Disappearance of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Mar 2, 2022 13:51:44 GMT -6
Nitaidas, Īśvaradāsa, and 1 more like this
Post by Jagannāth Miśra Dās on Mar 2, 2022 13:51:44 GMT -6
Haribol, i translated this from the Vaisnava Līlamrita, which was written in 1534, in Oriya, by Mādhava Pattnayaka. Mādhava Pattanyaka was a personal assistant of Ramānanda Rāya. I have translated the entire document which contains nine chapters altogether. This is a summary of Mahāprabhu's disappearance which i have taken from the ninth chapter.
Verses 42-67; ŚrĪ Caitanya’s golden limbs are an inexhaustible spring of bright virtue and unsullied purity, yet these verses tell how his body is destroyed. Once whilst vigorously dancing in a kīrtan, his left foot dashes upon a stray piece of broken brick that lay on the roadside. His left big toe and foot sustained serious injures."And from out of the wound, the red blood flowed fresh, wide was the wound, and a large lukewarm flood, red as the rose, thence gushed forth furiously. The bones in his left foot were broken and twisted, and he falls senseless in the kīrtan, remaining in a slumbering swoon, nigh void of vital spirit." This happens on the rukmini-amavasya, otherwise known as the visakha-amavasya. That evening in the kīrtan were Jagannāth Dās, Kasiśwara Miśra, Jasovanta Dās, Śrīvatsya, Ananta and other principle vaisnavas. Śrī Caitanya swoons and falls to the ground unconscious, and the vaisnava’s raise him up, carrying him to the mandapa in the northern area of the mandira. There they brought the wounded Lord and laid his feeble limbs to rest, and resuscitated him by sprinkling water on his face. He revives as the fleeting breath comes back. Now begin his golden limbs of prema fairly to rise and adorn the bed with gracious action, relieving all who were present. Then slowly he began to speak, and everyone gradually disperses. After his recovery from the fainting fit into which he had been thrown by a loss of blood, he was then impatient to go into the mandira upon hearing the khola and karatāla during the evening kīrtan. “All the while fine melodies about his bed sweet music make, which beguile him of grief and agony. Yet he was unable to stand, and Swami rushes to his side, his weaker wandering steps to guide, and relieves with gracious aid his staggering gait. Swami tells him to be still, and says,"You have hurt your foot. I will bring your food to you, and succor your distress. Henceforth, in safe assurance you may rest your weary limbs, here in the cool shade."
Verses 67-90; The following day was vaisakha-sukla-pratipāda. " In the morning Prabhu had a fever, and by the evening his foot had swollen, and his toe was very sore. When Swami brings warm water to wash the wounds on Prabhu’s toe and foot, and to softly embalm on every side, his pain was somewhat lessened for a while. But still the feverish fire had not subsided and raged evermore, shaking his entire frame.” Prabhu says to Swāmi (Atibadi Jagannāth Dās, otherwise known as Swāmi) “As long as you are here, i know my final hour has not yet arrived. I cannot bear to forsake your company. By the grace of the Lord, ones life is fulfilled. In this world, those who are Visnu’s bhakta, or a Hari sevaka, never truly die. You are Lord Jagannāth’s servant, thus it is proper that I serve you. Yet it is astonishing that I am receiving service from you instead. The Lord is the agent of all actions. Will he give me shelter at his feet and take me to swarga or not? Hey Swāmi, you are my prana swarupa! You are a Jnāni, a Paṇḍita, and comprehend tattva. It is not that you have just enlightened me in the sublime path of bhakti, but you have also bound me with your close friendship. If you were to die before me you, then you would surely remain waiting for me on the other side.” Prabhu and Swāmi’s eyes were both full of tears. Swāmi was always tending Prabhu, and just as a devout wife waits on her beloved husband, in the same way, Swami poured his life and soul into the seva of Prabhu. Yet despite this, on the vaisakha-sukla-tritiya (akhsaya-tritiya) in the brahma-muhurtta, his precious life did fly away from out his golden limbs, and all his senses were with deadly cold oppressed. His blessed body of life now dispossessed, and despoiled of lively breath.
