The Career and Teachings of the
Supreme Lord Sree Krishna-Chaitanya
by Sri Narayan Das Bhakti
Sadhukar
ALL
GLORY TO SREE GURU AND GAURANGA
SREE
KRISHNA-CHAITANYA
COUNTRY AND SOCIETY
The historical significance of the term
Gauda, the name that is
borne by the country of Sree Chaitanya's
Nativity is obscure. It occurs in the works of the famous Grammarian Pänini as
the name of a well-known city ‘of the East’. The geographical location of the
regions bearing the name, referred to in ancient literature, presents a
bewildering variety, being applied to tracts and towns scattered in all
directions and attaining an extent that is sometimes equivalent to the greater
part of Northern India. It supplies the designation to a wide division of the
Brähmanas, a well known style of the Sanskrit rhetoricians and a technical
term, connected with the metal ‘silver’, to the industrialists, of Old India.
The name of the spiritual preceptor of Sree Sankarächärya is Gaudapäda, While
Sreeman Madhvächärya, an inhabitant of the extreme south of the country, bears
the interesting name of “Gaudapurnänanda”. No theory regarding the historical
origin or application of the word is yet forthcoming that offers any satisfactory
clue to the copious use of the word by the ancients in such diverse
connections.
There is evidence to prove that there
were similar grades in the geographical denotation of the word ‘Gauda’ also at
the period of the Advent of Sree Chaitanya. It was then applied to ( 1 ) the
country under the rule of the Muhammedan King of Bengal, (2) to his Capital
situated in the modern district of Mäldä, (3) to the tract adjoining the old
town of Nabadwip to which the Capital of the country had been transferred from
Gauda in Mäldä by Lakshmana Sena, the last independent Hindu King of Bengal;
(4) while the compound ‘pancha-Gauda’
‘the five Gaudas’ meant practically
the whole of Northern India and, specifically, (5) the five countries of
Kurukshetra, Kanauj, Utkal, Mithila and Gauda (Bengal), (6) the Brähmana
residents of which regions were also designated as ‘pancha-Gauda’ The terms ‘Gauda’
and ‘Gauda-mandala’ (Circle of
Gauda) used by the associates and followers of Sree Chaitanyadeva, as a
designation of themselves and their country, mean the greater part of the
modern province of Bengal with old Nabadwip ‘the city of the Nine Islands,’ as
centre; and for the purpose of this Narrative we shall accordingly accept this
external regional denotation of the word, without losing sight of its true
spiritual import.
But it is well at the very outset to
remind our readers of the historical fact
that neither the Land nor the
Activities of Sree Chaitanya are regarded by the authors of the works that form
the original sources of this account, as historical, geographical, or any other
entities in the mundane sense. The Gaudamandala,
or Circle of Gauda is to them the spiritual realm of the Appearance of the
Supreme Lord Sree Krishna-Chaitanya and. His eternally associated devotees. The
spiritual significance of their attitude may be thus indicated. Godhead is
All-powerful. There is a transcendental world in which He dwells with His Own.
The only business of all inhabitants of that world is to serve Godhead
directly. That world is the spiritual world. It is free from all limitations
and defects of this mundane world. When Godhead chooses to come down into this
world, He never does so only by Himself. Just as a high and mighty Sovereign of
this mundane world, when he chooses to favour a remote part of his dominions
with his Royal visit, goes there with his attendants and other paraphernalia of
sovereignty, in like manner Godhead also descends into this world with His Own,
His Servitors, all His Divine Paraphernalia, and His Eternal Spiritual Realm.
It is not possible for any earthly sovereign, even if he is so minded, to move
out with all the circumstances and pomp of his Royal Magnificence, for sheer
want of power and for other obvious reasons. But Godhead is not troubled by
such difficulties. He is here in this world with His realm and complete
followings and is present at one and the same time in His fully manifest realm
of the spiritual world. That is to say, Divinity and His Realm without being
duplicated, is capable of revealing Himself according to the serving aptitude
of mundane beholders.
It is this which happens when the Supreme
Lord manifests His Auspicious Appearance in this world. The realm of Gauda in
which Sree Krishna-Chaitanya appears with His kindred, associates and eternal
devotees, is not the mundane region that is visible to the eyes of conditioned
souls. The Spiritual Circle of Gauda that appears to bound jivas in the figure of a definite tract of land of this physical
world, is, in reality, in its own manifest nature, no other than the “White Island” (Svetadveepa) of the Scriptures, the eternal realm of the Divinity
in His Own Most Beneficent Form. This principle of spiritual identity of
periodic manifestation also applies to other parts of the sacred land of Bhärata (India). This sacredness of the
land is not a figment of the human imagination nor due to any association of
any mundane country with the Appearances of the Divinity by way of fortuitous
concurrences. The Holy Realm of Godhead, in all its infinite vastness and
diversity, appears also in this world being identical
with spiritual Bhärata (India) as
its centre. But spiritual Bhärata is
not always manifest to the view of fettered souls. When the Divinity chooses to
come down into this world, the spiritual realm is also unveiled to the
unobstructed gaze of mortals. ‘But unbelievers do not see what is then really
opened to their view, just as the owl does not see the light of the Sun when he
shines in all his mid-day splendour.’
