At the time of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s advent, Bengal had fallen far away from Krishna consciousness. The people of the day had become so much degraded that they would pass their time spending money like water to see the marriage of cats. Deviating from the worship of the Supreme Lord, Krishna, they used to worship the serpent-goddess, Visahari, or the controller of the demons, Kali. Very rarely would the Name of Krishna be heard from their lips. Only a few of the Hindu gentlemen, when bathing in the Ganges, would chant the Holy Name of Govinda, Hari, or Krishna. And Nabadwip Dham, place of the advent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, was under Mohammedan rule in those days. The Kazi was in power in Nabadwip, and the Hindu’s religious feelings were checked by the strong hand of his Islamic rule.
Advaita Acharya was a great scholar and the most senior among Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s followers. He appeared in Navagram in Sri Hatta, in the eastern province of Bengal, and resided in Santipur. Ontologically speaking, Sri Advaita Acharya is the Avatar of Mahavisnu, who creates the material cosmos through the agency of His illusory energy. Advaita Acharya is the devotee who earnestly invited Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to descend here as the Yuga-avatar to look after the welfare of all souls. He began to worship the Lord with Ganges water and tulasi leaves and invoked His grace, praying, «O Lord, please come and deliver these people; the time has come to relieve them by the distribution of the sweet Name of Krishna. Come, My Lord — they are most poor!» In this way Advaita Acharya attracted Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by pleading the cause of the fallen souls. Of course, the time had come for the advent of the incarnation for this age, the Yuga-avatar, but still Advaita Acharya performed the function of inviting and welcoming Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
And when the Supreme Lord was about to appear, Advaita felt in his heart, «My prayer is going to be satisfied — He is coming!» Ultimately, He detected that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had personally appeared in the house of Sri Jagannath Misra and Sachi Devi as their newborn boy, Nimai Visvambhar. And so, Advaita Acharya went to pay due respects to the child and His parents on the divine advent day.
When the boy was a little grown up, Sri Advaita Prabhu came down to bow at the feet of the child, Nimai. Sachi Devi, Nimai’s mother, shuddered: «What are You doing? You are an old pandit, a Vedic scholar. If You show this kind of respect to my young boy, it will spoil His future! What are You doing?» It was said that whenever Advaita Acharya used to bow down His head to a Deity, the statue would shatter into pieces if it was a sham, if there was no genuine presence of the Lord. But here, when Advaita put His head at the feet of the boy, Nimai put one foot on Advaita Acharya’s head. Everyone was astounded and wondered, «What kind of spiritual power does this child have? Such a great devotee-scholar and senior man as Advaita has bowed down to this child, and the child has stepped on Advaita’s head, but the child is quite unaffected! Who is this child?»
When Nimai was a boy, sometimes He would disguise Himself with a blanket and enter into the banana grove of a neighbour’s house. With a push of His head He used to break down the banana trees. The neighbours would come out and think, «A bull must have entered and demolished our garden!» In these Pastimes the Lord was teaching His devotees, «I am demolishing all your banana trees that will be used for some other purpose besides My service. In the highest sense, you are My eternal associates, and I can do anything and everything with your possessions to suit My fleeting pleasures.» Sometimes He would snatch fruit from the hand of Sridhar Pandit, saying, «Oh, give Me this banana. I won’t be able to pay you any price.» Sridhar Pandit would tell Him, «Why are You doing this? You are a brahman boy; I can’t refuse You. But You should not do these things. I am a poor man. If You snatch away my best things, how can I make a living?» In this way, Nimai performed His Pastimes of stealing fruit.
As Nimai Pandit grew up, He used to show Advaita Acharya great respect. But Advaita could not tolerate it. He said, «I know that You are not an ordinary person. You are a supernatural, transcendental personality of the highest order. Still, in the worldly sense, You are younger than Me, so You show Me respect, but I can’t tolerate it. It is too much for Me.» But what could Advaita do? Nimai used to show His formal respect to Advaita Prabhu every time They met, so Advaita made a plan to stop this, and thought to Himself, «I shall see how clever You are.»
He left Nabadwip, went to Santipur, and began to preach against the devotional school. The news came to Nimai that Advaita Acharya, after such a long time as a devotee, was preaching against the devotional school. He was preaching that jnan, knowledge, is higher than devotion. «Devotion makes the Lord far away», He argued, «and knowledge tries to bring Him very near. With knowledge, one thinks, ‘I want to experience You, O Lord.’ And devotion says ‘He is adhoksaja: transcendental. He can’t be traced by our senses.’ So devotion makes Him far away by saying, ‘It is only His sweet will that may connect us.’ But according to the path of knowledge, the supreme authority is within you, in your heart. The devotional school is clearly secondary.»
