The Pastimes of the Lord in His Childhood and Youth

I worship Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, whose nectarean mercy flows like a great river, inundating the entire universe. Just as a river flows downstream, Lord Caitanya especially extends Himself to the fallen.

All glories to Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityānanda! All glories to Advaitacandra! And all glories to all the devotees of the Lord!

Long live Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His kaiśora age! Both the goddess of fortune and the goddess of learning worshiped Him. The goddess of learning, Sarasvatī, worshiped Him in His victory over the scholar who had conquered all the world, and the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmīdevī, worshiped Him at home. Since He is therefore the husband or Lord of both goddesses, I offer my obeisances unto Him.

At the age of eleven Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu began to teach students. This marks the beginning of His kaiśora age.

As soon as the Lord became a teacher, many, many students came to Him, every one of them astonished to hear His mode of explanation.

The Lord defeated all kinds of scholars in discourses about all the scriptures, yet because of His gentle behavior, none of them were unhappy.

The Lord, as a teacher, performed various kinds of pranks in His sporting pastimes in the water of the Ganges.

After some days the Lord went to East Bengal, and wherever He went He introduced the saṅkīrtana movement.

Struck with wonder by the influence of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s intellectual prowess, many hundreds of students came to the Lord and began studying under His direction.

In East Bengal there was a brāhmaṇa named Tapana Miśra, who could not ascertain the objective of life or how to attain it.

If one becomes a bookworm, reading many books and scriptures and hearing many commentaries and the instructions of many men, this will produce doubt within his heart. One cannot in this way ascertain the real goal of life.

Tapana Miśra, being thus bewildered, was directed by a brāhmaṇa in a dream to go to Nimāi Paṇḍita [Caitanya Mahāprabhu].

“Because He is the Lord [īśvara],” the brāhmaṇa told him, “undoubtedly He can give you proper direction.”

After seeing the dream, Tapana Miśra came to the shelter of Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet, and he described all the details of the dream to the Lord.

The Lord, being satisfied, instructed him about the object of life and the process for attaining it. He instructed him that the basic principle of success is to chant the holy name of the Lord [the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra].

Tapana Miśra desired to live with the Lord in Navadvīpa, but the Lord asked him to go to Vārāṇasī [Benares].

The Lord assured Tapana Miśra that they would meet again in Vārāṇasī. Receiving this order, Tapana Miśra went there.

I cannot understand the inconceivable pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for although Tapana Miśra wanted to live with Him in Navadvīpa, the Lord advised him to go to Vārāṇasī.

In this way Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu contributed the greatest benefit to the people of East Bengal by initiating them into hari-nāma, the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and making them learned scholars by educating them.

Because the Lord was engaged in various ways in preaching work in East Bengal, His wife, Lakṣmīdevī, was very unhappy at home in separation from her husband.

The snake of separation bit Lakṣmīdevī, and its poison caused her death. Thus she passed to the next world. She went back home, back to Godhead.

Lord Caitanya knew about the disappearance of Lakṣmīdevī because He is the Supersoul Himself. Thus He returned home to solace His mother, Śacīdevī, who was greatly unhappy about the death of her daughter-in-law.

When the Lord returned home, bringing with Him great wealth and many followers, He spoke to Śacīdevī about transcendental knowledge to relieve her of the grief she was suffering.

After coming back from East Bengal, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu again began educating others. By the strength of His education He conquered everyone, and thus He was greatly proud.

Then Lord Caitanya married Viṣṇupriyā, the goddess of fortune, and thereafter He conquered a champion of learning named Keśava Kāśmīrī.

Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has previously elaborately described this. That which is clear need not be scrutinized for good qualities and faults.

Offering my obeisances to Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, I shall try to describe that portion of the Lord’s analysis which, when he heard it, made the Digvijayī feel himself condemned.

Once on a full moon night the Lord was sitting on the bank of the Ganges with His many disciples and discussing literary topics.

Coincidentally, Keśava Kāśmīrī Paṇḍita came there. While offering his prayers to mother Ganges, he met Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

The Lord received him with adoration, but because Keśava Kāśmīrī was very proud, he talked to the Lord very inconsiderately.

“I understand that You are a teacher of grammar,” he said, “and that Your name is Nimāi Paṇḍita. People speak very highly of Your teaching of beginners’ grammar.

“I understand that You teach Kalāpa-vyākaraṇa. I have heard that Your students are very expert in the word jugglery of this grammar.”

The Lord said, “Yes, I am known as a teacher of grammar, but factually I cannot impress My students with grammatical knowledge, nor can they understand Me very well.

“My dear sir, whereas you are a very learned scholar in all sorts of scriptures and are very much experienced in composing poetry, I am only a boy — a new student and nothing more.

“Therefore I desire to hear your skill in composing poetry. We could hear this if you would mercifully describe the glory of mother Ganges.”

When the brāhmaṇa, Keśava Kāśmīrī, heard this, he became still more puffed up, and within one hour he composed one hundred verses describing mother Ganges.

