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Read one verse of Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta with its Bengali, transliteration, word meanings, translation and study points.
Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta · Text Ādi 16.94
শাস্ত্রের বিচার ভাল–মন্দ নাহি জানি ।
সরস্বতী যে বলায়, সেই বলি বাণী ॥ ৯৪ ॥
śāstrera vicāra bhāla-manda nāhi jāni
sarasvatī ye balāya, sei bali vāṇī
“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.”
Read this verse on Vedabase.ioThis verse has no purport; its meaning is explained by the verses around it.
Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu addressed the paṇḍita as “My dear sir.”
He said that He did not know what was good composition and what was bad.
He said that whatever He had spoken must be understood as having been spoken by mother Sarasvatī.
Grief and transformed pride. Lakṣmīdevī’s departure brings sorrow; Keśava Kāśmīrī’s pride yields to surrender.
The mood of Ādi 16 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas
From Śrīla Prabhupāda's chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:
This chapter also describes the Lord’s argument with Keśava Kāśmīrī, the celebrated scholar, and the Lord’s criticism of his prayer glorifying mother Ganges. In this prayer the Lord found five kinds of literary ornaments and five kinds of literary faults, thus defeating the paṇḍita.Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Ādi 16
Learn the words of the verse.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What do I notice about the way Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu speaks without claiming credit?
Read His reply slowly, noticing both the respectful address and the credit given to mother Sarasvatī.
Study points are short summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport on Vedabase.
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