In this way, Advaita Acharya began to preach. And when that reached the ears of Nimai Pandit, He went with Nityananda to punish Advaita. They jumped into the Ganges and swam all the way to Santipur, where they found Advaita Acharya. Nimai confronted Him: «What are You doing, Acharya? Why have You invited Me to come here? With Ganges water and tulasi leaves, You prayed for Me to appear, and now You are making fun of Me? You are speaking against devotion, against Me? What is the matter with You?» In this way, Nimai Pandit began to punish Advaita. He began to slap Him. The old wife of Advaita Acharya began to cry, «What are You doing? Don’t kill that old man!»
Nityananda Prabhu was smiling, and Haridas Thakur, perplexed, was standing at a little distance trying to understand, «What is the matter?» Then Advaita Acharya Prabhu felt great satisfaction. He said, «I have taught You a lesson now — You have come to punish Me. You are defeated — I have gained victory over You!» Advaita Prabhu began to dance. «Today I have defeated You, My Lord! You had to punish Me. Where has that formal respect You were always showing Me gone now?» In this way, Advaita Acharya rejoiced, and offered Mahaprabhu a feast of sak, His favourite delicacy.
The Lord gave so much grace to Advaita Prabhu that although He was an old scholar and Acharya, He was punished with slaps. It is not possible to punish or dishonour anyone we respect, but only our intimate friends. Disrespect and dishonour is possible only when there is great intimacy. Pure devotees want punishment. «Punish us!» they pray, but punishment from the high quarter is not very cheap.
Many years later, just before Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu began to manifest His final Pastimes of divine ecstasy, Advaita Acharya Prabhu wrote some mystic lines of poetry which He sent to the Lord through Jagadananda Pandit:
baulake kahiha, — loka haila baula
baulake kahiha, — hate na vikaya chaula
baulake hahiha, — kaye nahika aula
baulake kahiha, — iha kahiyachhe baula
Tell our Prabhu, who acts as madmen do
that everyone has lost their sanity
And rice once high in price has no value.
In love of God, half-crazed humanity
neglects this world and all they once held dear;
tell Him a madman brings this to His ear.
When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu read that mystic poem, His mood became serious. Svarup Damodar was there: «What is written here?» he said. Mahaprabhu replied, «I do not know what is the real meaning, but Advaita Acharya is a great ‘worshipper’, and a certain class of ‘worshippers’ are accustomed to think, ‘We shall invite the Deity, and for some time we shall try to keep Him here for worship. Then, when we are finished with our worship, finally we shall bid Him adieu.’ Perhaps Advaita thinks, ‘Now it is time for the Deity to go.’ I don’t know what is the real meaning, but perhaps this is His purpose.» Svarup Damodar took the poem, read it, and became very thoughtful: «Oh. Advaita Prabhu is saying that the requirements for Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance have been fulfilled, and now, He is no longer needed to preach the Holy Name of Krishna as the incarnation for this age. The Avatar’s duty is finished, and so He may go.»
After this, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu remained within this world for twelve more years, but not as before. His mood was quite changed. From that day on, He felt great separation from Krishna in the mood of Radharani. Divine madness became predominant in Him and His social connection was almost closed. Ramananda Ray and Svarup Damodar were His attendants at that time. He no longer kept any social connections; the fire within Him was burning — the fire of separation. He was absorbed in Radharani’s search for Sri Krishna after Krishna left Vrndavan. In that mood of divine madness, He spent twelve years in a closed room within the house compound of Kasi Misra.
Sometimes at night, unconsciously crossing the boundary wall, He would run to meet Lord Jagannath. When Svarup Damodar and His other attendants would suddenly find that no sound of Krishna’s Name could be heard within His room, they would begin searching: «Mahaprabhu is not there, where is He?» Sometimes they would find Him fallen before the main gate of the Jagannath Temple, His legs and hands drawn within His body like the limbs of a tortoise drawn within its shell. A very sweet fragrance could be detected emanating from Him, and the cows would flock there, smelling His body. While Mahaprabhu was lying in His trance, He was internally experiencing the Pastimes of Radha and Govinda with the gopis in Govardhan. At that time, Svarup Damodar and the others tried their best to revive Him from His trance by chanting the Holy Name of Krishna.
