The Life of Krishna Chaitanya first volume of the series: The Life and Teachings of Krishna Chaitanya by Parama Karuna Devi published by Jagannatha Vallabha Vedic Research Center (second edition) Copyright © 2016 Jagannatha Vallabha Vedic Research Center All rights reserved. ISBN-13: 978-1532745232 ISBN-10: 1532745230 Our Jagannatha Vallabha Vedic Research Center is a non-profit organization, dedicated to the research, preservation and propagation of Vedic knowledge and tradition, commonly described as “Hinduism”. Our main work consists in publishing and popularizing, translating and commenting the original scriptures and also texts dealing with history, culture and the peoblems to be tackled to re-establish a correct vision of the original Tradition, overcoming sectarianism and partisan political interests. Anyone who wants to cooperate with the Center is welcome. We also offer technical assistance to authors who wish to publish their own works through the Center or independently. For further information please contact: Mataji Parama Karuna Devi [email protected], [email protected] +91 94373 00906 Contents Introduction 11 Chaitanya's forefathers 15 Early period in Navadvipa 19 Nimai Pandita becomes a famous scholar 23 The meeting with Keshava Kashmiri 27 Haridasa arrives in Navadvipa 30 The journey to Gaya 35 Nimai's transformation in divine love 38 The arrival of Nityananda 43 Advaita Acharya endorses Nimai's mission 47 The meaning of Krishna Consciousness 51 The beginning of the Sankirtana movement 54 Nityananda goes begging from door to door 60 The salvation of Jagai and Madhai 63 Defying the casteist paradigm 66 The Muslim Kazi tries to stop the Sankirtana 72 The festival at Chandrashekhara's house 75 The curse of the brahmana 77 Nimai takes sannyasa from Keshava Bharati 79 The journey to Jagannatha Puri 83 The visit to Kshira chora Gopinatha 86 The visit to Viraja kshetra 89 The visit to Sakshi Gopala 93 The visit to Ekamra kanana 96 Breaking the sannyasa danda 102 The arrival in Jagannatha Puri 106 The meeting with Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya 109 Teachings to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya 113 The atmarama verse 117 Chaitanya becomes popular in Jagannatha Puri 120 The journey to south India 124 The meeting with Ramananda Raya 126 Arrival at Tirupati 128 Parama Karuna Devi The journey to Setubandha 130 The meeting with the Madhvacharya matha sannyasis 132 The return journey towards Puri 136 The arrival of the devotees from Bengal 139 Chaitanya visits Alaranatha 143 The festival of Gundicha marjana 146 The tradition of the chariots 154 The Ratha yatra 163 The prayers of Chaitanya to Jagannatha 171 The meeting with king Prataparudra 174 The devotees return to Bengal 179 Chaitanya travels to Bengal 182 Chaitanya visits Advaita Acharya in Shantipura 189 Chaitanya visits Srivasa Pandita 191 The journey through Jharikhanda 195 Chaitanya arrives in Mathura 198 The forests of Vrindavana 201 The encounter with the Muslim pathanas 207 The meeting with Rupa in Prayaga 209 The meeting with Prakashananda Sarasvati 213 Return to Puri 216 Rupa and Sanatana visit Chaitanya in Puri 219 Raghunatha Dasa joins Chaitanya in Puri 222 Life in Puri 229 Ramachandra Puri's criticism 231 The troubles of Gopinatha Pattanayaka 233 The punishment of Chota Haridasa 236 Vallabha Acharya arrives in Puri 243 Chaitanya reciprocates with the devotees 248 Chaitanya's relationship with the Oriya Vaishnavas 251 Haridasa funeral festival 255 The last years of Chaitanya 259 The disappearance of Chaitanya 264 Biographies of Chaitanya 272 Conclusion 276 4 La vita di Krishna Chaitanya Preface vande 'ham sri guroh sri yuta pada kamalam sri gurun vaishnavams ca sri rupam sa agra jatam saha gana raghunatha anvitam tam sa jivam sa advaitam sa avadhutam parijana sahitam krishna chaitanya devam sri radha krishna padan saha gana lalita sri visakha anvitams ca "I offer my homage to the lotus feet of my sat guru, and to all my teachers and to all those who are devotees of Vishnu, to Rupa Gosvami, his elder brother Sanatana and their companions, the two Raghunathas (Dasa Gosvami and Bhatta Gosvami) and Jiva Gosvami, to Advaita Acharya, the avadhuta Nityananda and their companions, to the divine Sri Krishna Chaitanya, to the feet of Sri Radha and Krishna and their companions, the two (sakhis) Lalita and Visakha." Much of the material in this volume was originally published in my book Puri, the Home of Lord Jagannatha, that I printed independently in India in April 2009. It was over 500 pages of tightly packed, small font size text, with a number of hand-drawn maps of the Jagannatha temple and other prominent places of interest in the area of Puri. I printed it rather hurriedly, because I had come to know that some people to which the original manuscript had been submitted for review (prior to publication) were planning to publish the book themselves under another author's name, omitting all mention of my 5 Parama Karuna Devi work. My concern was