The Career and Teachings of the Supreme Lord Sree Krishna-Chaitanya
by Sri Narayan Das Bhakti
Sadhukar
CHAPTER XVII
TRIUMPHS OF LEARNING
The Lord taught His pupils
in all places. His usual resort for the purpose in the evening was the side of the
Ganges. On His arrival there He took His Seat, as at the Academy, in the midst
of His pupils. The Performances of the Lord as Teacher on the bank of the holy
stream remained indelibly impressed on the memory of all beholders. Sree Brindavandas
Thakur searched all the Scriptures to find an analogy by an event of the triple
universe. He rejected the following suggestions after due consideration of
their claims. The analogy of the Moon surrounded by the stars of Heaven was
rejected on the ground that the Moon is spotted-and. subject to the processes
of waxing and waning whereas the Nature of the Spotless Subject of comparison
is Eternally ‘Full’. Brhaspati, teacher of the gods, does not furnish a proper
analogy in as much as he happens to be a partisan of the devas, whereas our
Lord is the Partisan and Help of all sides. Cupid god of worldly amour, does
not offer the requisites of a proper analog. The mind in which he makes his
appearance is distracted, whereas on the Appearance of the Lord in one’s mind all
other bonds are snapped and the mind attains the state of supreme purity and
satisfaction. In the same way all other analogies also appeared to be seriously
defective. There could be found only one exception. There is real analogy with
the Pastimes of the Son of Sree Nanda, surrounded by the cowherds, on the banks
of the Kalindi (Yamuna). It seemed to all people as if the Selfsame Krishna
Chandra, in the company of those very cowherds, having put on the Form of the
twice-born, now re-enacted His Identical Pastimes on the bank of the Ganges.
All those, who were
privileged to have the Sight of the Lord discoursing to His pupils on the bank
of the Ganges, experienced a gladness that baffles all description. They were
no less impressed by the display of His Power, and everybody secretly opened
his mind to others on this subject. Some said, ‘Such Power does not belong to
man’. Some declared that the Brahmana was the Integral Portion of Krishna
Himself. Others said that ‘He seemed to be the Person of the prophecy that a Brahmana
will be King in Gau_a, and held that his conclusion was confirmed by the fact
that He had all the Bodily Signs that prognosticate the King of Kings. Every
one made these remarks regarding the Lord in accordance with one’s own particular
bent of mind.
The Lord expounded the
Scriptures on the bank of the Ganges, adversely criticizing the teachers. He
exposed the falsity of their interpretations by establishing their
contradictories and, after refuting all different opinions, re-established them
all. He challenged every one to disputation with Himself and promised to
recognize as a real scholar every one who would fairly meet Him only once. He
denied that any one possessed the power of holding his ground in controversy
against Him even by accepting the very interpretations that He offered. Thus
did the Lord make His Boast and His Bragging Words destroyed all vanities of
every one who listened to them.
There was no end of the
pupils of the Lord. They formed themselves into innumerable groups and pursued
their studies at many different places in the town. Every day ten or twenty Brahmana
boys prostrated themselves at the Feet of the Lord and begged to be allowed to
study under Him. They prayed for His mercy that they might have the good fortune
of being enlightened by Him to the least extent. The Lord laughed at their
words observing that what they said was most excellent. The number of the
Lord’s pupils went on increasing apace every day in this manner.
Thus the Lord held His
learned sessions surrounded by His countless pupils by the side of the Ganges.
It was a most edifying Sight that was witnessed by His fortunate
contemporaries.