The Lord praised him, saying, “Sir, there is no greater poet than you in the entire world.

“Your poetry is so difficult that no one can understand it but you and mother Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning.

“But if you explain the meaning of one verse, we can all hear it from your own mouth and thus be very happy.”

The Digvijayī, Keśava Kāśmīrī, inquired which verse He wanted explained. The Lord then recited one of the one hundred verses Keśava Kāśmīrī had composed.

“ ‘The greatness of mother Ganges always brilliantly exists. She is the most fortunate because she emanated from the lotus feet of Śrī Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead. She is a second goddess of fortune, and therefore she is always worshiped both by demigods and by humanity. endowed with all wonderful qualities, she flourishes on the head of Lord Śiva.’”

When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked him to explain the meaning of this verse, the champion, very much astonished, inquired from Him as follows.

“I recited all the verses like the blowing wind. How could You completely learn by heart even one among those verses?”

The Lord replied, “By the grace of the Lord someone may become a great poet, and similarly by His grace someone else may become a great śruti-dhara who can memorize anything immediately.”

Satisfied by the statement of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the brāhmaṇa [Keśava Kāśmīrī] explained the quoted verse. Then the Lord said, “Now kindly explain the special qualities and faults in the verse.”

The brāhmaṇa replied, “There is not a tinge of fault in that verse. Rather, it has the good qualities of similes and alliteration.”

The Lord said, “My dear sir, I may say something to you if you will not become angry. Can you explain the faults in this verse?

“There is no doubt that your poetry is full of ingenuity, and certainly it has satisfied the Supreme Lord. Yet if we scrutinizingly consider it we can find both good qualities and faults.”

The Lord concluded, “Now, therefore, let us carefully scrutinize this verse.”

“You are an ordinary student of grammar. What do You know about literary embellishments? You cannot review this poetry because You do not know anything about it.”

Taking a humble position, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “Because I am not on your level, I have asked you to teach Me by explaining the faults and good qualities in your poetry.

“Certainly I have not studied the art of literary embellishments. But I have heard about it from higher circles, and thus I can review this verse and find in it many faults and many good qualities.”

The poet said, “All right, let me see what good qualities and faults You have found.”

“My dear sir, in this verse there are five faults and five literary ornaments. I shall state them one after another. Kindly hear Me and then give your judgment.

“In this verse the fault of avimṛṣṭa-vidheyāṁśa occurs twice, and the faults of viruddha-mati, bhagna-krama and punar-ātta occur once each.

“The glorification of the Ganges [mahattvaṁ gaṅgāyāḥ] is the principal unknown subject matter in this verse, and the known subject matter is indicated by the word ‘idam,’ which has been placed after the unknown.

“Because you have placed the known subject at the end and that which is unknown at the beginning, the composition is faulty, and the meaning of the words has become doubtful.

“ ‘Without first mentioning what is known, one should not introduce the unknown, for that which has no solid basis can never be established anywhere.’

“In the word ‘dvitīya-śrī-lakṣmī’ [‘a second all-opulent goddess of fortune’], the quality of being a second Lakṣmī is the unknown. In making this compound word, the meaning became secondary and the originally intended meaning was lost.

“Because the word ‘dvitīya’ [‘second’] is the unknown, in its combination in this compound word the intended meaning of equality with Lakṣmī is lost.

“Not only is there the fault avimṛṣṭa-vidheyāṁśa, but there is also another fault, which I shall point out to you. Kindly hear Me with great attention.

“Here is another great fault. You have arranged the word ‘bhavānī-bhartṛ’ to your great satisfaction, but this betrays the fault of contradiction.

“The word ‘bhavānī’ means ‘the wife of Lord Śiva.’ But when we mention her husband, one might conclude that she has another husband.

“It is contradictory to hear that Lord Śiva’s wife has another husband. The use of such words in literature creates the fault called viruddha-mati-kṛt.

“If someone says, ‘Place this charity in the hand of the husband of the wife of the brāhmaṇa,’ when we hear these contradictory words we immediately understand that the brāhmaṇa’s wife has another husband.

“The statement by the word ‘vibhavati’ [‘flourishes’] is complete. Qualifying it with the adjective ‘adbhuta-guṇā’ [‘wonderful qualities’] creates the fault of redundancy.

“There is extraordinary alliteration in three lines of the verse, but in one line there is no such alliteration. This is the fault of deviation.

“Although there are five literary ornaments decorating this verse, the entire verse has been spoiled by these five most faulty presentations.

“If there are ten literary ornaments in a verse but even one faulty expression, the entire verse is nullified.

“One’s beautiful body may be decorated with jewels, but one spot of white leprosy makes the entire body abominable.

“ ‘As one’s body, although well-decorated with ornaments, is made unfortunate by even one spot of white leprosy, so an entire poem is made useless by a fault, despite alliteration, similes and metaphors.’