It would not also be in strict conformity
with historical judgment to regard the view just sketched as an exaggeration of
patriotic partiality for the land of one’s mundane birth. The Vaishnava point
of view is that everything of this world is to be used in the service of
Godhead, and it is only by such use of the most beautiful and valued things of
this world that man is enabled to earn the position of the highest distinction
that is open to him on this condition. This level of view regarding human life
and this world, which marks the highest achievement of human civilization, has,
of all countries of the world, been most nearly realized by the spiritual
community of Vaishnavas in India. Indeed, Godhead Himself comes into this world
only for the sake of the Vaisnavas who follow faithfully His highest teaching
by desiring, instead of piety (dharma), wealth, sensuous pleasure, relief from
worldly misery, etc., which are universally coveted by all mortals, only the
unconditional service of the Divinity. In all parts of the world less spiritual
people have always been engaged in a perpetual strife for the fulfillment of
their mundane aspirations. Godhead has sometimes sent His agents to teach the
peoples of other countries the transitory and miserable end of all worldly
pursuits and thereby win them to desire for liberation
and moral living. But such mere improvement of the procedure of earthly
pursuits effected thereby, the summum
bonum, in the shape of the unalloyed spiritual service of the Supreme Lord, is never attained. The
quasi spiritual ideals help at best to establish a certain apparently moral
order amidst the unrestrained pursuit of sensuous activities.
These facts
offer the undisputed evidence that is historically available to all of us,
which establishes the spiritual superiority of the theistic civilization in
India and its premier claim to the Mercy of the Divinity by the sole right of
His unalloyed service. The patriotic or any other worldly sentiment, has no place in such views.
As India is thus the most sacred country
of the world, the land of Gauda is the most sacred of all parts of India. This
is so because it corresponds to ‘Svetadveep’
wherein the Divinity abides eternally as Embodiment of Perfect Magnanimity. The
land Braja, full of the most exquisite bliss, is the realm of the most
delicious Räsa 1 pastimes
of Youthful Krishna Who is identical with Sree Chaitanya. The land of Gauda is
most liberal, as it is only here that Godhead manifests the Leela 2 of bestowing on all the unalloyed love for Himself which
alone confers on the emancipated jiva3
the right of entry into the happy realm of Braja and join there in the eternal
pastimes of Sree Sree Rädha-Govinda. Therefore, for the same reason which makes
the Svetadveepa in Sree Brindävana
more magnanimous, the land of Gauda is more
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1 Amorous dance of Krishna in the circle of the spiritual
milkmaids.
2 Transcendental Eternal Divine Pastime.
individual soul distinct from Godhead.
Footnote ends
_______________________________________________________________________________________
liberal than the enchanting realm of Braja
overflowing with every bliss. There is also a corresponding mellowness in the
subdued charms, reminiscent of the chastened mood of faithful lovers
temporarily parted, of this land of Gauda, which can be utilised by any one who
cares to enter its wide portals ever open to receive, with the unspeakable
welcome of Divine love in its most unreserved and indiscriminate generosity,
all those who want to receive the summum
bonum free gift from the Hands of Godhead Himself .
The reader will now be in a position to
understand why, the Vaishnava authors expatiate on the minutest features of the
holy Circle of Gauda with such intense devotional fervour and why we can
perfectly rely on any information of a historical or geographical nature, that
they may have cared to record, as being free from all sectarian bias in its
ordinary narrow worldly sense; as the genuine Vaishnava authors have nothing to
do that is worldly either in their life or in their faith for which alone they
live Most of these Åchärayas lived by themselves a secluded life far from home
and family on scanty alms procured by short rounds of day–to–day begging or
given unsolicited by well wishers, and in the humblest styles conceivable even
in India. Many of the them discarded inherited worldly affluence for greater
convenience of devoting themselves to the practice of the religion which forms
the subject of this work and for recording and expounding its principles for
the benefit of all animate beings.
Such is the spiritual Circle of Gauda and
all truly pure souls are the denizens of the Eternal Realm of the Divinity.
The remains of old Nabadwip, the city of
the ‘Nine Islands’ are situated at the junction of the Bhägirathi and Jalangi
rivers bout sixty-five miles above Calcutta. The present town of Nabadwip one
of the ‘Nine Islands’ of old Nabadwip. The name Nabadwip at the time of Sree
Chaitanya was applied to the actual conglomerate of nine separate islands cut
up by the channels of the Bhägirathi,
which had their different individual designations also. The main part of the
old city was situated on the eastern bank of the Bhägirathi which split up Nabadwip into two groups of ‘Islands’ of
which four bearing respectively the names of Antardwip, Simantadwip, Godrumadwip and Madhyadwip were to the east, and the remaining five, viz. , Koladwip (modern town of Nadia), Rtudwip, Jahnudwip, Modadrumadwip and Rudradwip were located to
the west, of the main channel of the Bhägirathi.