The whole of Nabadwip was
rendered free from all cause of sorrow by the Holy Influence of the Supreme
Lord and all those, who were privileged to witness the learned Performances of
the Lord, were regarded in subsequent years as persons of rare good fortune the
very sight of whom had power to free one from the bondage of the world. Sree
Brindavandas Thakur laments his misfortune for not having been born at that
time, and cherishes the hope that he might retain his recollection of those
Activities of the Lord at every birth and be born as His servant wherever Sree
Chaitanya and Nityananda manifest Their Divine Activities
The above, from the pen of
His first biographer, who had his information from Nityananda Himself,
un-contradicted by any other writers of that or subsequent period, proves
conclusively, apart from the evidence of His associates and followers regarding
the Substantive Teaching of the Lord, that Sree Chaitanya enjoyed an
extraordinary reputation as Disputant and Exponent of the Shastras among His contemporaries. Those contemporaries were
specially given to the cultivation of the Science of Polemics which had been
perfected at Nabadwip to a point never rivaled anywhere else either then or
since. Lest this fact fail to be sufficiently grasped by posterity Thakur Brindavandas
repeats it over and over again and in a most definite manner. As for instance
he gives prominence to the fact that the Lord was never chary of denouncing the
interpretations of other Professors, although Nabadwip was at the time full of
a countless host of the most eminent teachers, proverbially jealous of their
scholastic reputation to whose ears the denunciations of the Lord were sure to
be carried in no time. But no Professor in all the different branches of
learning, which were cultivated with equal zeal at Nabadwip, ever dared to meet
the Lord in open controversy on any issue. Every one was terribly afraid of
Him, showed the greatest deference to His Views and avoided any direct
disputation with Him. And if the Lord was pleased to speak kindly to any one
that fortunate person became at once His most devoted servant. All the people
were fully aware of His Extraordinary Cleverness even from Infancy and all
dreaded and obeyed Him. They also knew that no one had really the power to
excel or teach Him anything new. Yet no one suspected that He was any other
than an ordinary mortal.
The language of Thakur
Brindavandas, coming from one who, although an admirer of the Lord and using
the poetic diction, and after making every allowance for so-called oriental
hyperbole that is supposed by unimaginative empiric thinkers of this country and
elsewhere to specially characterize all religious literature, makes it plain
that Sree Chaitanya was not a particularly submissive kind of a person, nor did
He seek to serve Godhead in the current manner, but was certainly not an
opponent of rational, or even empiric inquiry on any subject. He was also at
the same time a scoffer of all self-sufficient superficial pedantry. These
qualities were misunderstood by the orthodox Vaishnavas also, among whom were
persons distinguished for their secular learning as well as piety. This
Incomprehensible Nature of the Young Professor, Who scorned everybody and
submitted to none, marked Him out as a most extraordinary Person and extorted
the unwilling admiration of friends and foes alike. That it was not willing admiration
in all cases we shall know from the sequel. His uncompromising attitude and
hostile talk gave deep offense to the learned pedants, who only waited for the
opportunity of indulging their furious animosity against the dreaded Scholar
Whom they could not meet in honest controversy.
The attitude of the learned
circles of Nadia demonstrates the radical defect of empirical intellectualism
which does not at all realize the gravity of the misfortune of its divorce from
the Absolute Truth. Its abstract idealistic speculations are a sorry refuge
from the dangers of the grosser forms of materialistic positivism. This
material world is not an illusion. The idealist, who affects to look down upon
it, is bound to be brought to grief in no time by the actual force of the very
circumstances that he pretends to contemn. The scientific instinct revolts from
the sterile and fictitious triumphs of the mere idealist. It seeks to satisfy
the need of our nature for the substantive Truth by creating opportunities of
expanded materialistic activities in defiance of barren idealism. Sree
Gaursundar, however, did not meet the idealists with the weapon of grosser
materialism. He was content to point out the glaring defects of their synthesis
with the help of empiric logic itself, as they could not fail to understand
such argument. By the very nature of the case it is possible by means of
empiric logic to demolish its own false constructions and to demonstrate the
necessity of a change of method of investigation for the attainment of the Real
Truth.
The difficulty begins after
this critical juncture has been reached. Even those, who are prepared to admit
their defect in controversy, do not always realize the necessity of accepting
the conclusions of their victorious enemy. The out and out sincerity of
judgment, that would lead to such acceptance, is very rare and implies to an
attitude of causeless devotion to the Truth for His Own sake. The pedants of
Nabadwip did not care to learn the Truth from Sree Chaitanyadeva. Neither is
this an absolute and immediate drawback for progressing in empiric knowledge. A
person can improve his empiric knowledge by self-application unassisted by any
other person by the study of books. Sree Gaursundar led His campaign against
the futility of this method for attainment of the knowledge of the Absolute.
Such knowledge, He contended, can only be obtained by submitting to receive it
from person who is in possession of it.
