Bhaktivedanta College Bhaktivedanta Online

Online Course: Caitanya Caritamrita -- “The Nectar Acts of Śrī Caitanya”, Part 1 Instructor: Kshetra Das (Kenneth R. Valpey) November-December 2012

General Introduction to the Course

 What sort of course is this? Based on the course given at Bhaktivedanta College for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in and Religious Studies, in cooperation with Chester University, U.K.  Caitanya-caritamrita (CC) is a rich repository of the vision, philosophy, theology, and early history of Caitanya Vaisnavism or Gaudiya Vaisnavism.  Our aim: to gain essential understanding of important themes of the CC, enabling a fuller appreciation of the text and greater access to reading and relishing it.  My approach will be largely thematic and analytic . . .  Our main resource is the BBT publication of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada’s translation of CC, with his purports. We will also refer at times to a “scholarly” translation (of E. Dimock and T. Stewart, published by Harvard University Press), and we will also ask students to read various secondary articles about the CC, to “listen in” on discussions by various scholars. (Some of these articles may be a bit challenging to read, but “worth the effort”).

Lesson One – Entering the Caitanya-caritamrita What sort of book is the Caitanya-caritamrita? What does it include, and what is its purpose? How does it relate to other sacred texts of the Caitanya Vaisnavas, such as the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and the works of the “Six Goswamis” of ? In this lesson we will make our initial approach to the CC, considering its importance to the Gaudiya tradition.

First Week Readings:  Prabhupada’s CC Preface & Introduction  CC 1.1.1-17 (in verse numbering, Adi-līlā = 1 (for the first digit); Madhya-līlā = “2” and Antya-līlā = 3; “CC 1.1.1-17 means “verses 1 through 14 of chapter 1, Adi-līlā).  Chapter headings (in the TOC) for Adi-, Madhya-, and Antya-Līlās – as given in the Harvard edition of CC.

1. Various ways we can read the text  Caitanya Caritamrita can be read as . . . o narrative: biography, “sacred biography,” or “hagiography” . expect to hear me frequently say “according to Krishnadas Kaviraja…” (to emphasize that the CC is his particular perspective) . reflects certain biographical/hagiographical “patterns” . the term carita . . . o commentary: on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa . quotes more than 250 verses of the BhP o record: of the early community of Caitanya’s followers . focus on the first “generation” of Caitanya’s followers o the “voice of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan” . as a summary of their teachings, providing “systematic theology” o the “culmination” of a several-decade process of articulating who is Sri Caitanya. . setting out what we may call a “caitanyology” o a compendium of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava (/Caitanya Vaiṣṇava) practices o poetry & a text on Caitanya Vaiṣṇava aesthetics (rasa-theory) . Bengali is mainly in payar metre, plus occasional tripadī sections . great emphasis on mādhurya-rasa, with other rasas also represented. . a milestone in the history of Bengali literature

2. Several ways to view or “read” Śrī Caitanya’s life account  Śrī Caitanya’s life as… o a 16th century Bengali brahmin with strong emotions (!) o an ācārya – teacher by example as well as by precept o a “perfect” devotee of Krishna, or as a bhāgavata o a “re-enactment” of Krishna-lila o in relation to the various persons he interacts with . . .

3. The CC as the product of one particular author  Who was the author of the CC? Krishnadas Kavirāja (1517 – 1615+?) was . . . o follower of Nityānanda Prabhu o follower of the Goswamis of Vrindavan (esp. Rūpa and Raghunāthadāsa) o receiver of blessings to write; a deeply learned poet (kavirāja) o admirer of Śri Caitanya and of Vrindavandas Thakura o aged (when writing CC) and humble (2.2.90; 1.5.205-210)

4. Contexts and “inter-textuality” of Caitanya-caritamrita  The CC in relation to other texts (+ more next week): o consider an image of concentric circles, with CC in the center, then Bhagavatam, then Gita representing the largest circle . . . o Sri Caitanya-caritamrta consists of a total of 11,519 verses of which 851 verses are drawn from different (Sanskrit) scriptures. . for more details see http://www.vaniquotes.org/wiki/Category:Scriptural_Origin s_of_Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta_Verses

Ädi 1.1 vande gurün éça-bhaktän éçam éçävatärakän tat-prakäçäàç ca tac-chaktéù kåñëa-caitanya-saàjïakam

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the spiritual masters, the devotees of the Lord, the Lord’s incarnations, His plenary portions, His energies and the primeval Lord Himself, Çré Kåñëa Caitanya.

Ädi 1.2 vande çré-kåñëa-caitanya- nityänandau sahoditau gauòodaye puñpavantau citrau çan-dau tamo-nudau

I offer my respectful obeisances unto Çré Kåñëa Caitanya and Lord Nityänanda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the horizon of Gauòa to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all.

“Forum” question: What means “canonical text” (in general), and why might we refer to the Caitanya Caritamrita as a “canonical text”?

Question to Prabhupada’s CC Preface: 1. List (in short phrases) all the sorts of “non-difference,” or “identity” that you can find mentioned or suggested in Prabhupada’s CC Preface. Questions to Prabhupada’s CC Introduction 1. According to Prabhupada, summarize what is distinct and distinctive about Śrī Caitanya and his teachings. 2. “The subject matter of Caitanya-caritāmṛta primarily deals with what is beyond this material creation.” Yet, as we will see, the narrative is very much about events happening in this world. Please comment on this (apparent?) contradiction. Question to CC 1.1.1-17 1. Very briefly, what would you say is being “accomplished” in these initial verses of the CC? (here and in subsequent reading assignments: purports need not be read [unless you want to], as we are concentrating in this course on the CC text itself.)