These details are given clearly in several of the old books and they are
supplemented by bits of topographical notices of old Nabadwip that have been
recorded by later writers who treated the subject in pursuance of the
traditional description.
Antardwip,
as its name implies, was the central ‘island’, or the heart of the old town. Sree Mäyäpur, the quarter of Nabadwip which
contained the house of Sree Jagannätha Misra, the father of Sree Chaitanya, was
located in the centre of ,Antardwip. Accordingly,
the old chroniclers, in describing Nabadwip, always compare it to a full-blown
lotus afloat on the stream of the Bhägirathi.
The eight islands surrounding Antardwip, which
is the core of the Lotus, are described as forming its eight extended petals.
Holy Mäyäpur, with the Yogapeetha or the House of God, is
described as the central part of the core. The House of God thus forms the
central point of an immense circle of which the circumference is stated to be
thirty-two miles. This is the Circle of the Nine Islands. The Circle of Gauda
is stated these writers to be 168 miles in circumference.
The Vaishnava authors are tireless in
reminding their readers that these place appearing to mortal eyes as the
divisions of an ordinary tract of land of this earth, must never be regarded as
the real Nabadwip and Should not be reverenced as such. Such reverence would
constitute an offense against the Abode of the Divinity which is
transcendental. They lend no countenance to the practice, so prevalent in all
parts of the world, of putting the seal and label of mundane history. and
geography on spiritual sites and occurrences, a practice that has been the
parent of much misery and of the worst superstitions that abound in all the
ancient creeds. The Divine cannot be pinned down to any place, time or event of
this world. There cannot be a greater offense against Godhead than to suppose
that His Body or anything pertaining to Him can at all be of the nature of the
things of this world.
So ‘Nabaddwip’ of Vaishnavas is not a
geographical town bearing the name situated in the geographical country known
to the historians and geographers of this world under the name of Gauda. Such a
place is not only not Nabadwip but if it is ever considered as real Nabadwip,
the latter refuses to manifest her proper form to the view of an offender who
chooses to think in this unspiritual way. Real or spiritual Navadwip, real or spiritual Sree Mäyäpur and real Yogapeetha, are open only to the view of the Vaishnavas, or
uneclipsed serving souls, and whatever they say about the Divine Realm is also,
therefore, necessarily true. What other people designate as Nabadwip or Sree Mäyäpur or the Circle of Gauda
or Bharätavarsha, in as much as it
happens to be the mundane view, is entitled to no hearing from a Vaishnava and
the very notion that the realm of the Divinity can possibly be any other than
spiritual should be most carefully discarded once for all by those who want to
understand what the Vaishnavas have really to say.
The reader, who complains that such a
procedure will block the way of impartial scientific enquiry, would not also be
quite reasonable; because it is he who, under this unscientific pretext,
really, wants to block the way of the only true inquiry. What the Vaishnava
wants the empiric scientist to admit is that he should allow the devotee to
deliver the tidings of the Spiritual Realm and not to insist on identifying the
geography and history of this world with the Geography and History of the
Spiritual Realm. The empiricist is also not entitled to exclude spiritual
Geography and History from the account of the spiritual events if his purpose
really be to represent a thing, as it actually is, by available evidence and
not as he thinks it ought to be. The
two categories are quite distinct from one another; and it would be fair to the
spiritual subject to admit unreservedly its transcendental nature, not merely
in theory but in practice as well.
If the career of Sree Chaitanya is
written in accordance with the rules laid down by empiric biographers, the
narrative would be worse than a parody: it would be a blasphemy. Such a
performance is not the purpose of the writer. His object is to faithfully
record the events as he finds them in the original sources, offering no opinion
of his own except only such as help the elucidation of the subject in its
spiritual sense which is foreign to ordinary mundane experience. This method
leads to frequent digressions to caution both the writer as well as the readers
at every step not to misunderstand the subject. These digressions, which are
offered as the real explanation of the subject, have been gathered from the
monumental works of the Åchäryas, who quote text and verse of the Scriptures to
prove by scriptural evidence the absolute truth of every word they write and
take no credit for originality, and in conformity with the personal experience of
the transcendental teaching and activities the writer’s most revered Gurudeva
and his associates.
The geographical site of the Yogapeetha, the Abode of Godhead, passed
out of the memory of most people due to the misfortune reflected by tradition
of havoc wrought by the shiftings of the course of the Bhägirathi. The religion taught By Sree Chaitanya was not properly
grasped by posterity and suffered from misrepresentation in the hands of
pseudo-teachers who soon abounded at Nabadwip and in other parts of the
country. There have, indeed, been a small number of persons forming the inner
following of the Åchäryas, in all these generations, who have kept up the real
tradition. But these have failed to win, for the purely spiritual religion up
till now, any appreciable measure of general
The pseudo-Vaishnavas themselves also
divided into an increasing number of hostile groups, each of which followed a
novel inspiration, some of them taking to grossly immoral practices which they
were not ashamed to give out as the religion taught by Sree Chaitanya. The
history of these tragic occurrence will be told in the concluding chapters of
this narrative. The preponderance of the pseudo-forms of the religion has,
however, secured their deserved banishment from the society of the cultured
classes, and in consequence of this, the real tradition itself has tended to
fall into utter neglect and is
regarded with mistrust even by the orthodox Hindu society at the instigation of
the Smärta priests.
