Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Accepts Prasādam from His Devotees

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is always pleased to accept anything given with faith and love by His devotees and is always ready to bestow mercy upon them.

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

The next year, all the devotees were very pleased to go to Jagannātha Purī [Nīlācala] to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Advaita Ācārya Gosāñi led the party from Bengal. He was followed by Ācāryaratna, Ācāryanidhi, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and other glorious devotees.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had ordered Lord Nityānanda to stay in Bengal, but nevertheless, because of ecstatic love, Lord Nityānanda also went to see Him.

Indeed, it is a symptom of real affection that one breaks the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not caring for the regulative principles, to associate with Him.

During the rāsa dance, Kṛṣṇa asked all the gopīs to return home, but they neglected His order and stayed there for His association.

If one carries out Kṛṣṇa’s order, Kṛṣṇa is certainly pleased, but if one sometimes breaks His order due to ecstatic love, that gives Him millions of times greater happiness.

Vāsudeva Datta, Murāri Gupta, Gaṅgādāsa, Śrīmān Sena, Śrīmān Paṇḍita, Akiñcana Kṛṣṇadāsa, Murāri, Garuḍa Paṇḍita, Buddhimanta Khān, Sañjaya Puruṣottama, Bhagavān Paṇḍita, Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī, Nṛsiṁhānanda Brahmacārī and many others joined together to go to Jagannātha Purī. It would be impossible to mention the names of them all.

The inhabitants of Kulīna-grāma and Khaṇḍa also came and joined. Śivānanda Sena took the leadership and thus started taking care of them all.

Rāghava Paṇḍita came with bags full of food prepared very nicely by his sister, Damayantī.

Damayantī made varieties of unparalleled food just suitable for Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to eat. The Lord ate it continually for one year.

These are the names of some of the pickles and condiments in the bags of Rāghava Paṇḍita: āmra-kāśandi, ādā-kāśandi, jhāla-kāśandi, nembu-ādā, āmra-koli, āmsi, āma-khaṇḍa, tailāmra and āma-sattā. With great attention, Damayantī also made dried bitter vegetables into a powder.

Do not neglect sukutā because it is a bitter preparation. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu derived more happiness from eating this sukutā than from drinking pañcāmṛta [a preparation of milk, sugar, ghee, honey and yogurt].

Since Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He extracts the purpose from everything. He accepted Damayantī’s affection for Him, and therefore He derived great pleasure even from the dried bitter leaves of sukutā and from kāśandi [a sour condiment].

Because of her natural love for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Damayantī considered the Lord an ordinary human being. Therefore she thought that He would become sick by overeating and there would be mucus within His abdomen.

Because of sincere affection, she thought that eating this sukutā would cure the Lord’s disease. Considering these affectionate thoughts of Damayantī, the Lord was very pleased.

“A dear lover strung a garland and placed it on the shoulder of his beloved in the presence of her co-wives. She had raised breasts and was very beautiful, yet although the garland was tainted with mud, she did not reject it, for its value lay not in material things but in love.”

Damayantī powdered coriander and anise seeds, cooked them with sugar and made them into sweetmeats in the shape of small balls.

She made sweetmeat balls with dried ginger to remove mucus caused by too much bile. She put all these preparations separately into small cloth bags.

She made a hundred varieties of condiments and pickles. She also made koli-śuṇṭhi, koli-cūrṇa, koli-khaṇḍa and many other preparations. How many should I name?

She made many sweetmeats in the shape of balls. Some were made with powdered coconut, and others looked as white as the water of the Ganges. In this way she made many varieties of long-lasting sugar confections.

She made long-lasting cheese, many varieties of sweetmeats with milk and cream, and many other varied preparations, such as amṛta-karpūra.

She made flat rice from fine, unboiled, śāli paddy and filled a large bag made of new cloth.

She made some of the flat rice into puffed rice, fried it in ghee, cooked it in sugar juice, mixed in some camphor and rolled it into balls.

She powdered fried grains of fine rice, moistened the powder with ghee and cooked it in a solution of sugar. Then she added camphor, black pepper, cloves, cardamom and other spices and rolled the mixture into balls that were very palatable and aromatic.

She took parched rice from fine paddy, fried it in ghee, cooked it in a sugar solution, mixed in some camphor and thus made a preparation called ukhḍā or muḍki.

Another variety of sweet was made with fused peas that were powdered, fried in ghee and then cooked in sugar juice. Camphor was added, and then the mixture was rolled into balls.

I could not mention the names of all these wonderful eatables, even in a lifetime. Damayantī made hundreds and thousands of varieties.

Damayantī made all these preparations following the order of her brother, Rāghava Paṇḍita. Both of them had unlimited affection for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and were advanced in devotional service.

Damayantī took earth from the Ganges, dried it, powdered it, strained it through a fine cloth, mixed in aromatic ingredients and rolled it into small balls.