not about getting a profit from the book, either financially or in the form of name and fame, and in fact I had agreed to share the authorship credit for the text with Rahul Acharya, because I was told that "in this way, the book will be accepted more widely". This appeared to be a good idea, because in Orissa and especially in Puri there is a strong prejudice against the "outsiders", so much that devotees of Jagannatha coming from other countries and born in non-Indian races are not even allowed to enter the public premises of the Jagannatha temple in Puri, the Sri Mandir, as they are automatically considered "non-Hindus", irrespective of their actual beliefs and practices. Almost all other temples and traditional mathas unfortunately follow the same policies, either because they are controlled by the government (like the Sri Mandir) or because they are influenced by the official position of the "religious authorities" of orthodox Hinduism in Puri: the Shankaracharya residing in the Govardhana Matha and the assembly of sasana brahmanas at the Mukti Mandapa within the Sri Mandir. The reasons for such prohibition have been expressed from time to time by the spokesmen of the Temple Administration: it is said that "western people" (which includes all races except the high caste ethnic Indians) eat objectionable foods, have unclean habits, and cannot possibly have any devotion for Jagannatha because they do not know anything about Jagannatha. Among the people visiting Puri there have been hundreds if not thousands of cases demonstrating exactly the opposite, especially among the members of Iskcon and the various Gaudiya mathas that after 1978 had started to accept a number of western disciples, too. Apart from some bad apples (of which most have really been stinking up the entire bag) the general mass of western devotees, generally identified as Iskcon members (whether they are or not) has given ample evidence of extremely good and devotional behavior and motivations. Usually more than the visitors of Indian race, or even than the temple servants. Apart from the requirement of a strict sadhana including the chanting of a prescribed number of 1728 mantra repetitions daily (as a minimum), the regular study of the basic scriptures (mainly Bhagavad gita and Bhagavata purana), and the active service in the worship of the Deities in the temple, it has always been compulsory for all members to strictly abstain from any objectionable foods - not only meat, fish and eggs, but even onion and garlic, and any food that had not been offered to Krishna. In fact, Iskcon (the 6 La vita di Krishna Chaitanya most iconic organization of Krishna devotees from western regions in modern times) had become the greatest name in vegetarianism at global level, opening many restaurants and distributing innumerable servings of pure vegetarian food each Sunday and on their many festival occasions. Personally, I had founded and directed a Vegetarian Society myself for several years after moving out of the ashrama, utilizing the theoretical and practical knowledge that I had collected during my Iskcon membership period. I had been a strict ethical vegetarian activist already for over 8 years before joining Iskcon, but in the ashrama and temple I had a real opportunity to develop sufficiently in that field. Besides the very rigid vegetarianism, the basic rules of the Sarasvata Gaudiya mathas (including Iskcon) prohibit all forms of intoxication - not only alcohol, but also coffee and even tea - as well as all illicit sexual relationships and behaviors, a rule which was generally interpreted as allowing members to have sex only once in a lifetime with one's spouse in order to get a child, and living separately for the rest of the time with practically no contact with each other, or any other sexual or romantic connection with anybody else. After closely observing the behavior of the ordinary Hindus, including the sevakas of the Jagannatha Puri temple, and researching about the other traditions connected to Krishna Chaitanya and the Vaishnava cults, I realized that there was a lot of work for me to do there. In 1995, about one year after I settled in Puri, I had founded a Vegetarian Society based on spiritual and religious foundations. The organization was duly registered as an explicit tribute to Prabhupada's vision, and it regularly distributed pure vegetarian food to the pilgrims especially during Ratha yatra, and to the children of the rural villages around Puri. In 2005 I used my personal savings and the contributions of a few like-minded friends and supporters of my Association to acquire some land outside town, and I started to develop an independent ashrama to support and accommodate pilgrims and visitors, also offering guided tours, courses and seminars on Hinduism and Indian culture. I built a temple and installed large Jagannatha Deities and their traditional companion Deities, under the direct guidance of prominent religious personalities in the orthodox Hindu community in Puri.