The pseudo-cults, that usurped the name
of the religion of love, were invaded by all those evils of the older
atheistical creeds which Sree Chaitanya wishes to put down. The descendants of
the old associates and followers of Sree Chaitanya set themselves up as
hereditary teachers of the pseudo-religion which proved to them the means of
eking out a miserable livelihood by exploitation of the credulity of the lowest
classes and the most immoral sections of the people. The reader may for the
present accept this as a moderate statement of the evils that have made us
forget the teaching of Sree Chaitanya, in order to be able to understand why
His Religion in course of time ceased to prevail in the upper ranks of society
and was allowed to be substituted by wretched counterfeits to suit the whims and
wickedness of designing quacks and knaves who earned their living by pandering
to the worst vices of the dregs of society claiming exemption from even the
ordinary salutary checks of communities obeying the rules of the old
civilization of the country.
It is this which has made the
identification of the old geographical sites a matter of hostile interest to
the professional Goswämis even of this day and their misguided followers. When
the old town was being deserted the shrines and the holy Forms (Vigrahas) were taken by their migrating
proprietors to the new sites. And, as the cultured society took little interest
in the matter, the old sites quickly passed out of the memory of the nation.
But with the revival of interest in the religion of Sree Chaitanya among the
cultured classes within the last fifty years or so, there also arose a natural
desire to find out the old sites connected with Sree Chaitanya.
Neither has it been really difficult to
discover them with the help of the old books. The actual site of the home of
Sree Jagannath Misra which had escaped the general havoc wrought by the Bhägirathi, has been settled on the
testimony of Vaishnava authors supplemented by the help of the actual knowledge
of the most revered Vaishnava saints. The process by which the old sites have
been identified is the same as that by which at the time of Sree Chaitanya the
holy sites of Sree Brindävan were identified and made known. For the proper
identification of a spiritual site the testimony of the pure Vaishnavas is,
spiritually speaking, the one thing needful, as they alone are privileged to
recognize the site. Geographical and historical considerations by themselves
are extraneous and can only be ancillary to the spiritual method.
Sree Mäyäpurdhäm,
so identified, is situated geographically to the east of the river Bhägirathi, nearly opposite the present
town of Nadia which is located on the western bank of the river identifiable
with old Koladwip one of the “Nine
Islands” forming old Nabadwip.
The name Antardwip, changed into Åtopur (vide Bhakti Ratnäkar), persists to the present day and includes Sree
Mäyäpur which still maintains its name unchanged. The river has constantly
shifted its course, up to quite recent times. The oldest maps enable us to
follow the changes only as far back as 1763 A.D. We have to rely exclusively on
the testimony of the old writers for avoiding mistaken identification that is
being attempted by interested parties by availing the shiftings of the location
of the places during the two hundred and seventy six years that elapsed between
the Appearance of Sree Chaitanya and the publication of Major Rennel’s Atlas.
But tradition had always pointed to those deserted parts as the site of the old
city. Of this fact we possess reliable and continuous testimony.
The method, that appears to us on the
whole to be best for the purpose of describing the place, is to follow the old
writers, taking help of such light as is afforded by recent investigations for
the purpose of understanding their statements. It is not our purpose to enter
at this place into the details of any recent evidence for which the reader is
referred to the investigations of Thakur Bhaktivinode which have been
summarized in different publications and which have formed the basis of subsequent
inquiries regarding the real position of the old sites.
Sree Mäyäpur which has escaped the
widespread destruction that was apparently caused by sudden changes of the
course of he Bhägirathi from a very early period is distinguishable from the
adjoining lower alluvial plain by its elevation and older soil of adhesive
clay. A modern village occupying a part of the site of Mäyäpur is inhabited by
a number of Muhammedan families who began to settle on this old site, which
appears in course of time to have been totally deserted, from the year 1785.
This is traceable
The actual site of the Yogäpeetha, the Home of Sree Jagannätha
Misra, was identified by the famous saint Chaitanyadäs Bäbäji about eighty
years ago It appears that the actual site was known as such to the few
Vaishnavas who cared to he informed about it and had also been visited by them
for their devotional purposes. The place was noted by the inhabitants of
adjoining villages for alleged peculiarities. They maintain to this day that
the place used to be always overgrown with sacred tulasi, for which reason
people had instinctively desisted from any act of defilement or occupation for
the purpose of erecting any private dwelling. This reverence towards the site
which is displayed by the Muhammedan residents in occupation of the adjoining
plots, indeed, point to a definite conclusion. The row of high mounds, that are
now crowned by a number of substantial buildings erected by the piety of
Vaishnavas since the re-discovery of the old sites, had never before been
occupied by the villagers on their own account who had always regarded with a
sort of sacred awe those sites which were collectively known as the ‘Vaisnava settlement’ (Vairägi dängä).