The necessity of personal mediation of the teacher for
attainment. of the Knowledge of the Absolute introduces a condition which it is
not possible to establish fully by the method of empiric logic. The necessity
of the acceptance of the principle of personal subordination is also
consistently enough denied by the empiricists in respect of their own
achievement. Their misunderstanding is due to the fact that they cannot realize
the identity of the Teacher of the Absolute with the Message itself. They want
to accept the Message by leaving out the Bearer of the Same. They have
evidently less respect and necessity for the servant than for the Master. Their
own logic should be able to tell them that the Absolute must by His nature be
unattainable by any form of conditional submission. The mundane egoistic
reservation is to be completely discarded if one is to approach the Presence of
Sree Krishna. The Bhattacharyyas and Misras of Nabadwip, proud of their
learning and fallacious self-sufficiency failed to understand the necessity and
duty of absolute submission to the real teacher of the Word of God.
They preferred to continue
on the path of admitted ignorance and sinfulness. This course appeared to them
to be less intolerable than absolute submission to the servant of Krishna. Such
persons are by temperament doomed to eternal perdition and the only method that
was applicable to their case was that of merciless castigation in the form of
elaborate exposure of their sophistries, by which method alone they might be
prevented from misleading less wicked foolish people from the path of the pure
service of the Lord. The fact, that the Bhattacharyyas and Misras were not
redeemed by Sree Gaursundar, has been used, by dishonest pedants who are not on
principle prepared to inquire with an unbiased mind into the nature of the
issue itself that divided the two parties, as a circumstance that proves the
unconvincing nature of the position taken up by Sree Gaursundar. There cannot
well be a grosser form of impiety under the garb of piety than the unholy
assertion that the suffrage of the ignorant people of this sinful world
establishes the claim of the Absolute to our unconditional allegiance to His
Holy Feet. Such perversity of judgment is the punishment that justly overtakes
all insincere natures who, while professing to seek the Truth, are willfully
bent upon amassing the means for the gratification of their own ignorant
vanity. To those abnormal people the uncompromising attitude of Sree
Gaursundar’s advocacy of the Truth appeared to be only an instance of ignorant
arrogance greater than their own. They were so completely blinded by their
insatiable passion for sensuous gratification that they were unable to
distinguish between their own selfish vanity and the Arrogance of Sree
Gaursundar which their own vanity necessitated and which was intended to break
their impious perversity, or at any rate, to lessen the same, or prevent it
from grossly misleading innocent people to the utter ruin of both.
This Attitude of Sree
Gaursundar was also in glaring contrast to that of the other Vaishnavas who did
not care to oppose in this drastic manner the pretensions of those graceless
atheists; but it was none the less best calculated to promote-the real
well-being of all those who are disposed to draw a distinction between
arrogance directed to the service of the Absolute and humility practiced with
the same object in favour of the latter, make out difference which does not
really exist. Real humility, that submits unconditionally to the Absolute,
never submits to minister to the pleasures of the atheists. When those, who are
not disposed to submit to the Absolute, pretend to be humble in their relations
with worldly people, they do so for gaining the reputation of humility. The
really humble person has no selfish ambition and is, therefore, in a position
to serve the Truth and nothing but the Truth under all circumstances. The true
and constant servants of the Absolute alone are privileged to understand how
Godhead may be best served by loyal arrogance and most basely betrayed by
self-seeking show of humility. Godhead is never served by external conduct.
Good manners in themselves have no value.
They have their value in and through perfect loyalty to the Truth, which is the
one thing needful. Good manners, practiced by worldly people, are but a snare
and a most insidious form of gross impiety.
The above considerations
enable us to understand that no one can know the Lord unless the Lord makes
Himself known to him of His Own accord. Sree Gaursundar, during all this period
while He was engaged in the task of silencing the proud scholars of the centre
of learning of the Age by exposing their utter ignorance of all subjects,
failed to be recognized as the Lord of all learning alike by pious Vaishnavas
and the atheistical teachers of Nabadwip. But we need not suppose that His
Activities were, therefore, less important or a lesser evidence of His highest
beneficent Mercy. The Lord is ever full of unlimited beneficence; but He
reserves the right of manifesting the true Nature of His Divine Activities only
to such persons Whom He chooses to favour. During all the time that Gaursundar
was indulging in these learned Pastimes not a single person in the whole
Nabadwip recognized His Divinity, although these Performances were most
extraordinary even from the point of view of empiric scholarship. In this
connection the following remarkable incident, which took place at this time
deserves our most attentive consideration.