The condiments and similar items were put into thin earthen pots, and everything else was put into small cloth bags.

From small bags Damayantī made bags that were twice as large. Then with great attention she filled all the large ones with the small ones.

She then wrapped and sealed each and every bag with great attention. The bags were carried by three bearers, one after another.

Thus I have briefly described the bags that have become famous as rāghavera jhāli.

The superintendent for all those bags was Makaradhvaja Kara, who kept them with great attention like his very life.

Thus all the Vaiṣṇavas from Bengal went to Jagannātha Purī. By chance, they arrived on the day when Lord Jagannātha performs pastimes in the water.

Boarding a boat in the water of Narendra-sarovara, Lord Govinda performed His water pastimes with all the devotees.

Then Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu arrived with His personal associates to see the jubilant pastimes of Lord Jagannātha in Narendra-sarovara.

At the same time, all the devotees from Bengal arrived at the lake and had a great meeting with the Lord.

All the devotees immediately fell at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and the Lord lifted and embraced every one of them.

The Gauḍīya-sampradāya, consisting of all the devotees from Bengal, began congregational chanting. When they met the Lord, they began to cry loudly in ecstatic love.

Because of the pastimes in the water, there was great jubilation on the shore, with music, singing, chanting and dancing creating a tumultuous sound.

Indeed, the chanting and crying of the Gauḍīyā Vaiṣṇavas mixed and created a tumultuous sound vibration that filled the entire universe.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu entered the water with His devotees and began His pastimes with them in great jubilation.

In his Caitanya-maṅgala [now known as Caitanya-bhāgavata], Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has given a detailed description of the activities the Lord performed in the water.

There is no use in again describing here the activities of the Lord. It would simply be repetitious and would increase the size of this book.

After concluding His pastimes in the water, Lord Govinda returned to His residence. Then Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to the temple, taking all His devotees with Him.

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu returned to His residence after visiting the temple of Jagannātha, He asked for a large quantity of Lord Jagannātha’s prasādam, which He then distributed among His devotees so that they could eat sumptuously.

After talking with all the devotees for some time, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked them to occupy the individual residences in which they had lived the previous year.

Rāghava Paṇḍita delivered the bags of eatables to Govinda, who kept them in a corner of the dining room.

Govinda thoroughly emptied the bags from the previous year and kept them in another room to fill them with other goods.

The next day, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went with His personal devotees to see Lord Jagannātha when Lord Jagannātha arose early in the morning.

After seeing Lord Jagannātha, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu began His all-encompassing saṅkīrtana. He formed seven groups, which then began to chant.

In each of the seven groups was a principal dancer, such as Advaita Ācārya or Lord Nityānanda.

The dancers in the other groups were Vakreśvara Paṇḍita, Acyutānanda, Paṇḍita Śrīvāsa, Satyarāja Khān and Narahari dāsa.

As Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu walked from one group to another inspecting them, the men in each group thought, “The Lord is within our group.”

The congregational chanting made a tumultuous roar that filled the sky. All the inhabitants of Jagannātha Purī came to see the kīrtana.

Accompanied by his personal staff, the King also came there and watched from a distance, and all the queens watched from the elevated parts of the palace.

Due to the forceful vibration of kīrtana, the entire world began trembling. When everyone chanted the holy name, they made a tumultuous sound.

In this way the Lord had congregational chanting performed for some time, and then He Himself desired to dance.

The seven groups began chanting and beating their drums in seven directions, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu began dancing in the center in great ecstatic love.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu remembered a line in the Orissan language and ordered Svarūpa Dāmodara to sing it.

“Let my head fall at the feet of Jagannātha in the kīrtana hall known as Jagamohana.”

Simply because of this line, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was dancing in greatly ecstatic love. People all around Him floated in the water of His tears.

Raising His two arms, the Lord said, “Chant! Chant!” Floating in transcendental bliss, the people responded by chanting the holy name of Hari.

The Lord fell to the ground unconscious, not even breathing. Then suddenly He stood up, making a loud sound.

The hairs on His body constantly stood up like the thorns on a śimula tree. Sometimes His body was swollen and sometimes lean and thin.

He bled and perspired from every pore of His body. His voice faltered. Unable to say the line properly, He uttered only “jaja gaga pari mumu.”

All His teeth shook, as if each was separate from the others. Indeed, they seemed about to fall to the ground.

His transcendental bliss increased at every moment. Therefore even by midafternoon the dancing had not ended.

The ocean of transcendental bliss overflowed, and everyone present forgot his body, mind and home.

Then Lord Nityānanda found a way to end the kīrtana. He gradually stopped all the chanters.

Thus only one group continued chanting with Svarūpa Dāmodara, and they chanted very softly.

