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Post by Gauranga on Jun 2, 2004 0:03:09 GMT -5
Sri Caitanya Caritamrita (CC)
CC Antya 8 Summary
CC Antya 8.1: Let me offer my respectful obeisances to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who reduced His eating due to fear of the criticism of Ramacandra Puri.
CC Antya 8.2: All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the incarnation of the ocean of mercy! His lotus feet are worshiped by demigods like Lord Brahma and Lord Siva.
CC Antya 8.3: All glories to Nityananda Prabhu, the greatest of mendicants, who bound the entire world with a knot of ecstatic love for God!
CC Antya 8.4: All glories to Advaita Prabhu, the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead! He induced Krishna to descend and thus delivered the entire world.
CC Antya 8.5: All glories to all the devotees, headed by Srivasa Thakura! Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is their life and soul.
CC Antya 8.6: Thus Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, at Jagannatha Puri, performed His various pastimes with His devotees in the waves of love for Krishna.
CC Antya 8.7: Then a sannyasi named Ramacandra Puri Gosani came to see Paramananda Puri and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
CC Antya 8.8: Paramananda Puri offered respects at the feet of Ramacandra Puri, and Ramacandra Puri strongly embraced him.
CC Antya 8.9: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu also offered obeisances unto Ramacandra Puri, who then embraced Him and thus remembered Krishna.
CC Antya 8.10: The three of them talked about Krishna for some time, and then Jagadananda came and extended an invitation to Ramacandra Puri.
CC Antya 8.11: A large quantity of the remnants of food from Lord Jagannatha was brought in for distribution. Ramacandra Puri ate sumptuously, and then he wanted to find faults in Jagadananda Pandita.
CC Antya 8.12: After finishing the meal, Ramacandra Puri requested, "My dear Jagadananda, please listen. You eat the food that is left."
CC Antya 8.13: With great eagerness Ramacandra Puri seated Jagadananda Pandita and personally served him prasadam.
CC Antya 8.14: Encouraging him again and again, Ramacandra Puri fed him sumptuously, but when Jagadananda had washed his hands and mouth, Ramacandra Puri began criticizing him.
CC Antya 8.15: "I have heard," he said, "that the followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu eat more than necessary. Now I have directly seen that this is true.
CC Antya 8.16: "Feeding a sannyasi too much breaks his regulative principles, for when a sannyasi eats too much, his renunciation is destroyed."
CC Antya 8.17: The characteristic of Ramacandra Puri was that first he would induce someone to eat more than necessary and then he would criticize him.
CC Antya 8.18: Formerly, when Madhavendra Puri was at the last stage of his life, Ramacandra Puri came to where he was staying.
CC Antya 8.19: Madhavendra Puri was chanting the holy name of Krishna, and sometimes he would cry, "O my Lord, I did not get shelter at Mathura."
CC Antya 8.20: Then Ramacandra Puri was so foolish that he fearlessly dared to instruct his spiritual master.
CC Antya 8.21: "If you are in full transcendental bliss," he said, "you should now remember only Brahman. Why are you crying?"
CC Antya 8.22: Hearing this instruction, Madhavendra Puri, greatly angry, rebuked him by saying, "Get out, you sinful rascal!
CC Antya 8.23: "O my Lord Krishna, I could not reach You, nor could I reach Your abode, Mathura. I am dying in my unhappiness, and now this rascal has come to give me more pain.
CC Antya 8.24: "Don't show your face to me! Go anywhere else you like. If I die seeing your face, I shall not achieve the destination of my life.
CC Antya 8.25: "I am dying without achieving the shelter of Krishna, and therefore I am greatly unhappy. Now this condemned foolish rascal has come to instruct me about Brahman."
CC Antya 8.26: Ramacandra Puri was thus denounced by Madhavendra Puri. Due to his offense, gradually material desire appeared within him.
CC Antya 8.27: One who is attached to dry speculative knowledge has no relationship with Krishna. His occupation is criticizing Vaishnavas. Thus he is situated in criticism.