A great scholar of the name
of Keshab Bhatta came to Nabadwip. He was a famous controversialist and had
assumed the proud title of ‘Conqueror of all quarters’ to proclaim His
victories over the scholars of all parts and also as an open challenge to the
learned whom he summoned to recognize his superiority if they did not venture
to engage in open discussion through fear of public exposure of their
inferiority. It was the traditional ambition of the Pandits of this country to
seek the proud distinction of being the recognized superior of all learned
persons, or as the Conqueror of all quarters, (digvijayi). The conditions, that such a claim gave rise to, were
that the vanquished had to put down in writing the fact of their defeat and
hand over to the victor their written confession of inferiority.
Keshab Bhatta, after
defeating in controversy the Pandits of other parts of the country, appeared in
Nabadwip, which was then reputed as the greatest center of learning in India,
with the object of compelling the great Pandits of Nabadwip also to admit his
superior scholarship. Keshab Bhatta was fully confident of his ability to
defeat the Pandits of Nabadwip for the reason that he had ordained the
assurance of the goddess of learning herself to the effect that he would never
suffer any defeat in controversy. Keshab Bhatta had discovered that all the Shastras appeared on the tip of his
tongue without any effort on his part by the grace of the goddess of learning,
and the questions, that constantly suggested themselves to him, were such that
no antagonist was ever in a position to offer any satisfactory reply. His
questions alone were sufficient to silence his adversary, and it never came to
a discussion at all.
When the fame of Nabadwip
reached his ears he hastened thither in great state, escorted by a numerous
retinue mounted on richly caparisoned horses and elephants, defeating m
controversial encounters all those Pandits who met his challenge on the way.
His arrival at Nabadwip caused a great fear to fall upon the community of the
Pandits who took counsel together apprehending the imminent loss of the
prestige which they enjoyed in the learned world if this ‘Conqueror of all
quarters’ from afar succeeded in carrying off the laurels of victory by
defeating them in their very stronghold. They were unnerved by fear at the
prospect of contending with one whom Saraswati herself had been pleased to grant
the boon of invincibility in controversy. All the leading Bhattacharyyas of
Nabadwip left off all work and racked their brains over their impending
discomfiture.
On every side the ominous
cry was loudly expressed that the occasion had arrived which was to settle what
gift of intellect the Pandits of Nabadwip really possessed. The students soon
carried the tidings to Gauranga. ‘A certain Conqueror of the quarters (digvijayi), having won the favour of Saraswati, is touring all places and
vanquishing in controversy all Pandits. He has in his possession the
certificates of his victories from all the vanquished. He has a large following
of horses, elephants, litters, attendants. He has recently arrived in the town
and is actually settled in Nabadwip. He wants to engage in controversy any
rival who may offer himself. If no antagonist is prepared to take up his
challenge he demands that every learned association must forthwith supply him
with written confession of their defeat.
On hearing this the Lord
laughingly told the truth to His pupils. Listen to Me, brothers. I am telling
you the real truth. The Supreme Lord in no way tolerates self-conceit. The Lord
always takes away whatsoever intoxicates a person to indulge in excessive
vanity. Humility is the constant nature of the fruit-bearing tree as of a
person endowed with all good qualities. Have you not heard of the fate of all
the mightiest Conquerors of old such as Haihai, Nahusha, Bena, Bana, Naraka, Ravana
? Was there ever any person whose vanity was not brought low? Godhead never
tolerates excessive conceit. For this reason I assure you that all the pride of
his learning will be completely humbled at this very place,.