When Mahaprabhu was roused, He complained, «What have you done? I was enjoying a most happy experience there but by raising a clamour, you have drawn me down here.» And what raised a clamour? The chanting of «Hare Krishna». And who was chanting the Name of Krishna? Svarup Damodar and others of his calibre. The depth of the experience of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in His divine trance was so great that He took the chanting of Hare Krishna to be noise. So, we may chant the Holy Name of Krishna, and that may be simply noise. From another angle of vision, however, it may be seen that Krishna-nam is of such immense value that it was given preference over direct participation in Krishna-lila. But the direction given to us by our Acharyas, the spiritual preceptors of our line, is that we should consider our own chanting to be merely noise.
One day, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was wandering near the seashore. A girl was fervently singing in praise of Lord Jagannath, and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ran straight towards that sound. He began running through thickets of dangerous thorns. Then Govinda, His attendant, somehow stopped Him. When He understood everything, He said, «Oh, a girl is singing? Govinda saved my life.»
Sometimes He would suddenly feel that Krishna is playing with the gopis in the Yamuna. In that mood He would jump into the ocean, crying, «Krishna!» He jumped there and became unconscious, as the waves were playing with Him. Finding Him gone, His devotees would wonder, «Where is Mahaprabhu?» and, headed by Svarup Damodar, would begin their searching. Once, the night was almost over and they still couldn’t find Him. At last a fisherman came running, half-mad, chanting, «Krishna, Krishna, Krishna!»
«What is the matter?» Svarup Damodar asked. The fisherman replied, «Every night I catch fish, but tonight I threw out my net and caught something very heavy. When I began pulling it in, I thought it was a big fish, but when I took it on shore I found a big human figure, and when I went to remove the body from my net, somehow I touched Him; now I am half-mad.» Then, Svarup Damodar said, «You must have seen our Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?» «No, I have seen Him before», the fisherman said, «He has a beautiful figure. It is not Him. It is something else.» Svarup Damodar told him, «Anyhow, try to show us where He is.»
They went and saw the long figure of the Lord, His joints dislocated, lying on the sands, senseless. Svarup Damodar and the others began to chant the Holy Name of Krishna in His ear, until He came to His senses. At that time Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu began to describe the lila of Krishna that He had seen in His trance. In this way, after Advaita Acharya’s poetry was sent to Him, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lived His last twelve years in the mood of intense separation that Srimati Radharani felt for Krishna.
This intense degree of divine madness was exhibited by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in His last days on this earth. But even in His life in Nabadwip, when Mahaprabhu was the great boy-scholar Nimai Pandit, everyone thought He had become mad after He had returned from Gaya and had begun showing signs of devotion to Krishna. The normal-thinking men of the day said: «This Nimai Pandit was a good man, a gentleman, but after returning from Gaya, He is totally changed, and is doing so many undesirable things. He wants to preach so many new ideas. What is this? He has become a madman. He doesn’t care for any rules and regulations, social customs, or ancient scriptures — only ‘Krishna, Krishna, Krishna.’ Before, He was normal, but recently He has become abnormal. Of course, He has a powerful intellect. When He was a professor, He did not care for the scholarship of even the greatest of pandits. He easily defeated the champion scholar, Kesava Kasmiri, and many others. But now we have lost Him. Now He is different. He does not care for the brahmans or the scriptures we follow. He has a new opinion, and He is presenting that to the world. His ways are incomprehensible.» The neighbours complained to His mother, Sachi Devi: «Sachi Devi, what is this? Nimai was not like this before; now He doesn’t care for us anymore. He even has no charm for His wife. What has He become? You are the daughter of a gentleman, but just see your misfortune! What to do? The fact is this, Sachi, your only son, who was so brilliant, has become mad. You must arrange for proper medical treatment.» Then, Sachi Devi called for the kaviraj, the doctor.
The doctor made an arrangement for a small, brick bathing tank to be filled up with Visnu oil, which is supposed to be a very cooling thing. And Nimai Pandit was asked to bathe in that tank. He did so, and suddenly began laughing and playing in the tank. As He was diving and swimming in the oil, He was laughing madly. At that time, Srivas Thakur arrived for a visit and asked, «How is Nimai Pandit?» Sachi Devi told him, «Just see my misfortune! My Nimai has become completely mad. I called for the doctor and he arranged for this treatment.» As she showed Srivas how Nimai was playing in the tank, he asked, «What is this?» Sachi replied, «My neighbours advised me to do this.» Srivas said, «You are a very gentle lady. You do not know how to deal with others. What Nimai has — I want! Your boy has Krishna-prema, and I want a drop of that. If only we are allowed to live a few days longer, we shall have the opportunity of seeing many wonderful Pastimes of Krishna.»
Then, Nimai became sober for the time being and told Srivas, «If you had also remarked that I was mad, then I would have run to the Ganges and finished My life. At least you have understood what I am; that is My solace, Srivas. If you would have told the public, «He is mad», then I would have found that there is no man here to accept what I have come to give, so I must enter the river and drown myself without hesitation.»
