The Lord’s Paugaṇḍa-līlā

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya because simply by offering a flower at His lotus feet even the most ardent materialist becomes a devotee.

All glories to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityānanda Prabhu! All glories to Advaita Ācārya! And all glories to all the devotees of Lord Caitanya!

Let me now enumerate the activities of the Lord between the ages of five and ten. His chief occupation during this period was to engage Himself in study.

The pastimes of the Lord during His paugaṇḍa age were very extensive. His education was His chief occupation, and after that His very beautiful marriage took place.

When the Lord was studying grammar at the place of Gaṅgādāsa Paṇḍita, He would immediately learn grammatical rules and definitions by heart simply by hearing them once.

He soon became so expert in commenting on the Pañjī-ṭīkā that He could win victory over all the other students, although He was a neophyte.

In his book Caitanya-maṅgala [which later became Caitanya-bhāgavata], Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has very elaborately described the Lord’s pastimes of study.

One day Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu fell down at the feet of His mother and requested her to give Him one thing in charity.

His mother replied, “My dear son, I will give You whatever You ask.” Then the Lord said, “My dear mother, please do not eat grains on the Ekādaśī day.”

Mother Śacī said, “You have spoken very nicely. I shall not eat grains on Ekādaśī.” From that day, she began to observe fasting on Ekādaśī.

Thereafter, seeing that Viśvarūpa was a grown-up youth, Jagannātha Miśra wanted to find a girl and arrange a marriage ceremony for Him.

Hearing of this, Viśvarūpa immediately left home and went away to accept sannyāsa and travel from one place of pilgrimage to another.

When Śacīmātā and Jagannātha Miśra heard of the departure of their elder son, Viśvarūpa, they were very unhappy, but Lord Caitanya tried to console them.

“My dear mother and father,” the Lord said, “it is very good that Viśvarūpa has accepted the sannyāsa order, for thus He has delivered both His father’s family and His mother’s family.”

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu assured His parents that He would serve them, and thus the minds of His father and mother were satisfied.

One day Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu ate betel nuts offered to the Deity, but they acted as an intoxicant, and He fell down on the ground unconscious.

After His father and mother sprinkled water on His mouth with great haste, the Lord revived and said something wonderful they had never heard before.

The Lord said, “Viśvarūpa took Me away from here, and He requested Me to accept the sannyāsa order.

“I replied to Viśvarūpa, ‘I have My helpless father and mother, and also I am but a child. What do I know about the sannyāsa order of life?

“ ‘Later I shall become a householder and thus serve My parents, for this action will very much satisfy Lord Nārāyaṇa and His wife, the goddess of fortune.’

“Then Viśvarūpa returned Me home and requested, ‘Offer thousands and thousands of obeisances unto My mother, Śacīdevī.’”

In this way Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu performed various pastimes, but why He did so I cannot understand.

After some days, Jagannātha Miśra passed away from this world to the transcendental world, and both mother and son were very much aggrieved in their hearts.

Friends and relatives came there to pacify Lord Caitanya and His mother. Then Lord Caitanya, even though He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, executed the rituals for His dead father according to the Vedic system.

After some days the Lord thought, “I did not take sannyāsa, and since I am remaining at home it is My duty to act as a gṛhastha.

“Without a wife,” Lord Caitanya considered, “there is no meaning to householder life.” Thus the Lord decided to marry.

“Merely a house is not a home, for it is a wife who gives a home its meaning. If one lives at home with his wife, together they can fulfill all the interests of human life.”

One day when the Lord was coming back from school He accidentally saw the daughter of Vallabhācārya on the way to the Ganges.

When the Lord and Lakṣmīdevī met, their relationship awakened, having already been settled, and coincidentally the marriage-maker Vanamālī came to see Śacīmātā.

Following the indications of Śacīdevī, Vanamālī Ghaṭaka arranged the marriage, and thus in due course the Lord married Lakṣmīdevī.

Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has elaborately described all these pastimes of the Lord’s early age. What I have given is but a condensed presentation of the same pastimes.

The Lord performed many varieties of pastimes in His early age, and Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has described them elaborately.

I have given but a single hint of these pastimes, for Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, in his book Caitanya-maṅgala [now Caitanya-bhāgavata], has described them all vividly.

Praying at the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha, always desiring their mercy, I, Kṛṣṇadāsa, narrate Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, following in their footsteps.