Having said so, the Lord came
on to the bank of the Ganges in the evening with His disciples and, having
touched with reverence the holy water of the Ganges and made His obeisance to
the sacred stream, Divine Gauranga assumed His Seat in the center of His
pupils. The students sat round Him in many different groups, and a brisk and
cheerful discussion went forward regarding many a topic on dharma and the Shastras. As
the Lord was seated in this joyous manner He thought of a plan of conquering
the ‘Conqueror of all quarters’. He did not like the idea of defeating him in
open controversy in a public assembly, as such defeat would kill outright the
Brahmana who was so much puffed up with inordinate vanity by reason of his
victories which had filled him with the notion that he had no equal in the
whole world. Moreover such defeat would also expose him to the jeers and
violence of the populace who would fall upon him and plunder his belongings. If
the Brahmana were vanquished in a private encounter he would be cured of his
vanity without suffering the terrible pain of a public exposure. While the Lord
was maturing His plan ‘the Conqueror of all quarters' himself came to the very
spot that evening.
What ensued after the
arrival of ‘the Conqueror of all quarters,’ has been graphically described in
all its bearings by Thakur Brindavandas. The night was most beautifully
illuminated by the gorgeous splendours of the clear moon of Bengal. The Bhagirathi
wore her most hallowed aspect of indescribable glory. The Supreme Lord, Whose
Beauty captivates the hearts of everything, was Himself Present with all His
disciples. The charming Face of the Lord was constantly lit up with a Gracious
Smile and His Two Beautiful Eyes wore the Eternal Look of Divine Benediction.
His Fine Teeth, set between His Ruddy Lips, scorned the beauty of pearls. His
Whole Frame was most delicately soft and overflowed with kindness. His
Beautiful Head wore a profusion of the most charming curls of the Finest Hair.
His Neck was posed like the Lion’s. His Shoulders were broad as that of the
elephant. His Attire was in keeping with His Figure. The Holy Form was of the
most generous dimensions, with a most Beautiful Bosom which was encircled by
Sree Anantadeva in the Form of the sacrificial thread. His Fine Forehead was
marked with the long beautiful tilaka pointing upwards. His Exquisite Hands
reached to the Knee. The Lord wore His Cloth in the style of the yoga
patta and, being Seated with His Right Foot placed in the loop of
the Left Thigh, was engaged d in expounding the Shastras, establishing the contraries of all negative and positive
conclusions. All His disciples were seated in many a group, on different sides
of Him, and formed a most picturesque Assembly.
‘The Conqueror of all
quarters’ was much surprised on beholding this wonderful Sight and thought
within himself, ‘Is This perhaps Nimai
Pandit?, and, stopping unnoticed, gazed on the Beauty of the Lord without
taking off his eyes for a long time. He then inquired of one of the disciples,
‘What is His Name?, and was told in reply, ‘He is, indeed, the Great Nimai
Pandit Himself’. Thereupon, making his obeisance to the Ganges, ‘the Conqueror’
made his way into the midst of the Assembly of the Lord. A Slight Smile played
round the Lips of the Lord as He welcomed him with cordiality, inviting him to
take his seat.
‘The Conqueror of all
quarters’ was of a most fearless disposition. But nevertheless he experienced a
feeling of great awe at the Sight of the Lord. The Lord, after exchanging a few
words with the Brahmana, began to he inquisitive in His Joyous Mood. He began
by observing ‘that the poetic powers of ‘the Conqueror’ were boundless and
there was no subject to which he could not apply his powers with success. That
they would all be delivered from their sins if he would favour them with a
poetic account of the glories of the holy Ganges.’ On hearing these words of
the Lord ‘the Conqueror’ began immediately the praise of the Ganges in verses
composed on the spot and with such facility and in such varied figures that his
recitation appeared to possess the amplitude and dignity of the voice of the
clouds. Saraswati herself was present on the tongue of ‘the Conqueror,’ and,
therefore whatever he said was perfect in every way.
No human being possessed
the power of impeaching the same or even comprehending the full extent of the
profound learning that marked his utterances. All the students of the Lord, who
were counted by thousands, were astonished by listening to the description.
‘Rama, Rama,’ they ejaculated, ‘It is most wonderful! Can such words come from
any mortal?’ The description was most richly laden in every part with all the
rhetorical embellishments conceivable for adorning the human speech, that are
to be found in the whole world, and to such supreme perfection that even those,
who were deeply versed in all branches of the Shastras, found it most difficult even to follow him. In this
fashion ‘the Conqueror’ poke on for the space of a quarter of the night and did
not yet finish.