There are many current stories of miraculous
occurrences connected with the sites. But the most startling miracle of all is
the fact that the persistent local tales are now found to be confirmed in their
details by the topographical description of. the old writers. For example, we
read in the Bhakti Ratnäkär that the
court-yard of Sribäs Pandit, where Sree Chaitanya inaugurated His own
distinctive form of worship viz., the
congregational Kirtan of Hari and
where, in the early days of His Preaching, Sree Chaitanya used to chant daily
the Kirtan all through the nights in the company of His close associates, was
situated one hundred dhanus (two hundred yards) to the north of the ‘House of
God’. A plot of land, adjoining the site of the House of Jagannäth Misra,
finally and definitely identified by Sree Jagannäth Däs Bäbäji and easily
recognizable by the evidence of local tradition, still bears the name of ‘khola bhängär dängä,’ i.e., the mound where the ‘khol’ i.e. mridanga was broken, which event,
according to Sree Chaitanya Bhägavata, the
biography of Sree Chaitanya by a contemporary, took place in a locality close to the ‘yard of Sribäs’. The site
is found to have continued to bear this name from the time when the ‘khol’ of
the offending townsman, who persisted in playing on the mridanga for accompanying the chant, was broken by Chänd Käzi for
arresting the further progress of the movement, as described in that work.
The tomb of Chänd Käzi himself, who
afterwards turned into a staunch supporter of Sree Chaitanya, still exists at a
place, the situation of which perfectly, tallies with the topography of the
books. It has, therefore, been possible on the testimony of such excellent
corroborative evidence to identify many of the old sites and even the actual
location of the houses of the prominent persons connected with the Activities
of Sree Chaitanya in old Nabadwip.
Antardwip which formed the heart of the old
straggling city was situated at the time of Sree Chaitanya on the eastern bank
of the Bhägirathi whose current then
flowed under the city. The old bank of the river is identifiable with the help
of the old topography. The following old sites have been traced up until now in
the above manner—(1) The House of God (Bhagavadgriham),
i.e., the Yogäpeetha or House of Sree Jagannäth Misra, father
of Sree Chaitanya; (2) the house of Sreebäs Pandit in whose ‘yard’ the Kirtana
was first regularly sung in company; (3) the house of Sree Advaitächärya, the
meeting-place of the Vaishnavas in the early days of the movement; (4) the
house of Sree Chandrasekhar Åchärya in which Sree Chaitanya acted the part of
Sree Rukmini in a dramatic performance staged by His associates; (5) the tomb
of Chänd Käzi which is shaded by a marvelous champaka tree reputed to be over
four hundred years old; (6) the old bank of the Bhägirathi marked by its four prominent bathing ghäts, viz., ( a) the ghät of old Siva, ( b )
Gauränga’s own ghät, (c) Mädhäi’s ghät, and (d) Bärakonä ghät, all of which possess famous associations; (7) the shrines
of old Siva and of praura Mäyä. All
these, with the exception of (5) belong to the village that still bears the
name of Mäyäpur.
Close to the tomb of Chänd Käzi is the
site of Sridhar’s house. The house of Chandrasekhar is situated on ‘Balläl’s
Tank’ which bears the name of the famous independent Hindu king of Bengal,
whose successor Lakshmana Sena permanently removed the capital from Gauda near Mäldä to the old town of Nabadwip. ‘The
Mound of Balläl’ situate within a short distance of Sree Chaitanya Math is regarded
locally as marking the site of the palace of the Sena kings which was shunned
by all persons after its desecration by the first Muhammedan conquerors of
Bengal. The residence of Sree Nilämbar Chakravarti, father of Sree Chaitanya’s
mother Sree Sachi Devi, was in the quarter of the town where the Käzi lived,
which is the same as present Bämanpukur (identical with Belpukur of the
chroniclers).
We shall, therefore, follow the order of
the sites that was observed by pious devotees who performed the
circumambulation of the holy Näbadwipdhäm as described by the old writers, in
offering a brief account of the surroundings of Sree Mäyäpur that are
associated with the early career of Sree Chaitanya.
Antardwip
(literally, the central island), within which Sree
Mäyäpur is situated, forms the first of the ‘Nine Islands’ and the starting point of the
circumambulators. The more famous of the recognizable old sites of Antardwip (Åtopur) have already been
noticed above.
Simantadwip
is the next ‘Island’
that is reached by the pilgrim. Its present name is Simuliä situated to the
north of Sree Mäyäpur. Sardängä close to Simuliä contains an old shrine of Sree
Jagannäthadeva. Sondängä, Villvapushkarini, the tract known as meghärchar, etc., lie close together.
The house of Sachi Devi’s father, as already stated, was situated near
Belpukur.