When there was no longer a tumultuous sound, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu returned to external consciousness. Then Nityānanda Prabhu informed Him of the fatigue of the chanters and dancers.

Understanding the fatigue of the devotees, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stopped the congregational chanting. Then He bathed in the sea, accompanied by them all.

Then Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu took prasādam with all of them and then asked them to return to their dwellings and take rest.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu lay down at the door of the Gambhīrā, and Govinda came there to massage His legs.

It was a steady, long-standing rule that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would lie down to rest after lunch and Govinda would come to massage His legs. Then Govinda would honor the remnants of food left by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

This time when the Lord lay down, He occupied the entire doorway. Govinda could not enter the room, and therefore he made the following request.

Govinda said, “Kindly turn on one side. Let me pass to enter the room.”

Govinda made his request again and again, but the Lord replied, “I cannot move My body.”

Govinda repeatedly requested, “I want to massage Your legs.”

Then Govinda spread the Lord’s wrapper His body and in this way entered the room by crossing over the Lord.

Govinda massaged the Lord’s legs as usual. He pressed the Lord’s waist and back very softly, and thus all the Lord’s fatigue went away.

As Govinda stroked His body, the Lord slept very nicely for about forty-five minutes, and then His sleep broke.

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu saw Govinda sitting by His side, He was somewhat angry. “Why have you been sitting here for so long today?” the Lord asked.

“Why didn’t you go to take your meal after I fell asleep?” the Lord asked.

The Lord asked, “How did you enter the room? Why didn’t you go out to take your lunch in the same way?”

Govinda mentally replied, “My duty is to serve, even if I have to commit offenses or go to hell.

“I would not mind committing hundreds and thousands of offenses for the service of the Lord, but I greatly fear committing even a glimpse of an offense for my own self.”

Thinking in this way, Govinda kept silent. He did not reply to the Lord’s inquiry.

It was Govinda’s practice to go take lunch when the Lord was asleep. On that day, however, seeing the Lord’s weariness, Govinda continued massaging His body.

There was no way to go. How could he leave? When he thought of crossing over the Lord’s body, he considered it a great offense.

These are some of the finer points of etiquette in devotional service. Only one who has received the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu can understand these principles.

The Lord is very interested in manifesting the exalted qualities of His devotees, and that is why He engineered this incident.

Thus I have briefly described Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s dancing in the hall of the Jagannātha temple. The servants of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sing about this dancing even now.

Accompanied by His personal associates, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu washed and swept the Guṇḍicā temple, cleansing it as usual.

The Lord danced and chanted and then enjoyed a picnic in the garden as He had done before.

As previously, He danced in front of the Jagannātha car and observed the festival of Herā-pañcamī.

All the devotees from Bengal stayed in Jagannātha Purī for the four months of the rainy season and observed many other ceremonies, such as the anniversary of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s birth.

Formerly, when all the devotees had arrived from Bengal, they all desired to give Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu something to eat.

Each devotee would bring a certain type of prasādam. He would entrust it to Govinda and request him, “Please arrange that the Lord will surely eat this prasādam.”

Some brought paiḍa [a coconut preparation], some brought sweetballs, and some brought cakes and sweet rice. The prasādam was of different varieties, all very costly.

Govinda would present the prasādam and say to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, “This has been given by such-and-such devotee.” The Lord, however, would not actually eat it. He would simply say, “Keep it in storage.”

Govinda kept accumulating the food, and soon it filled a corner of the room. There was quite enough to feed at least a hundred people.

All the devotees asked Govinda with great eagerness, “Have you given Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu the prasādam brought by me?”

When the devotees questioned Govinda, he had to tell them lies. Therefore one day he spoke to the Lord in disappointment.

“Many respectable devotees, headed by Advaita Ācārya, make a great endeavor to entrust me with varieties of food for You.

“You do not eat it, but they ask me again and again. How long shall I go on cheating them? How shall I be freed from this responsibility?”

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “Why are you so foolishly unhappy? Bring here to Me whatever they have given you.”

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sat down to eat. Then Govinda offered Him the preparations one after another, and as he did so he spoke the name of the person who had given each one.

“These preparations — paiḍa, sweet rice, cakes made with cream, and also amṛta-guṭikā, maṇḍā and a pot of camphor — have been given by Advaita Ācārya.

“Next there are varieties of food — cakes, cream, amṛta-maṇḍā and padmacini — given by Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita.

“All these are gifts of Ācāryaratna, and these varieties of gifts are from Ācāryanidhi.

“And all these varieties of food have been given by Vāsudeva Datta, Murāri Gupta and Buddhimanta Khān.

“These are gifts given by Śrīmān Sena, Śrīmān Paṇḍita and Nandana Ācārya. Please eat them all.

“Here are the preparations made by the inhabitants of Kulīna-grāma, and these have been made by the inhabitants of Khaṇḍa.”