When ‘the Conqueror’ at
last ceased Sree Gaursundar said laughingly ‘that the real purpose of the
words, woven into the verses by him, was not intelligible to them unless he
himself was pleased to explain. He would, therefore, request ‘the Conqueror, to
supply the explanation of his own words which were undoubtedly perfect in their
import.’ These sweet Words of the Lord induced ‘the Conqueror’ to an attempt to
explain his own verses. But no sooner did he begin to expound the Lord began to
criticize at every step. The Lord said in effect ‘that the words that had been
employed by ‘the Conqueror’ apparently transgressed against all the established
principles of the Shastras and that
it was, therefore, necessary to know all other special purpose which ‘the
Conqueror’ had in view in using them.’
The great ‘Conqueror of all
quarters,’ the pet child of the goddess of learning, the victor of a hundred
controversies, was powerless to offer any explanation, and all his intelligence
seemed to desert him at this crisis. The Brahmana began to talk at random, but
could establish nothing; and Sree Gauranga was most prompt in pointing out all
the defects of his arguments. All the genius of ‘the Conqueror’ forsook him and
he did not understand what he himself had said. Then the Lord asked Him not to
mind it but give them something fresh. But ‘the Conqueror’ found that he no
longer possessed his former power of impromptu
composition.
When ‘the Conqueror of all
quarters’ was in the throes of the agony of his decisive defeat the pupils of
the Lord made a gesture of laughter at his expense. But the Lord forbade all
incivility and spoke kindly to the Brahmana. ‘The Conqueror’ had made an
exhausting effort by composing those wonderful verses and was naturally very
much fatigued by his exertions. The night was far advanced. So the controversy
might be postponed to the next day. Let them all part for that night with
mutual good-will and ‘the Conqueror, should return to his lodgings for rest
without feeling discouraged,. The Lord was ever tender to His opponents in His Dealings
with them. Those, whom He vanquished in controversy, did not experience any
sorrow. The Lord behaved in the same way towards all the Professors of
Nabadwip. Although. He defeated them all, He pleased them all by His Conduct
after His victory. ‘Let us,’ He would say, ‘Go home to-day and look up our
authorities so that we might be in a position to answer everything correctly
tomorrow.’ The Lord never broke the spirit of the vanquished. Hence all were
pleased with Him. Such were the Pastimes of the Lord. It was for this reason
that every one, of all those Pandits who lived at Nabadwip, was in his heart of
hearts well-disposed towards the Lord.
The Lord made His way home
in the company of His disciples. ‘The Conqueror of all quarters’ felt extremely
ashamed at heart. In his distress the Brahmana thus mused within himself,
‘Saraswati herself gave me this boon. I have met in controversy all those who
were well versed in Nyaya Shankhya, Patanjala, Mimansa, Vaiseshika and Vedanta
philosophies. I found none in the whole world who could even advance a
plausible view in opposition to mine.’ The question of their ability to defeat
me was, therefore, necessarily remote. But such is the contrivance of
Providence that this Brahmana, Who is merely a teacher of Vyakarana which is a
subject for infants, should be able to actually defeat me! The boon of
Saraswati herself would seem to be unsure ! There is good cause for the
greatest anxiety in this. Some offense against the goddess must have been
engendered in myself and due to this the power of my genius has been lessened.
I must find out the cause of it this very day., Thinking thus the Brahmana sat
down to the recitation of the mantra and, having finished the due quota, betook
himself to his bed with a sorrowful heart. In his dream Saraswati appeared
before the Bipra and, casting her merciful glance on the fortunate Brahmana,
began to tell him secrets that are most carefully hidden in the Scriptures.
Saraswati said,, Listen, good Brahmana. I am going to tell you the hidden
secret of the Vedas. If you disclose this to any one your life will assuredly
be cut short. He, at Whose Hands you have suffered defeat, is most assuredly
the Lord of the endless universe. He is, indeed, the Self-same Lord Whose Lotus
Feet I ever serve. I feel ashamed of myself even to appear before Him. My
function is to delude all creatures into the vanities of the false ego. This
function has no admission into the Sphere that is lighted up by the Glance of Vasudeva.