The third of the ‘Islands’ is Godrumadwip (modern Gädigächhä) to the
south and east of Sree Mäyäpur. Close to it is Suvarna-bihär with very ancient
associations. Other old places of this locality are Harihara-kshetra, which contains
the mounds Surya, Brahmä, Indra and other gods, and . Devapalli with an old
temple of Sree Nrisingha. This ‘Island’ contains the bhajan kutir (cottage of devotional practice) and samädhi (resting place) of Thäkur
Bhaktivinode.
The fourth ‘Island’ is Madhyadwip (Mäjidä) situated to the
south of Sree Mäyäpur. It contains the Mounds
of the Seven Rishis, a channel bearing the name of Gomati, the adjoining
wooded tract being known as Naimishäranya, Sree Brähmanpuskaras
(Bäman-paukherä), Uchchahatta ( Hätdängä ) and other sites of pious
association.
The fifth of the ‘Islands’ is Koladwip (the modern town of Nadia) to
the west-south-west of .Sree Mäyäpur. At the time of Sree Chaitanya Koladwip or Kuliä was separated from
Nadia, the Home of Sree Chaitanya, only by the intervening main channel of the Bhägirathi. It is called ‘the place of
expiation’ in reference to the incidents connected with Gopal-Chäpal and
Devänanda Pandit, whose offenses were forgiven by Sree Chaitanya at Kuliä. it
is sometimes designated as ‘the high bank
of Kuliä,’ and is connected by old writers with very ancient events. Close
to it is Samudragarh.
The sixth ‘Island’ is Rtudwip south-west of Koladwip. In it is situated the village
of Champähäti which was formerly a grove of champaka
trees. The old shrine of Sree Gaur-Gadädhar erected by Dvija Bäninäth, one
of the principal associates of Sree Chaitanya, still exists at Champähäti. It
was also the residence of the famous poet Jayadeva of the time of King
Lakshmana Sena.
The seventh ‘Island’ was anciently called
Jahnudwip (modern Jähnnagar) to the
north of Rutdwip. Close to it is
Vidyänagar where the Academy of the famous Vasudeva Särbahhauma was situated .
Modadrumadwip
is the eighth ‘Island’
to the north of Jahnudwip. Here is
the village of Mämgächhi, the birth-place of Thäkur Brindäbändas, author of
Sree Chaitanya-Bhägavat, the
contemporary, systematic account of the career of Sree Chaitanya written in
Bengali verse. At Mämgächhi was located the paternal residence of Sree Mälini
Devi, spouse of Sribäs Pandit. Close to the birthsite of Thäkur Brindäbandäs is
the shrine of Sree Madan Gopäla installed by Sree Väsudeva Datta Thäkur,
brother of Sree Mukunda Datta Thäkur of Chattagräm, the close associate of Sree
Chaitanya. This shrine contains also the holy Form (Vigraha) installed by Säranga Muräri Thäkur, the associate of Sree
Chaitanya.
The ninth ‘Island’ is Rudradwip north-east of .Modadrumadwip.
These ‘Nine Islands’ constitute the
Circle of Sridhäm Nabadwip the circumference of which is given as
thirty-two miles.
Sree Mäyäpur and the adjoining places are
at the present day, in their outward appearance, very different from the old
town of Nabadwip at the time of Sree Chaitanya. The present town of Nadia,
which is not a very- beautiful place except its shrines, is now the only part
of the ‘City of the Nine Islands’ that bears anything approaching
an urban appearance, judged even by the modest standard of a Bengal town. The
other parts are almost purely rural and are mostly overgrown with jungle. The
numerous small channels of the Bhägirathi,
which abound about this point, impart a charming openness to the landscape
and salubrious freshness to the soft rural breezes that love to haunt the
silent places of practices of the only absolute pure faith. The main stream of
the sacred Bhägirathi, which is here
swelled to noble proportion by the tribute of the great body of sweet and pure
water that is poured into it just below Sree Mayäpur by the Jalangi, forms now,
as it did also at the time of Sree Chaitanya, the central feature of the
countryside. But the main current of the Bhägirathi
in old time flowed past the landing places of the old populous city. The
riverside of the old city is partly traceable. The bank was washed away
probably by a sudden shifting of the course of the river due to a great
earthquake that fearfully damaged the place in 1515 A.D. shortly after Sree
Chaitanya had renounced home and family
But the splendours of the old city
lingered long in the memory of the inhabitants. Thakur Brindäbandäs who wrote
his Divine Narrative, Sree Chaitanya
Bhägavat, not long after the disappearance of the Supreme Lord, gives the
following description of the old town to his contemporaries who could also
confirm his eulogies. “There was not another town in the world”, says Thäkur
Brindäbandas, “like Nabadwip where Sree Chaitanya was born. The divine
architect must have known beforehand His impending Advent and had accordingly
lavished with a prodigal hand all his bounty to make of Nabadwip the ideal
place that it was. Who could describe the opulence of Nabadwip? Every single
bathing-ghät was thronged by a hundred thousand bathers. Each caste resident in
Nabadwip had lakhs of members of every age. All the people were highly skilled
in their respective occupations by the grace of the goddess of learning. All of
them boasted of being masters in their line and mere boys contended with the
Brahmana teachers in scholastic disputations. People from various countries
flocked to Nabadwip. One could obtain the real taste of learning only by
studying at Nabadwip. The great fame of its learning drew countless students
who were taught by an incredibly large number of the most erudite teachers.
