter.”

TEXT 142

Saying this, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu got into a boat, and Gadādhara Paṇḍita immediately fell down unconscious.

TEXT 143

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu ordered Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya to take Gadādhara Paṇḍita with him. The Bhaṭṭācārya told Gadādhara Paṇḍita, “Get up! Such are the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

TEXT 144

“You should know that Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself violated His own promise just to keep the promise of Grandfather Bhīṣma.

TEXT 145

sva-nigamam apahāya mat-pratijñām
ṛtam adhikartum avapluto ratha-sthaḥ
dhṛta-ratha-caraṇo ‘bhyayāc calad-gur
harir iva hantum ibhaṁ gatottarīyaḥ

TRANSLATION

“ ‘Intending to make my promise true, Lord Kṛṣṇa broke His own promise not to take up a weapon at Kurukṣetra. With His outer garment falling off, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa jumped from His chariot, picked up a wheel and came running at me to kill me. Indeed, He rushed at me like a lion going to kill an elephant, and He caused the whole earth to tremble.’

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Lord Kṛṣṇa promised not to fight in the Battle of Kurukṣetra or even take up a weapon. But when Bhīṣma wanted to keep his own promise to break the promise of the Lord, the Lord immediately got down from the chariot, and to make Bhīṣma’s promise true He picked up a chariot wheel and rushed forward to kill him. This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.9.37).

TEXT 146

ei-mata prabhu tomāra viccheda sahiyā
tomāra pratijñā rakṣā kaila yatna kariyā”

TRANSLATION

“Similarly, tolerating separation from you, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has protected your vow with great endeavor.”

COMMENT

So, if we consider the inner identity of Sri Gadadhara Pandita, you can imagine the intense affection that existed between Gadadhara Pandita and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Gadadhara Pandita was Srimati Radharani Herself, and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was Sri Krishna Himself. So, how much love there is between Srimati Radharani and Krishna existed between Gadadhara Pandita and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In kṛṣṇa-līlā, Krishna and Srimati Radharani could not bear to be separated. Similarly, in Her internal identity or his internal identity, Gadadhara Pandita is Lalita Sakhi, and Lalita Sakhi was the constant companion of Srimati Radharani. They also could not be separated, and Lord Chaitanya was Krishna in the mood of Srimati Radharani and internally, Gadadhara Pandita, in the mood of Lalita Sakhi, would support the mood of Lord Chaitanya, and he was in the mood of Srimati Radharani.

So, there was such intense love between them. So, it’s not just that Gadadhara Pandita was attached to Lord Chaitanya, Lord Chaitanya was also attached to Gadadhara Pandita. And it’s not that Gadadhara Pandita felt separation, but Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself also felt separation. But the Lord was prepared to tolerate the separation, He was prepared to suffer the separation for the sake of keeping the vow of Gadadhara Pandita intact. So, we see how important one’s vows are and to what extent the Lord is prepared to go for the sake of protecting His devotee’s vow.

TEXT 147

ei-mata kahi’ tāṅre prabodha karilā
dui-jane śokākula nīlācale āilā

TRANSLATION

In this way Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya revived Gadādhara Paṇḍita. Then both of them, very much grief-stricken, returned to Jagannātha Purī, Nīlācala.

TEXT 148

All the devotees would abandon all kinds of duties for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s sake, yet the Lord did not like the devotees’ giving up their promised duties.

TEXT 149

‘premera vivarta’ ihā śune yei jana
acire miliye tāṅre caitanya-caraṇa

TRANSLATION

All these are the misgivings of loving affairs. Whoever listens to these incidents gets the shelter of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s lotus feet very soon.

COMMENT

Sri Gadadhara Pandita ki jaya! Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jaya!

So, we will conclude now by singing the song of separation.

[Unintelligible 00:50:06] by Narottama dasa Thakura.