It is I who speak through your tongue. But I have no power in His Divine
Presence. It is not merely my little self who feels so helpless but even the
Divine Sheshadeva Himself, Who expounds the Vedas by His thousand Mouths and is
the Worshipped of Aja, Bhaba and all the great gods, is bewildered in the
Presence of the Supreme Lord Whom you have seen face to face in the Form of the
Brahmana. He is Transcendentally Great, Eternal, Pure, Indivisible, Irredible
and is Present in His Fullness in the hearts of all. From Him proceeds work,
knowledge, learning, all good and evil, the visible and the invisible, in fact
everything which it is not possible for me to fully recount to you. All the
creatures from Brahma downwards who are subject to suffering undergo
tribulation by His Command. All the Avataras, such as the Fish, Tortoise, etc.,
of Whom you have heard, are no other than He. It is the Same Lord Who restores
the world in His form of the Boar, the Same Who protects Prahlada in His Form
of Man-lion. He is the Life of Bali in His Form of Vamana Whose Lotus Feet are
the Source of the holy Ganges. It is He Who Appeared in Ayodhya and killed the
wicked Ravana by His Endless Wonderful Activities. Him we call the Son of
Vasudeva and Nanda. He is at present, as the Son of Brahmana, actively engaged
in the Pleasures of learning. Not even the Veda Himself is aware of His
Appearance in the world. One can know Him only if He makes Himself known. Who
has power to know otherwise? All the mantras, that you have recited to me up
till now, are not really fulfilled by yielding as their fruit the status of
‘the Conqueror of all quarters’. The real fruit of my mantra you have at last obtained only now , in as much as you have
had a Direct Sight of the Lord of the countless worlds. Bipra, go quickly to
His Feet and surrender your body to Him. Don’t consider these words as an idle
dream. I have divulged to you the hidden knowledge of the Vedas under the
influence of the mantra. Saying this the goddess Saraswati disappeared and the
Brahmana woke up from his sleep.
The Brahmana immediately made his way, at early dawn, to the
Presence of the Lord. The Bipra made prostrated obeisances to the Lord Who
thereupon lifted him up into His Arms. The Lord asked, ‘Brother, what is the
meaning of this behaviour?’ The Bipra made reply, ‘Even so is the Merciful
Glance of Thy eyes’. The Lord asked, Being yourself ‘Conqueror of all quarters’
why do you behave in this way to Me? ‘The Conqueror’ said, ‘Deign to listen,
Prince of Brahmanas’ All work is fulfilled by serving Thee. Thou art Narayana
in the Form of the twice-born in the Kali Age. Who has power to recognize Thee?
The suspicion grew in my mind the moment my power of speech deserted me as Thou
questioned. Thou art declared by all the scriptures to be the Breaker of all
worldly vanity. I have truly experienced this undoubted truth. Thou overcame me
three times and yet preserved my reputation. Is this possible Otherwise than by
the Power of the Supreme Lord Himself? Wherefore it is most certain that Thou
art Narayana. In all the learned societies of the world, in Gauda, Trihut,
Delhi, Kasi, Gujrat, Vijayanagar, Kanchipuri, Anga. Vanga, Tailanga, Odhra and
other places, there is no scholar who could even understand my words, far less
find fault with them. I, who am so clever, failed to establish anything in Thy
Presence. Whither did all my wits depart? This Feat of Thine is not at all
wonderful. The goddess of learning herself told me that Thou art her Lord. Most
auspicious, indeed, was the planetary conjunction under which I let my foot at
Nabadwip, that I, so sunk in the deep mire of the world, have obtained the
Sight even of Thyself. Bewitched by the wily entanglements of ignorant selfish
desires I have long wandered astray, utterly deceiving myself. By good fortune
I have now obtained the Sight of Thee. Be pleased to deliver me by Thy Merciful
Glance. It is Thy Nature to do good to all. There is no one except Thyself Who
is the Refuge and Who is Truly Merciful. Be pleased, Great One, so to instruct
me that there may never again arise any evil desire in my mind.
The ‘Conqueror of all
quarters,’ most humbled, praised the Lord in many various ways, in terms of
sincere penitence. On hearing the fervent words of the Brahmana Sree Gaursundar
smiled as He thus Replied, ‘Listen, illustrious Brahmana. You, on whose tongue
Saraswati herself abides, are, indeed, most fortunate. The use of learning does
not lie in conquering all quarters.