This atmosphere of learning was also one of great happiness by the kind glance
of the goddess of wealth.
But the spiritual condition of the town,
in which we are specially interested, was not encouraging. This is what the
same competent observer has to say on the subject. “The people were blessed with the choicest favours of
the goddesses of learning and wealth. In these respects they had attained the
sunmit of their desire. There was only one drawback. The time of all people was
wholly wasted in the enjoyments of secular pursuits. The world was destitute of
devotion for Krishna and Räma (Baladeva). At this earliest stage of the Iron
Age there came to prevail prematurely those worst practices that have been
predicted by the Scriptures about the far-off future of this Age of Evil. The
people sat up whole nights at the songs of Mangalchandi
(goddess of worldly blessing) . This was the only practice of religion
known to the people. There were a few who in their vanity worshipped the
goddess Bishahari (healer of poison).
Some lavished immense wealth on the making of grand idols. Wealth was
squandered on the marriages of sons and daughters. The time of the people was
passed in such vanities. The great Chakravartis and Bhattächäryas were wholly
unaware of the significance of the great Shästras. By their teaching of the
Scriptures they earned for themselves and their hearers only entanglement in
the toils spread by the pitiless hand of Death. They never expounded the Divine
Dispensation of the Age in the shape of the kirtana
of Krishna. They spoke only of faults, and never of the good qualities, of
anyone. There was a great number of arrogant recluses and ascetics whose mouths
never uttered such a sound as the Names of Hari. Those persons, who were most
reputed for their piety, used to utter the Names of Govinda and Pundarikäksha
only at their baths. Even those who professed to teach the Geetä and the
Bhägavatam, never employed their tongues to the task of explaining the
principles of devotion to Godhead. No one could be persuaded even by entreaty
to take the Name of Krishna. Every one harped ad nauseum on the merits
of learning and social rank.’
There was one notable exception to the
above rule. ‘Sree Advaita Åchärya who lived at Nadia was most highly respected
for his unrivaled learning, his high birth and honoured position in society. He
was an eminent professor of the Scriptures and excelled in expounding the true
spiritual practice and principle. He was equal to the great Sankara (Siva)
himself in expounding the subject of devotion to Krishna. He was equally well
versed in all branches of the Scriptures; and, in teaching them, he was always
careful to explain that devotion to the Feet of Krishna was the essence of all
the Scriptures. He was always engaged in worshipping Krishna with the greatest
ardour, in the simplest and purest manner, by the offering of sprays of the
holy tulasi, dearly loved of Krishna,
steeped in the sacred water of the Ganges. He often gave vent to deep ejaculations of sorrow ,
resembling the rumbling of thunder and impregnated with the fiery energy of
Krishna, which, passing beyond the limits of this universe, reverberated in the
Holy Realm of Vaikuntha.
Sree Advaita Åchärya was the leader of a
small band of sincere devotees who were at this time settled in Nabadwip. These
Vaishnavas were opposed by atheists, specially on account of their practice of
frequently uttering the Name of Hari with a loud voice. This practice together
with their theistic views was sufficient to mark them out as the legitimate
objects of their invectives and ridicule, from which they could not be
effectively shielded even by the great influence of Sree Advaita Åchärya
himself who was regarded with respect and awe all over Nadia.
The reason for such hostility were many:
the foremost being that the Vaishnavas eschewed all worldly pleasures and
enjoyments, which was regarded as a deprecation of the life of epicurean ease
that was fashionable in all ranks of the then society. There was no want of
aggressive epicureans in that Age also who openly condemned all pretensions to
a life that was in every way above animality. They wrote scurrilous ballads
against the Vaishnavas and sang them in the streets. ‘The ascetic, the chaste
woman, no less than others,’ so ran these effusions, ‘will go the way of all
the flesh. He alone can be said to have done good deeds in his previous birth
who rides the dolä and the horse and is preceded and followed by scores of
running footmen. Much as your Holiness cries in the mood of devotion, yet it
does not cancel your Holiness's sorrows of poverty. Your Holiness never ceases
to call upon the Name of Hari with a very loud voice. It may surely anger the
Lord to be addressed by shouts.’ The frank realism of these fifteenth century
Bengali followers of Chärväka cannot be outdone by their most up-to-date
successors of the present day. This was almost the general attitude of the
citizens of a profligate town devoid of all taste for anything higher than
bodily enjoyments of a refined character engendered by their engrossing secular
studies and urban pursuits.
