Live Caitanya Caritamrta · CC Ādi 16.18
The Lord’s Inconceivable Guidance
“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.”
What the purport teaches
- Tapana Miśra wanted to live with Caitanya Mahāprabhu in Navadvīpa, but the Lord advised him to go to Vārāṇasī. The author describes these pastimes as inconceivable.
- Caitanya Mahāprabhu was then living in household life, with no indication that He would accept sannyāsa. Yet His instruction to Tapana Miśra indicated this future event.
- When the Lord would teach Sanātana Gosvāmī, Tapana Miśra would have the opportunity to learn the object of life and the real process for attaining it.
Try this today
Write down what Tapana Miśra wanted and what the Lord arranged for him to learn.
Ask yourself
How does this passage invite you to acknowledge the limits of your understanding of the Lord’s guidance?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport; the practice and question are plain words for trying the verse today.