CC Antya 8.28: Isvara Puri, the spiritual master of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, performed service to Madhavendra Puri, cleaning up his stool and urine with his own hand.
CC Antya 8.29: Isvara Puri was always chanting the holy name and pastimes of Lord Krishna for Madhavendra Puri to hear. In this way he helped Madhavendra Puri remember the holy name and pastimes of Lord Krishna at the time of death.
CC Antya 8.30: Pleased with Isvara Puri, Madhavendra Puri embraced him and gave him the benediction that he would be a great devotee and lover of Krishna.
CC Antya 8.31: Thus Isvara Puri became like an ocean of ecstatic love for Krishna, whereas Ramacandra Puri became a dry speculator and a critic of everyone else.
CC Antya 8.32: Isvara Puri received the blessing of Madhavendra Puri, whereas Ramacandra Puri received a rebuke from him. Therefore these two persons, Isvara Puri and Ramacandra Puri, are examples of the objects of a great personality's benediction and punishment. Madhavendra Puri instructed the entire world by presenting these two examples.
CC Antya 8.33: His Divine Grace Madhavendra Puri, the spiritual master of the entire world, thus distributed ecstatic love for Krishna. While passing away from the material world, he chanted the following verse.
CC Antya 8.34: "O My Lord! O most merciful master! O master of Mathura! When shall I see You again? Because of My not seeing You, My agitated heart has become unsteady. O most beloved one, what shall I do now?"
CC Antya 8.35: In this verse Madhavendra Puri teaches how to achieve ecstatic love for Krishna. By feeling separation from Krishna, one becomes spiritually situated.
CC Antya 8.36: Madhavendra Puri sowed the seed of ecstatic love for Krishna within this material world and then departed. That seed later became a great tree in the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
CC Antya 8.37: I have incidentally described the passing away of Madhavendra Puri. Anyone who hears this must be considered very fortunate.
CC Antya 8.38: Thus Ramacandra Puri stayed at Jagannatha Puri. As is customary for those in the renounced order, he would sometimes stay someplace and then go away.
CC Antya 8.39: There was no certainty of where Ramacandra Puri would take his meal, for he would do so even uninvited. Nevertheless, he was very particular about keeping account of how others were taking their meals.
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Post by Gauranga on Jun 2, 2004 0:04:17 GMT -5
CC Antya 8.40: To invite Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would cost 320 kaudis [small conchshells]. This would provide lunch for three people, including Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and sometimes Kasisvara and Govinda.
CC Antya 8.41: Every day the Lord would take His meal at a different place, and if someone was prepared to pay for a meal, the price was fixed at only four panas.
CC Antya 8.42: Ramacandra Puri concerned himself with gathering all sorts of information about how Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was situated, including His regulative principles, His lunch, His sleep and His movements.
CC Antya 8.43: Because Ramacandra Puri was interested only in finding faults, he could not understand the transcendental qualities of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. His only concern was finding faults, but still he could not find any.
CC Antya 8.44: At last he found a fault. "How can a person in the renounced order eat so many sweetmeats?" he said. "If one eats sweets, controlling the senses is very difficult."
CC Antya 8.45: In this way Ramacandra Puri blasphemed Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu before everyone, but nevertheless he would regularly come to see the Lord every day.
CC Antya 8.46: When they met, the Lord would offer him respectful obeisances, considering him a Godbrother of His spiritual master. Ramacandra Puri's business, however, was to search for faults in the Lord.
CC Antya 8.47: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu knew that Ramacandra Puri was criticizing Him before everyone, but whenever Ramacandra Puri came to see Him, the Lord offered him respects with great attention.
CC Antya 8.48: One day Ramacandra Puri came in the morning to the abode of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Seeing many ants, he said something to criticize the Lord.
CC Antya 8.49: "Last night there was sugar candy here," he said. "Therefore ants are wandering about. Alas, this renounced sannyasi is attached to such sense gratification!" After speaking in this way, he got up and left.
