Chaitanya's Life And Teachings: From his contemporary Begali biography the Chaitanya-charit-amritaKṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmi
Religion
Chaitanya's Life And Teachings: From his contemporary Begali biography the Chaitanya-charit-amrita
Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmi
Chaitanya, 1486-1534; Hinduism
"From listening to and singing hymns, one comes to love Krishna. That is
the fifth human end, the limit of human attainment. _Vide Bhágabat_,
XI. ii. 38. All kinds of scripture condemn (devotion to) work and teach
us to abstain from the fruit of our works. Therefore from work cannot
spring love and devotion to Krishna. _Vide Bhágabat_, XI. xi. 32; also
_Gitá_, xviii. 66; _Bhágabat_, XI. xx. 9. Truly devoted men renounce
the fivefold salvation; in their eyes salvation is worthless, no better
than hell! _Vide Bhágabat_, III. xxix. 11; V. xiv. 43; VI. xvii. 23.
"The devout abjure salvation and work alike. And you establish these two
things as the end and means! Ah! you are only befooling me as I am a
[mere] _sannyasi_. You have not told me of the true characteristics of
end and means."
At this the high priest of the tattwa School was inly ashamed, while he
marvelled at the Vaishnav spirit of the Master. So he replied, "Your
exposition is the true one. All _Shastras_ declare this to be the
Vaishnav dogma. Yet our order holds the views laid down by
Madhwacharya." The Master rejoined, "The votary of work and the votary
of knowledge are alike lacking in faith. In your order I see signs of
these two. I see only one merit in your order: you have fixed, upon the
true God."
After thus humbling the pride of that sect the Master went to the Falgu
shrine, then to Tritakup (the shrine of Vishálá), Panchápsára, Gokarna
(where Shiva is worshipped), Dwaipáyani, Supárak, Kolhápur (where He
beheld Lakshmi and Kshir Bhagavati), Nánga-Ganesh, Chor Párvati, and
Pándupur [=Pandharpur]. Here before Vitha's image He sang and danced
long.
A Brahman of the place invited and reverently fed the Master. Learning
the good news that Shri Ranga Puri, a disciple of Madhav Puri, was
residing in another Brahman's house in that village the Master went to
see him. As He prostrated Himself before the Puri in devotion, He wept,
trembled and was thrilled and covered all over with sweat. Shri Ranga
Puri wondered at the sight and cried out, "Rise, blessed one. Surely you
are connected with my _guru_, or you could not have displayed such
fervour of devotion". So, he raised and embraced the Master, and the two
wept clasping each other's neck. After a spell of rapture, the two came
round, and the Master said how He was related to Ishwar Puri. (At this)
their love welled out wondrously and each honoured the other. Day and
night they held forth on Krishna for a week or so.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account