Verses 91-129; Sri Caitanya takes his last breath inside the sri-mandira. In the mandira at this moment is Atibadi Jagannath Das, who is with Prabhu till the end. After Caitanya’s life airs had ascended, Jagannāth Dās clasped on to the Lord and loudly wept with mournful lamentations. This happened on the aksaya-tritya during the brahma-muhurtta which would be around four a.m. in the morning; and by five a.m. the light had lit up the four directions, and the crows began to crow. A few servitors had come to the mandira and Jagannāth Dās sends them to call Ramānanda Rāya who soon arrives in the mandira. The kavi says,” Knowing that Prabhu had left, he was stunned and all the while salt tears bedewed his cheeks. He stroked Prabhu’s limbs to see if his prāna had truly fled. Acknowledging Prabhu’s absence, he then has all the temple gates barred, and suspends the Ṭhākura-seva. Not even servants were allowed inside. Rama Rāya writes an epistle and beckons a trusty messenger, who upon a horse swift and fierce did ride, relaying the news to the king and imploring his intercession. By fortune the Gajāpati was already on route from Cuttack to Puri to see the candana-yātrā; and he received the letter and completed his journey to Puri within four praharas. The news of Caitanya’s death renders the Gajāpati distraught. Rama Rāya tells him all that had happened. The question is what are they to do with his body? The king is stunned and exhausted by grief and remains silent. Rama Rāya confides that, “no good will come from escorting the body outside the mandira because the gaudiya-bhaktas may misinterpret the circumstances, and the design of a conspiracy may be imputed surrounding his death before the mlecha king, exciting a suspicion with false information, which may culminate in military confrontation; mixing truth with slander they may even offend your sovereign majesty.” Rāya continues, “As he expired inside the mandira, the body should therefore be entombed inside the mandira. O Great one! Have you not after all already declared, in a studied oration to a multitude of pilgrims in your public edict at ratha-yātrā, that Sri Caitanya is indeed the Lord himself? From that day onwards no one has thought of Śrī Caitanya as a normal being. He is now in the eyes of most people a divine being. Thus it is right that you should say that Prabhu merged into the body of Lord Jagannāth.” During the navakalevara the old and worn out vigraha of Lord Jagannāth is buried in the koili-vaikuntha. Śrī Caitanya’s body was to be entombed in the koili-vaikuntha. This proposal finds agreement with the king, and, after a serious deliberation, and a long and artful delay, arrangements to do so were undertaken. “So both agree his body to engrave, and the great temples womb they open to the sky, and gently lay his body in the honourable tomb.” Apart from Rama Rāya, Swami Jagannāth Dās, the Gajāpati and perhaps one or two other servitors no one else knew of this. (it is possible that Madhava Pattanayaka may have been among the other two who were involved). Hiding the actual facts, and after this clandestine burial, it was now easy to countenance the belief, and circulate the specious and pleasing tale via imperial proclamation that Sri Caitanya had indeed disappeared into the vigraha, and thus they created the fantastical legend of Gaurāṅga merging into the Deity. It seemed necessary for them to have done this. Nobody was aware of what had truly transpired. The temple gates were unbolted and the stone slabs that sealed the grave’s portal washed down and sprinkled with water mixed with candana and karpura by the sevakas, who were admitted back into the mandira, and the festive decoration and arrangements got underway for candana-yatra.
Verses 42-67; ŚrĪ Caitanya’s golden limbs are an inexhaustible spring of bright virtue and unsullied purity, yet these verses tell how his body is destroyed. Once whilst vigorously dancing in a kīrtan, his left foot dashes upon a stray piece of broken brick that lay on the roadside. His left big toe and foot sustained serious injures."And from out of the wound, the red blood flowed fresh, wide was the wound, and a large lukewarm flood, red as the rose, thence gushed forth furiously. The bones in his left foot were broken and twisted, and he falls senseless in the kīrtan, remaining in a slumbering swoon, nigh void of vital spirit." This happens on the rukmini-amavasya, otherwise known as the visakha-amavasya. That evening in the kīrtan were Jagannāth Dās, Kasiśwara Miśra, Jasovanta Dās, Śrīvatsya, Ananta and other principle vaisnavas. Śrī Caitanya swoons and falls to the ground unconscious, and the vaisnava’s raise him up, carrying him to the mandapa in the northern area of the mandira. There they brought the wounded Lord and laid his feeble limbs to rest, and resuscitated him by sprinkling water on his face. He revives as the fleeting breath comes back. Now begin his golden limbs of prema fairly to rise and adorn the bed with gracious action, relieving all who were present. Then slowly he began to speak, and everyone gradually disperses. After his recovery from the fainting fit into which he had been thrown by a loss of blood, he was then impatient to go into the mandira upon hearing the khola and karatāla during the evening kīrtan. “All the while fine melodies about his bed sweet music make, which beguile him of grief and agony. Yet he was unable to stand, and Swami rushes to his side, his weaker wandering steps to guide, and relieves with gracious aid his staggering gait. Swami tells him to be still, and says,"You have hurt your foot. I will bring your food to you, and succor your distress. Henceforth, in safe assurance you may rest your weary limbs, here in the cool shade."