There was another class of objectors who
also ridiculed the mode of kirtana with
a loud voice. The ground for their objection was, however, different from that
of the refined epicureans. ‘I myself,’ such were the ideas of these people, ‘am
the Brahman Who is devoid of all the
qualities. Why then do they make any such distinction as that between servant
and Master?’ These men were the worst
enemies of the Vaishnavas. There were also many persons who looked upon the
Vaishnavas as designing worldly people who took to begging to earn their
livelihood by that easy method, for sheer idleness.
We frequently hear the complaint that
religion suffers degradation by scarcity of people who really lead the
religious life. It is supposed that if religion is freed from the clutches of
these people who have so long monopolized it for their profit and pleasure and
have degraded it by their foul lives, people in general would voluntarily
follow the lead of truly devout persons. If only the preachers of religion, say
these open atheists, lead truly spiritual lives themselves, their example would
prove irresistible in winning everybody to spiritual living. But the opposite
of this is what almost invariably happens in this world. The sincere devotees
are always ridiculed and persecuted by the people. This is also exactly as was
likely in the circumstances. Those who are steeped in worldliness have a
spontaneous dislike for persons who openly profess principles and follow a mode
of life that are in essential contradiction to theirs. The conduct of the
devotees is always regarded by worldly people, who have no inclination for
listening to the unpalatable truth, as both foolish and mischievous. Therefore,
instead of following the example of such persons the worldlings always look
upon the pure souls as enemies of every useful institution and set themselves
in vindictive opposition to their activities. To what ferocious persecution the
bona fide Vaishnavas have been
subjected at the hands of their opponents from time to time, is not
sufficiently well known, although it forms the most pathetic and the most
shameful chapter of the history of India. Sree Chaitanya says, “It is our only
duty always to chant the kirtana of Hari with humility greater than that of the
blade of grass, with greater endurance than that of the tree, giving all due
honour to others without desiring any honour for ourselves.” But nothing can
make amends, in the eyes of worldly people, for the crime of chanting the Name
of Hari or proclaiming the unvarnished Truth in and out of season and at all
time with body, mind and speech as required by the teaching of all the
Scripture embodied in the institution of the whole-time kirtana of the Absolute.
We have already described in a preceding
chapter the state of religious opinion in the country of the time of Sree
Chaitanya. There was no lack of unspiritual doctrines and practices upheld by
ancient philosophical systems most of which were mere apologies, or even
justifications, of the ordinary ungodly practices of the misguided jivas of this world. The system that was
in most vogue among the Pandits of Nabadwip at this period and has been
fashionable ever since, is the atheistical system of Nabya Nyäya. The
other atheistical systems of philosophy were also assiduously taught in the
schools of Nabadwip. We learn that scholars even from Mithila (Tirhoot) came to Nabadwip to study the New Logic. Sannyäsins and learned Professors from
Benares and all parts of North India came to Nabadwip for the study of Vedänta. We also read of students coming
to Nabadwip even from distant Känchi and
the southernmost part of the country.
These materialistic studies had acquired
such preponderance at that period that scholarship and ungodliness came to be
regarded as necessarily identical.
The masses sang the songs of Mangalchandi
and considered the endeavour for increasing the means of worldly enjoyment
as the ideal of religion. The common
people, and especially the wealthy trading communities, performed with great eclat the worship of Mangalchandi and, by subsidizing the
Brähmana Pandits with liberal pecuniary gifts, were enabled to buy their
subservient approval of those unscriptural practices. Much money was recklessly
squandered on the short-lived idols and no less on the exhibition of pantomime
dolls, which was an invariable and costly item of expense on all festive
occasions. There were very few permanent Holy Vigrahas in Bengal at that time.
The worship of the permanent Holy Vigraha
became a tradition in Bengal only subsequent to the Advent of Sree
Chaitanya and as the effect of His Teachings. Temporary images were the only
objects of worship. Those images were immersed in water after the festivity in
their honour was concluded, on the wrong assumption that the Form of Godhead is
a material and temporary entity.
This posture of affairs filled the
devotees with grief and despair. No one served Godhead, no one ever talked
about Him, or took His Holy Name, or could be persuaded to listen to any
discourse about Him. This was the blighted waste glutted with every form of
luxury aggravated by the strenuous pursuit of worldly knowledge, which evoked
the tenderest solicitude, of that small band of pure souls and impelled them to
adopt every method that could be devised for rousing the deluded people to a
sense of their eternal duty and thereby saving them from their impending
terrible doom. But all their efforts for the amelioration of the spiritual
condition of the people were misunderstood and responded to by the bitterest
invectives, ridicule and cruel persecution! Yet those servants of Godhead did
not lose their faith nor relax their efforts, although
their very food did not taste in their mouths at the sight of the miseries of
their kindred. The Bhägavatas applied themselves to their devotions in the
forms of the worship of Krishna, discourse about Krishna, and bathing in the
holy stream of the Ganges. And all of them incessantly blessed the world, ‘May
Krishna soon bestow His mercy on all!’
![[Bhaktivedanta Memorial
Library Logo]](../../grfx/bml_logo.gif){kind=logo}