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Post by Gauranga on Jun 2, 2004 0:04:47 GMT -5
CC Antya 8.50: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had heard rumors about Ramacandra Puri's blasphemy. Now He directly heard his fanciful accusations.
CC Antya 8.51: Ants generally crawl about here, there and everywhere, but Ramacandra Puri, imagining faults, criticized Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by alleging that there had been sweetmeats in His room.
CC Antya 8.52: After hearing this criticism, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was doubtful and apprehensive. Therefore He called Govinda and instructed him as follows.
CC Antya 8.53: "From today on it will be a rule that I shall accept only one-fourth of a pot of Lord Jagannatha's prasadam and five gandas' worth of vegetables.
CC Antya 8.54: "If you bring any more than this, you will not see Me here anymore."
CC Antya 8.55: Govinda relayed this message to all the devotees. When they heard it, they felt as if their heads had been struck by thunderbolts.
CC Antya 8.56: All the devotees condemned Ramacandra Puri, saying, "This sinful man has come here and taken our lives."
CC Antya 8.57-58: That day, a brahmana extended an invitation to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When Govinda accepted only five gandas' worth of vegetables and a fourth of a pot of rice, the brahmana, in great despair, struck his head with his hand and cried, "Alas! Alas!"
CC Antya 8.59: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu ate only half of the rice and vegetables, and whatever remained was taken by Govinda.
CC Antya 8.60: Thus both Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Govinda ate only half the food they needed. Because of this, all the other devotees gave up eating.
CC Antya 8.61: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu ordered Govinda and Kasisvara, "You may both take alms elsewhere to fill your bellies."
CC Antya 8.62: In this way, some days passed in great unhappiness. Hearing of all this, Ramacandra Puri went to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
CC Antya 8.63: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu offered His obeisances to Ramacandra Puri, worshiping his feet. Then Ramacandra Puri smiled and spoke to the Lord.
CC Antya 8.64: Ramacandra Puri advised, "It is not the business of a sannyasi to gratify his senses. He should fill his belly some way or other.
CC Antya 8.65: "I have heard that You have cut Your eating in half. Indeed, I see that You are skinny. Such dry renunciation is also not the religion of a sannyasi.
CC Antya 8.66: "A sannyasi eats as much as necessary to maintain his body, but he does not enjoy satisfying his senses materially. Thus a sannyasi becomes perfect in his spiritual advancement in knowledge.
CC Antya 8.67-68: [Lord Krishna said:] "My dear Arjuna, one cannot perform mystic yoga if he eats more than necessary or needlessly fasts, sleeps and dreams too much or does not sleep enough. One should eat and enjoy his senses as much as necessary, one should properly endeavor to execute his duties, and one should regulate his sleep and wakefulness. Thus one can become freed from material pains by executing mystic yoga."
CC Antya 8.69: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu then humbly submitted, "I am just like an ignorant boy and am like your disciple. It is My great fortune that you are instructing Me."
CC Antya 8.70: Hearing this, Ramacandra Puri got up and left. He also heard from various sources that all the devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu were eating half as much as usual.
CC Antya 8.71: The next day, Paramananda Puri and other devotees approached Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu with great humility and submission.
CC Antya 8.72: Paramananda Puri said, "My Godbrother Ramacandra Puri is by nature a bad critic. If You give up eating because of his words, what will be the profit?
CC Antya 8.73: "It is the nature of Ramacandra Puri that first he lets one eat as much as desired, and if one does not eat more than necessary, with great attention he makes him eat more.
CC Antya 8.74: "In this way he induces one to eat more than necessary, and then he directly criticizes him, saying, 'You eat so much. How much money do you have in your treasury?
CC Antya 8.75: "'Also, by inducing sannyasis to eat so much, you spoil their religious principles. Therefore I can understand that you have no advancement.'
CC Antya 8.76: "It is Ramacandra Puri's business to inquire always about how others are eating and conducting their daily affairs.