Verses 67-90; The following day was vaisakha-sukla-pratipāda. " In the morning Prabhu had a fever, and by the evening his foot had swollen, and his toe was very sore. When Swami brings warm water to wash the wounds on Prabhu’s toe and foot, and to softly embalm on every side, his pain was somewhat lessened for a while. But still the feverish fire had not subsided and raged evermore, shaking his entire frame.” Prabhu says to Swāmi (Atibadi Jagannāth Dās, otherwise known as Swāmi) “As long as you are here, i know my final hour has not yet arrived. I cannot bear to forsake your company. By the grace of the Lord, ones life is fulfilled. In this world, those who are Visnu’s bhakta, or a Hari sevaka, never truly die. You are Lord Jagannāth’s servant, thus it is proper that I serve you. Yet it is astonishing that I am receiving service from you instead. The Lord is the agent of all actions. Will he give me shelter at his feet and take me to swarga or not? Hey Swāmi, you are my prana swarupa! You are a Jnāni, a Paṇḍita, and comprehend tattva. It is not that you have just enlightened me in the sublime path of bhakti, but you have also bound me with your close friendship. If you were to die before me you, then you would surely remain waiting for me on the other side.” Prabhu and Swāmi’s eyes were both full of tears. Swāmi was always tending Prabhu, and just as a devout wife waits on her beloved husband, in the same way, Swami poured his life and soul into the seva of Prabhu. Yet despite this, on the vaisakha-sukla-tritiya (akhsaya-tritiya) in the brahma-muhurtta, his precious life did fly away from out his golden limbs, and all his senses were with deadly cold oppressed. His blessed body of life now dispossessed, and despoiled of lively breath.
Verses 91-129; Sri Caitanya takes his last breath inside the sri-mandira. In the mandira at this moment is Atibadi Jagannath Das, who is with Prabhu till the end. After Caitanya’s life airs had ascended, Jagannāth Dās clasped on to the Lord and loudly wept with mournful lamentations. This happened on the aksaya-tritya during the brahma-muhurtta which would be around four a.m. in the morning; and by five a.m. the light had lit up the four directions, and the crows began to crow. A few servitors had come to the mandira and Jagannāth Dās sends them to call Ramānanda Rāya who soon arrives in the mandira. The kavi says,” Knowing that Prabhu had left, he was stunned and all the while salt tears bedewed his cheeks. He stroked Prabhu’s limbs to see if his prāna had truly fled. Acknowledging Prabhu’s absence, he then has all the temple gates barred, and suspends the Ṭhākura-seva. Not even servants were allowed inside. Rama Rāya writes an epistle and beckons a trusty messenger, who upon a horse swift and fierce did ride, relaying the news to the king and imploring his intercession. By fortune the Gajāpati was already on route from Cuttack to Puri to see the candana-yātrā; and he received the letter and completed his journey to Puri within four praharas. The news of Caitanya’s death renders the Gajāpati distraught. Rama Rāya tells him all that had happened. The question is what are they to do with his body? The king is stunned and exhausted by grief and remains silent. Rama Rāya confides that, “no good will come from escorting the body outside the mandira because the gaudiya-bhaktas may misinterpret the circumstances, and the design of a conspiracy may be imputed surrounding his death before the mlecha king, exciting a suspicion with false information, which may culminate in military confrontation; mixing truth with slander they may even offend your sovereign majesty.” Rāya continues, “As he expired inside the mandira, the body should therefore be entombed inside the mandira. O Great one! Have you not after all already declared, in a studied oration to a multitude of pilgrims in your public edict at ratha-yātrā, that Sri Caitanya is indeed the Lord himself? From that day onwards no one has thought of Śrī Caitanya as a normal being. He is now in the eyes of most people a divine being. Thus it is right that you should say that Prabhu merged into the body of Lord Jagannāth.” During the navakalevara the old and worn out vigraha of Lord Jagannāth is buried in the koili-vaikuntha. Śrī Caitanya’s body was to be entombed in the koili-vaikuntha. This proposal finds agreement with the king, and, after a serious deliberation, and a long and artful delay, arrangements to do so were undertaken. “So both agree his body to engrave, and the great temples womb they open to the sky, and gently lay his body in the honourable tomb.” Apart from Rama Rāya, Swami Jagannāth Dās, the Gajāpati and perhaps one or two other servitors no one else knew of this. (it is possible that Madhava Pattanayaka may have been among the other two who were involved). Hiding the actual facts, and after this clandestine burial, it was now easy to countenance the belief, and circulate the specious and pleasing tale via imperial proclamation that Sri Caitanya had indeed disappeared into the vigraha, and thus they created the fantastical legend of Gaurāṅga merging into the Deity. It seemed necessary for them to have done this. Nobody was aware of what had truly transpired. The temple gates were unbolted and the stone slabs that sealed the grave’s portal washed down and sprinkled with water mixed with candana and karpura by the sevakas, who were admitted back into the mandira, and the festive decoration and arrangements got underway for candana-yatra.