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

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Antya-līlā · 20 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 Antya 6.294

প্রভু কহে, — “এই শিলা কৃষ্ণের বিগ্রহ ।

ইঁহার সেবা কর তুমি করিয়া আগ্রহ ॥ ২৯৪ ॥

prabhu kahe, — “ei śilā kṛṣṇera vigraha

iṅhāra sevā kara tumi kariyā āgraha

Translation

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed Raghunātha dāsa, “This stone is the transcendental form of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Worship the stone with great eagerness.”

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

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Honor Kṛṣṇa’s Form Beyond Material Judgments

  1. 1

    The govardhana-śilā is directly the transcendental form of Kṛṣṇa, the son of Mahārāja Nanda. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed Raghunātha dāsa to worship it with great eagerness.

  2. 2

    The Lord awakened devotional service to the stone in Raghunātha dāsa’s heart. By giving him the stone, He accepted him as one of His most confidential servants.

  3. 3

    The purport strongly warns against seeing the worshipable stone as ordinary, the spiritual master as an ordinary human being, or a pure Vaiṣṇava through caste distinctions. One should accept a Vaiṣṇava as transcendental, without envy over caste or sect.

Key points from the purport
  • Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura writes in his Anubhāṣya that in the opinion of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the govardhana-śilā, the stone from Govardhana Hill, was directly the form of Kṛṣṇa, the son of Mahārāja Nanda.
  • However, some envious people conclude that because Raghunātha dāsa had not taken birth in the family of a brāhmaṇa, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not give him the right to worship the Deity directly but instead gave him a stone from Govardhana.
  • When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed that the govardhana-śilā, the stone taken from Govardhana, is nondifferent from the body of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He indirectly advised such foolish persons that one should not be envious of a Vaiṣṇava who belongs to a different caste or sect.

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

Longing fulfilled. Raghunātha’s sustained desire for the Lord culminates in arrival, shelter, and renunciation.

The mood of Antya 6 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas

Further reading

Antya 6: The Meeting of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī

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

Understanding that Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was living by begging from the chatras, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu presented him with His own guñjā-mālā and a stone from Govardhana Hill. Thereafter, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī used to eat rejected food that he had collected and washed.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Antya 6
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Word for word

Learn the words of the verse.

  1. prabhu kaheŚrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said
  2. ei śilāthis stone
  3. kṛṣṇera vigrahathe form of Lord Kṛṣṇa
  4. iṅhāraof this
  5. sevāworship
  6. karado
  7. tumiyou
  8. kariyā āgrahawith great eagerness
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Key ideas in this verse

The themes of love and mercy this verse speaks of.

  • Sevā · Love translated into service

    Devotional service expressed through cleansing, caring, teaching, honoring others, and living as Kṛṣṇa’s servant. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “service”, “servants”

  • Vraja-smaraṇa · Remembrance of Vṛndāvana

    The remembered sweetness of Vraja that colors Mahāprabhu’s pilgrimage, Ratha-yātrā, and later states of separation. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “govardhana-śilā”, “nanda”

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 material distinctions ever keep you from honoring a Vaiṣṇava?

Practice

Notice one judgment you make about a devotee’s background today, and consciously set it aside.

Live this todayHonor Kṛṣṇa’s Form Beyond Material JudgmentsThis 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.

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