CC Antya 8.77: "The two kinds of activities rejected in the revealed scriptures constitute his daily affairs.
CC Antya 8.78: "'One should see that because of the meeting of material nature and the living entity, the universe is acting uniformly. Thus one should neither praise nor criticize the characteristics or activities of others.'
CC Antya 8.79: "Of the two rules, Ramacandra Puri obeys the first by abandoning praise, but although he knows that the second is more prominent, he neglects it by criticizing others.
CC Antya 8.80: "'Between the former rule and the latter rule, the latter is more important.'
CC Antya 8.81: "Even where there are hundreds of good qualities, a critic does not consider them. Rather, he attempts by some trick to point out a fault in those attributes.
CC Antya 8.82: "One should not, therefore, follow the principles of Ramacandra Puri. Nevertheless, I have to say something against him because he is making our hearts unhappy.
CC Antya 8.83: "Why have You given up proper eating due to the criticism of Ramacandra Puri? Please accept invitations as before. This is the request of us all."
CC Antya 8.84: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu replied, "Why are all of you angry at Ramacandra Puri? He is expounding the natural principles of sannyasa life. Why are you accusing him?
CC Antya 8.85: "For a sannyasi to indulge in satisfying the tongue is a great offense. The duty of a sannyasi is to eat only as much as needed to keep body and soul together."
CC Antya 8.86: When they all requested very fervently that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu take a full meal, He still would not do so. Instead, He responded to their request by accepting half as much as usual.
CC Antya 8.87: The cost for the food needed to invite Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was fixed at two panas of kaudis [160 conchshells], and that food would be taken by two men and sometimes three.
CC Antya 8.88: When a brahmana at whose home an invitation could not be accepted invited the Lord, he would pay two panas of conchshells to purchase the prasadam.
CC Antya 8.89: When a brahmana at whose home an invitation could be accepted invited Him, the brahmana would purchase part of the prasadam and cook the rest at home.
CC Antya 8.90-91: Even on a day when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was invited to dine by others, if Gadadhara Pandita, Bhagavan Acarya or Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya invited Him, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had no independence. He would accept their invitations as they desired.
CC Antya 8.92: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu actually descended to give happiness to the devotees. Thus He behaved in whatever way fit the time and circumstances.
CC Antya 8.93: Because of His full independence, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu sometimes behaved like a common man and sometimes manifested His godly opulence.
CC Antya 8.94: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu sometimes accepted Ramacandra Puri as His master and considered Himself a servant, and sometimes the Lord, not caring for him, would see him as being just like a straw.
CC Antya 8.95: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu behaved exactly like the Supreme Personality of Godhead, beyond the restriction of anyone's intelligence. He did whatever He liked, but all His activities were very beautiful.
CC Antya 8.96: Thus Ramacandra Puri stayed for some days at Nilacala [Jagannatha Puri]. Then he left to visit various holy places of pilgrimage.
CC Antya 8.97: The devotees considered Ramacandra Puri to be like a great burden on their heads. When he left Jagannatha Puri, everyone felt extremely happy, as if a great stone burden had suddenly fallen from their heads to the ground.
CC Antya 8.98: After his departure, everything was happy once again. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted invitations as usual and led congregational chanting and dancing. Everyone else also accepted prasadam without hindrances.
CC Antya 8.99: If one's spiritual master rejects him, one becomes so fallen that he, like Ramacandra Puri, commits offenses even to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
CC Antya 8.100: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not consider the offenses of Ramacandra Puri, for the Lord considered him His spiritual master. However, his character instructed everyone about the result of offending the spiritual master.
CC Antya 8.101: The character of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is full of nectar. Hearing about it is pleasing to the ear and mind.
CC Antya 8.102: I write about the character of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. O readers, please hear with attention, for thus you will easily receive ecstatic love for the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krishna.
CC Antya 8.103: Praying at the lotus feet of Sri Rupa and Sri Raghunatha, always desiring their mercy, I, Krishnadasa, narrate Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, following in their footsteps.
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