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Study a Verse

Read one verse of Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta with its Bengali, transliteration, word meanings, translation and study points.

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Ādi-līlā · 17 chapters

How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Say the verse. Read the transliteration aloud, slowly.
  2. 2Read the word meanings. Go through each word and its meaning.
  3. 3Read the translation. Ask: what is happening here, and who is it about?
  4. 4Read the purport slowly. Read it twice. Don't rush.
  5. 5See Lord Caitanya as Kṛṣṇa. Remember who is acting in the pastime.
  6. 6Take one thing into your day. Note one point and one practice.
Read the full guide: how to read Caitanya Caritamrta ›

Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta · Text Ādi 17.1

বন্দে স্বৈরাদ্ভুতেহং তং চৈতন্যং যৎপ্রসাদতঃ ।

যবনাঃ সুমনায়ন্তে কৃষ্ণনামপ্রজল্পকাঃ ॥ ১ ॥

vande svairādbhutehaṁ taṁ

caitanyaṁ yat-prasādataḥ

yavanāḥ sumanāyante

kṛṣṇa-nāma-prajalpakāḥ

Translation

Let me offer my respectful obeisances to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, by whose mercy even unclean yavanas become perfectly well bred gentlemen by chanting the holy name of the Lord. Such is the power of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
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Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Mercy and Chanting Can Transform Anyone

  1. 1

    Caste brāhmaṇas, or smārtas, think that one cannot become a brāhmaṇa without changing one’s body. The purport explains that everything is possible by the Lord’s supremely powerful potency.

  2. 2

    Caitanya Mahāprabhu is as fully independent as Kṛṣṇa. By His mercy, even someone following non-Vedic principles can become a perfectly well-behaved gentleman.

  3. 3

    Members of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement who were not born in Vedic culture became wonderful devotees simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. They were welcomed in India as well-behaved Vaiṣṇavas.

Key points from the purport
  • Caitanya Mahāprabhu is as fully independent as Kṛṣṇa.
  • If He wants, by His mercy He can convert even a yavana, an unclean follower of non-Vedic principles, into a perfectly well behaved gentleman.
  • The members of the present Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement were not born in India, nor do they belong to the Vedic culture, but within the short time of four or five years they have become such wonderful devotees simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra that even in India they are well received as perfectly well behaved Vaiṣṇavas wherever they go.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

How it feels

Public courage and ecstatic joy. The saṅkīrtana movement confronts opposition and moves toward recognition and expansion.

The mood of Ādi 17 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas

Further reading

Ādi 17: The Pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His Youth

From Śrīla Prabhupāda's chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

The seventeenth chapter, as summarized by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya, describes Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pastimes from His sixteenth year until the time He accepted the renounced order of life. Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has already vividly described these pastimes in the Caitanya-bhāgavata; therefore Kṛṣṇa dāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī describes them only briefly.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Ādi 17
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Word for word

Learn the words of the verse.

  1. vandelet me offer my obeisances
  2. svairacompletely independent
  3. adbhutaand uncommon
  4. īhamwhose activities
  5. tamunto Him
  6. caitanyamŚrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu
  7. yatof whom
  8. prasādataḥby the mercy
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Key ideas in this verse

The themes of love and mercy this verse speaks of.

  • Nāma-saṅkīrtana · The holy name shared together

    Chanting the holy names as the yuga-dharma, the Lord’s public movement, and the opening prayer of Śikṣāṣṭaka. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “chanting”, “holy name”

  • Kṛpā & transformation · Mercy changes a life

    Transformative encounters with grace, from scholars and travelers to renunciants and householders. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “mercy”

Concept links are an editorial study map; only the verse is the text itself.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

Do I judge someone’s devotional possibilities by their birth, or allow room for the Lord’s mercy?

Practice

Chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra today while remembering the transforming power of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mercy.

Live this todayMercy and Chanting Can Transform AnyoneThis verse's lesson: one practice and one question for today

Study points are short summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport on Vedabase.

Ask Caitanya CaritamrtaHave a question about CC Ādi 17.1? Get an answer from the verses themselves.