In this way, Govinda gave everyone’s name as he put the food before the Lord. Being very satisfied, the Lord began to eat it all.

The hard sweets made of coconut (mukutā nārikela), the sweetballs, the many kinds of sweet drinks and all the other preparations were at least a month old, but although they were old, they had not become tasteless or stale. Indeed, they had all stayed fresh. That is the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Within a very short time, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu ate enough for a hundred people. Then He asked Govinda, “Is there anything more left?”

Govinda replied, “Now there are only the bags of Rāghava.”

The next day, while taking His lunch in a secluded place, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu opened the bags of Rāghava and inspected their contents one after another.

He tasted a little of everything they contained and praised it all for its flavor and aroma.

All the varieties of the remaining prasādam were kept to eat throughout the year. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu ate His lunch, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī would serve it little by little.

Sometimes Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would take some of it at night. The Lord certainly enjoys preparations made with faith and love by His devotees.

Thus Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu spent the entire period of Cāturmāsya [the four months of the rainy season] in the happiness of discussing topics of Kṛṣṇa with His devotees.

From time to time, Advaita Ācārya and others would invite Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for home-cooked rice and varieties of vegetables.

They offered pungent preparations made with black pepper, sweet-and-sour preparations, ginger, salty preparations, limes, milk, yogurt, sugar candy, two or four kinds of spinach, soup made with bitter melon, eggplant mixed with nimba leaves, and fried paṭola.

They also offered phula-baḍī, liquid mung dhal and many vegetables, all cooked according to the Lord’s taste.

They would mix these preparations with the remnants of food from Lord Jagannātha. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted the invitations, He went sometimes alone and sometimes with His associates.

Devotees like Ācāryaratna, Ācāryanidhi, Nandana Ācārya, Rāghava Paṇḍita and Śrīvāsa were all of the brāhmaṇa caste.

They would extend invitations to the Lord. Vāsudeva Datta, Gadādhara dāsa, Murāri Gupta, the inhabitants of Kulīna-grāma and Khaṇḍa and many other devotees who were not brāhmaṇas by caste would purchase food offered to Lord Jagannātha and then extend invitations to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Now hear about the invitation Śivānanda Sena extended to the Lord. His eldest son was named Caitanya dāsa.

When Śivānanda brought his son, Caitanya dāsa, to be introduced to the Lord, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired about his name.

When the Lord heard that his name was Caitanya dāsa, He said, “What kind of name have you given him? It is very difficult to understand.”

Śivānanda Sena replied, “He has kept the name that appeared to me from within.” Then he invited Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for lunch.

Śivānanda Sena had bought very costly remnants of Lord Jagannātha’s food. He brought it in and offered it to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who sat down to accept the prasādam with His associates.

Because of Śivānanda Sena’s glories, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu ate all kinds of prasādam to honor his request. However, the Lord ate more than necessary, and therefore His mind was dissatisfied.

The next day, Caitanya dāsa, the son of Śivānanda Sena, extended an invitation to the Lord. He could understand the Lord’s mind, however, and therefore he arranged for a different kind of food.

He offered yogurt, limes, ginger, soft baḍā and salt. Seeing all these arrangements, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very pleased.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “This boy knows My mind. Therefore I am very satisfied to accept his invitation.”

After saying this, the Lord ate the rice mixed with yogurt and offered Caitanya dāsa the remnants of His food.

The four months of Cāturmāsya passed in this manner, with the Lord accepting invitations from His devotees. Because of a heavy schedule of invitations, however, some of the Vaiṣṇavas could not get an open day on which to invite the Lord.

Every month Gadādhara Paṇḍita and Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya had fixed dates on which Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would accept their invitations.

Gopīnātha Ācārya, Jagadānanda, Kāśīśvara, Bhagavān, Rāmabhadra Ācārya, Śaṅkara and Vakreśvara, who were all brāhmaṇas, extended invitations to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and offered Him food cooked at home, whereas other devotees would pay two paṇas of small conchshells to purchase Jagannātha’s prasādam and then invite the Lord.

At first the cost of Jagannātha prasādam for an invitation was four paṇas of conchshells, but when Rāmacandra Purī was there, the price was cut in half.

The devotees who came from Bengal stayed with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for four consecutive months, and then the Lord bade them farewell. After the Bengali devotees departed, the devotees who were the Lord’s constant companions at Jagannātha Purī stayed with the Lord.

Thus I have described how Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted invitations and how He accepted and tasted the prasādam offered by His devotees.

In the midst of that narration are descriptions of Rāghava Paṇḍita’s bags of food and the dancing in the temple of Jagannātha.

One who hears about the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu with faith and love will certainly attain ecstatic love for the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu without fail.

Narrations of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s activities are just like nectar to hear. Indeed, they satisfy both the ears and mind. One who tastes the nectar of these activities is certainly very fortunate.

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.