Before Nimai Pandit went to Gaya, He was a big scholar. When He returned from Gaya surcharged with devotion, He began to explain grammar again, as before, but now He would show Krishna in the grammar. He would give interpretations of the roots of Sanskrit grammar which showed the relationship between Sanskrit and Krishna. He explained that sound is only a vibration, and vibration means the potency of Krishna. It is the potency of Krishna that makes everything pure, that makes everything move. If that potency is withdrawn, everything is dead and gone. In this way, Nimai Pandit wanted to explain grammar in terms of Krishna.
Then, His students became very much disturbed. «What is this!» they thought. «We have come to learn Sanskrit from Nimai Pandit, but our academic requirements will not be satisfied now. Still, the coaching we got from Him is never to be had anywhere else, so we can’t abandon Him. But how to improve the style of His teaching?» They went to the previous teacher of Nimai Pandit, Ganga Das Pandit. He had been Nimai’s tutor in His childhood. Ganga Das said, «You are all fortunate to be students of Nimai Pandit. He is such a nice professor. What is your complaint?» The students said, «We were very much pleased by studying under Nimai Pandit. But now, since He has returned from Gaya, He is explaining everything in quite a new way. He teaches Sanskrit in terms of the Holy Name of Krishna. He understands a very high philosophy, but that won’t serve our purpose of studying grammar. It is certainly valuable, but it will not help our studies. Please ask Him to change His ways. He has regard for you because you are His teacher. Only you can influence Him.» «All right», he said, «Ask Him to see me tomorrow.»
The students went to Nimai Pandit and told Him, «Your former professor has called for You. He wants to see You.» Nimai said, «Yes, I shall go and see him.» Later that day, He went to Ganga Das Pandit, and offered His respectful obeisances. Ganga Das said: «How are You my boy? I am happy to hear that You went to Gaya and performed Your religious duties for Your ancestors. This is all very good, but what is the matter? Your students are complaining to me. Is it true that You do not care to teach them properly? Why don’t You care to teach them as You did before? They all appreciate Your teachings, but after returning from Gaya You have adopted a novel style of teaching. Don’t continue this, I say — teach them properly. I hear from the people that You have become a devotee. But were Your forefathers not devotees? Of course, You have become a devotee of an extraordinary type. But don’t go astray. What You speak about devotion seems unnecessary — that is not really grammar. Do You think You are giving new light with Your new meanings? Do You think Your former professors were all idiots? What do You have to say?» Nimai was silent. «All right then. Don’t go astray. Remain calm and follow Your predecessors and teach the boys well, so that we will not have to hear any complaints against You in the future. Your students won’t go to any other school. They are very fond of You, so teach them well.» Then, Nimai Pandit took the dust of His teacher’s feet and told him, «Yes, I shall try to obey your order. By dint of your footdust, no one can challenge Me in scholarship. Don’t worry. I shall teach them well.»
A few days later, Nimai Pandit began to chant the name «gopi, gopi» while He was in a trance of devotion. Some big scholars that held a high social position went to Him and said, «Nimai Pandit! You were a big pandit and now You are a devotee. That doesn’t matter, but why do You chant the name ‘gopi gopi’? Take the Name of Krishna. According to the scriptures, that will bring You some benefit. But You are chanting ‘gopi gopi’. What benefit will You get from that? You are mad.» Nimai said, «Who is this Krishna? Why should I worship Him? He is a dacoit and a woman-hunter!» And Nimai picked up a stick and chased them away.
Later they began to talk among themselves, saying, «Nimai Pandit has become stark mad. We went to speak something good to Him, and He came with a stick to kill us! We are not sons of ordinary men. We have our high position in society and our family dignity. We will show Him!» They began a conspiracy to teach Nimai Pandit a good lesson by giving Him a good beating.
At that time, Nimai suddenly cried out: «I took the greatest measures to deliver these wretched souls, but I see now that they are simply creating more sins by abusing Me and conspiring to punish Me. Why have I come? What will be effective in delivering them? I shall have to take the role of a sannyasi. Otherwise, they will think that I am simply one of them, a householder. But if I become a sannyasi, a preacher, then they may have some respect. They will say, ‘We are all householders, He has become a sannyasi. He should be revered.’ Then, from that reverence, they will get some benefit. Otherwise, they will have to go to hell for thinking that I am an ordinary man. To create some respect, so they may benefit, I shall have to accept the role of a sannyasi.» And He revealed to Nityananda Prabhu and a few others, «On the last day of the first month of this year, I shall take sannyas.»