That scholarship alone is genuine which serves the Supreme Lord. Consider this
well and attentively. When a person leaves his body his wealth or any human
qualifications never accompany their quondam possessor. It is for this reason
that all who are pure-souled, apply themselves with a firm purpose to serve the
Supreme Lord, discarding every other occupation. Therefore, Bipra, giving up
all evil ways make haste to worship the Feet of Sree Krishna without delay, and
continue to serve Krishna with firm conviction until you are overtaken by
death. Know for certain that the only due fruit of learning is obtained if
one’s mind and work continue to abide thereby at the Lotus Feet of Sree
Krishna. I declare to you the highest advice. Devotion to Vishnu is the one
thing that is true in all these countless worlds’. Having said so, the Supreme
Lord being pleased with the Brahmana, embraced him. Being favoured by the
Embrace of the Lord of Vaikuntha the twice-born was released from all his
worldly fetters. The Lord said, ‘Brahmana, give up all vanity. Betake to the
service of Krishna by being merciful to all beings. Whatever Saraswati might
have told you, never divulge to any one else. By speaking out the Hidden Truth
of the Scriptures the span of life is cut short and such a person verily
suffers the bad consequences of such conduct in the next world.’
The great Brahmana, on
receiving the Command of the Lord and after making many prostrated obeisances
to Him and repeatedly doing homage to His Lotus Feet, departed thence, having
thus obtained the highest fulfillment of all his endeavours. By the Command of
the Lord that very instant devotion, want of attachment to things mundane and
the true knowledge manifested themselves simultaneously in the person of that
Brahmana. The vanity of being ‘Conqueror of all quarters’ completely
disappeared. The Bipra became humbler than a blade of grass. After bestowing on
fit persons the gift of every earthly possession that he had, his elephants,
horses, conveyances, wealth and all equipments, that ‘Conqueror of all
quarters’ set out on his journey companionless. Such is the Pastime of Sree
Gaursundar. It is the Natural Quality of His Mercy that a person, who obtains
it, betakes himself to the occupation of begging, giving up the kingly state.
In this Kali Age Sree Dabirkhas bore testimony to the truth of this by preferring
the retreat of the forest to a princely position. Wealth and power, which are
coveted by all the world, are discarded by the servant of Krishna after having
been gained. The state of a king and such other temporal things, are deemed
pleasant only just so long as one is ignorant of the bliss of devotion. Even
the pleasure of emancipation from all the miseries of the world is considered
by the devotees of Krishna as trivial, not to speak of such happiness as
accrues from the possession of kingdoms and other coveted things of this world.
Nothing is of any worth except the Kind Glance of the Supreme Lord; for which
reason all the Scriptures proclaim only the service of the Lord.
Thus did ‘the Conqueror of
all quarters’ obtain his final deliverance. Such is the wonderful Career of
Sree Gaursundar. The news of the Lord’s victory over ‘the Conqueror’ quickly
spread to all parts of Nadia. All the people were overwhelmed with astonishment
and instinctively realized ‘that Nimai Pandit was undoubtedly a Very Great
Scholar. They had not yet heard of another scholar who could have defeated ‘the
Conqueror’. They confessed that Nimai Pandit had every justification for His
Pride and it was only now that the Real Greatness of His Learning was made
patent to all. Some said ‘If He had only read Nyaya He could have easily
attained the position of Bhattacharyyas’. Some proposed ‘that all the people
should join together and confer on Him the title of Vadisimha (Lion of controversy).’ These estimates, says Thakur
Brindavandas, show the triumph of His Deluding Power who prevented the people
from recognizing His Divinity, even after they had seen all this. Thus all over
Nadia all the people discoursed about the Achievement of the Lord. The citizens
of Nabadwip are worthy of the homage of everybody inasmuch as they are
privileged to witness these Activities of the Lord. Those, adds Thakur Brindavandas,
who listen to this Narration of the Victory of the Lord over ‘the Conqueror of
all quarters’, never have any further occasion of suffering defeat in their own
case. We reserve the treatment of this remark of Thakur Brindavandas for the
next chapter.
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