“Now hear the description of the five literary embellishments. There are two ornaments of sound and three ornaments of meaning.

“There is a sound ornament of alliteration in three lines. And in the combination of the words ‘śrī’ and ‘lakṣmī’ there is the ornament of a tinge of redundancy.

“In the arrangement of the first line the letter ‘ta’ occurs five times, and the arrangement of the third line repeats the letter ‘ra’ five times.

“In the fourth line the letter ‘bha’ occurs four times. This arrangement of alliteration is a pleasing ornamental use of sounds.

“Although the words ‘śrī’ and ‘lakṣmī’ convey the same meaning and are therefore almost redundant, they are nevertheless not redundant.

“Describing Lakṣmī as possessed of śrī [opulence] offers a difference in meaning with a tinge of repetition. This is the second ornamental use of words.

“The use of the words ‘lakṣmīr iva’ [‘like Lakṣmī’] manifests the ornament of meaning called upamā [analogy]. There is also the further ornament of meaning called virodhābhāsa, or a contradictory indication.

“Everyone knows that lotus flowers grow in the water of the Ganges. But to say that the Ganges takes birth from a lotus flower seems extremely contradictory.

“The existence of mother Ganges begins from the lotus feet of the Lord. Although this statement that water comes from a lotus flower is a contradiction, in connection with Lord Viṣṇu it is a great wonder.

“In this birth of the Ganges by the inconceivable potency of the Lord, there is no contradiction although it appears contradictory.

“ ‘Everyone knows that lotus flowers grow in the water but water never grows from a lotus. All such contradictions, however, are wonderfully possible in Kṛṣṇa: the great river Ganges has grown from His lotus feet.’

“The real glory of mother Ganges is that she has grown from the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu. Such a hypothesis is another ornament, called anumāna.

“I have simply discussed the five gross faults and five literary embellishments of this verse, but if we consider it in fine detail we will find unlimited faults.

“You have achieved poetic imagination and ingenuity by the grace of your worshipable demigod. But poetry not well reviewed is certainly subject to criticism.

“Poetic skill used with due consideration is very pure, and with metaphors and analogies it is dazzling.”

After hearing the explanation of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the champion poet was struck with wonder. His cleverness stunned, he could not say anything.

He wanted to say something, but no reply would come from his mouth. He then began to consider this puzzle within his mind.

“This mere boy has blocked my intelligence. I can therefore understand that mother Sarasvatī has become angry with me.

“The wonderful explanation the boy has given could not have been possible for a human being. Therefore mother Sarasvatī must have spoken personally through His mouth.”

Thinking thus, the paṇḍita said, “My dear Nimāi Paṇḍita, please hear me. Hearing Your explanation, I am simply struck with wonder.

“I am surprised. You are not a literary student and do not have long experience in studying the śāstras. How have You been able to explain all these critical points?”

Hearing this and understanding the paṇḍita’s heart, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied in a humorous way.

“My dear sir, I do not know what is good composition and what is bad. But whatever I have spoken must be understood to have been spoken by mother Sarasvatī.”

When he heard this judgment from Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the paṇḍita sorrowfully wondered why mother Sarasvatī wanted to defeat him through a small boy.

“I shall offer prayers and meditation to the goddess of learning,” the champion concluded, “and ask her why she has insulted me so greatly through this boy.”

Sarasvatī had in fact induced the champion to compose his verse in an impure way. Furthermore, when it was discussed she covered his intelligence, and thus the Lord’s intelligence was triumphant.

When the poetic champion was thus defeated, all the Lord’s disciples sitting there began to laugh loudly. But Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked them not to do so, and He addressed the poet as follows.

“You are the most learned scholar and the topmost of all great poets, for otherwise how could such fine poetry come from your mouth?

“Your poetic skill is like the constant flow of the waters of the Ganges. I find no one in the world who can compete with you.

“Even in the poetic compositions of such great poets as Bhavabhūti, Jayadeva and Kālidāsa there are many examples of faults.

“Such mistakes should be considered negligible. One should see only how such poets have displayed their poetic power.

“I am not even fit to be your disciple. Therefore kindly do not take seriously whatever childish impudence I have shown.

“Please go back home, and tomorrow we may meet again so that I may hear discourses on the śāstras from your mouth.”

In this way both the poet and Caitanya Mahāprabhu went back to their homes, and at night the poet worshiped mother Sarasvatī.

In a dream the goddess informed him of the Lord’s position, and the poetic champion could understand that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.

The next morning the poet came to Lord Caitanya and surrendered unto His lotus feet. The Lord bestowed His mercy upon him and cut off all his bondage to material attachment.

The poetic champion was certainly most fortunate. His life was successful by dint of his vast learning and erudite scholarship, and thus he attained the shelter of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has described all these incidents elaborately. I have only presented the specific incidents he has not described.

The nectarean drops of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pastimes can satisfy the senses of everyone who hears them.

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.