Caitanya's prema bhāva, taken from the Vaisnava Lilamrita.

[Jagannāth Miśra Dās]

The concluding passages from Chapter 7 of Mādhava Pattnayaka's Vaisnava Līlāmrita, written in Puri Dham in 1534 in Oriya.

Verses 102-148; Approximately around 1519-20 Ṣrī Caitanya displays divyaunmadamāyā-mahābhāva and as a consequence discards his customary ritual of calculating nāma-japa on the knotted string kept around his waist. The unpretentious sentiment and unguarded manners of a simple child are now his reigning disposition. The occasion of ratha arrives. Surveying Caitanya’s dancing in front of the ratha the Gajapati is thoroughly astounded. Immersed in kirtan before the ratha Caitanya’s dancing rises and falls in undulating crescendo. The proceeding moment he has altogether vanished from every ones vision. Immersed in rādhā-bhāva copious tears flow from his eyes. Discerning his divyaunmadamaya-mahābhāva the Gajapati is readily disposed to embrace Caitanya is an avatar of bhagavan and, as advised by Rāmānanda Rāya, the Gajapati publicly announces that Caitanya is the Lord himself to a crowd of curious pilgrims. The descriptions of divyaunmadamāyā-mahābhāva in these passages are truly unprecedented.

balarāma acyuta ananta

josavanta je jagannāth1 (102)

madhyena caitanya rahai

kirtana nrutya se karai (103)

In the midst of Balarāma, Acyuta, Ananta, Jasovanta and Jagannāth, Lord Caitanya dances in the kīrtan. (102-03)

rathara bela āsi helā

nrutya se ratha āge kalā (104)

ke kahu prabhura se nrutya

mahābhāva se rasarāja (105)

ksanare baḍai chiḍai

ksanake antarddān hoi (106)

The celebrated occasion of the chariot festival arrives and Prabhu’s dancing commences before the ratha. Who can perchance depict the genuine and lively image of his dancing? For he is the prince of those who savour divine mellows (rasaraja) and his exclusive zeal is the exquisite prompting of mahabhava. One moment his dance touches the heights of exuberance, only to fade away the following instant. The next moment he has entirely disappeared from every ones vision. (104-06)

rādhāra-swabhāvati-jete

ksanake-nayane-lotake (107)

uddāma-bhāva-nrutya-dekhi

nrupamani-se-anurāgī (108)

boile-e-nohe-mānava

sāksāte-ate-rādhābhāva (109)

Copious tears incessantly flow from his eyes as he is verily possessed of Rādhā’s own sentiments. The king feels a profound magnetism as he witnesses the free and unfettered fashion of his dancing, and confesses that he is surely no mortal, but rather the living and direct embodiment of rādhā-bhāva. (107-09)

rāmarāya je jaṇāile

e nohe manusyati bhale (110)

devatā bhāva aveśai

nrutya rangare prakaṭai (111)

prabhu e boli vighoṣile

ratha yātrāra loka mele (112)

sakale śuni hele tosa

caitanya prabhu e viśeṣa (113)

Rāma Rāya had also confided to the king that Prabhu was no mere mortal but rather one who is surely animated by a divine temperament which he reveals through the medium of his dance. Rāma Rāya encourages him to make a formal declaration that he is indeed the Lord himself to the all pilgrims gathered at the ratha-yātrā. All delightfully welcome his announcement, and likewise applaud Prabhu’s uncommon and unique aspect. (110-13)

prabhura jete mahābhāva

ke tāhā varṇiṇa pāriva (114)

kete rahai mahābhāve

gambīrā bhitare se lave (115)

uṭhai vasai gaḍai

ha kṛuṣṇa boli ucārai (116)

nayanu lotaka jharai

kṛuṣṇare anurāgī hoi (117)

kṛuṣṇa viraha bāda eti

prabhura sarīre prakaṭi (118)

The precise measure and extent of Prabhu’s mahābhāva can never be truly ascertained by anyone. Who can proclaim even a drop of the mahābhāva he undergoes in the gambhira which prompts him to rise, then induces him to sit and next impels him to roll on the ground whilst uttering “ha-Kṛṣṇa!” as tears endlessly drop from his eyes in his krsna-anuraga. Notwithstanding the separation he endures being segregated from Kṛṣṇa which is explicitly apparent on his every limb. (114-18)

kaṭi sutrare nāma japa

chadai gaṇibā swabhāva (119)

mati bhole se dina nie

śiśu parāya bhāva bahe (120)

kebe dhāen se deulaku

kṛuṣṇa mo kāhin dekhibāku (121)

hā kṛuṣṇa boli ucce kānde

kebe bā nija rupa ninde (122)

Captivated (by mahabhava) he renounces his innate custom of nāma-japa performed upon a knotted string that rests around his waist and now bears the demeanour of a child. Sometimes (in an impassioned trance) he dashes toward the temple exclaiming, “show me where Kṛṣṇa is!” Then as he weeps aloud uttering hā-Kṛṣṇa! he begins to bewail and ridicule his nija-rupa. (119-22)

(Translator’s note; nija-rupa-ninde; verse 122 2nd line; literally translates as he “ridicules his own form.” We may justifiably conjecture that Gaurāṇga Mahāprabhu utters this in rādhā-bhāva. Could we then suppose that just as Rādhā may deride the faultless composition of her own limbs when she fears that Kṛṣṇa is no longer attracted to her (and hence not arriving at the appointed hour in her kunja) similarly Gaurāṇga, in rādhā-bhāva, now berates his own body?)

kebe dhāen je samudraku

krusnara rupa dekhibāku (123)

megha udaye ākāsara

dekhiṇa hoai kātara (124)

kete se toṭā gopīnāthe

kebe bā base kunjamaṭhe (125)

At other times he runs, swiftly careering toward the ocean animated by an overbearing expectation of catching a glimpse of Kṛṣṇa there. If he happens to spy a cloud in the sky he becomes wholly distraught. Every so often he sits down within the flowery blossoming groves at Toṭā-Gopīnāth. (123-25)

kebe bā jāe se guṇdicā

mandape basina bhāvantā (126)

ekā se kṛuṣṇa rupa dhyāne

rahai bhāva āswadane (127)

ksane ksane se murchā hoe

kete bā romāncita kāye (128)

kebe ba dhulire gaḍai

sarvānge dhuli boli hoi (129)

Occasionally he strays into the Gundicā, and reclining on a mandapa seems to be entirely engrossed in profound ruminations. Shortly afterwards, he is then animated by an exclusive contemplation solely upon the form of Kṛṣṇa, and he remains as such, savouring and relishing this particular bhāva. From time to time he repeatedly drops, falling in a fainting swoon. At other times his limbs are irrepressibly assailed by horripulation. Once in a while he is seen to roll in the dust, and each and every limb of his body is now smothered in dust. (126-29)

narendra pokharīku dhāe

kebe markenda avagāhe (130)

kīrttan rasa mati bhola

nrutya karai pravirala (131)

āgaku pachaku jhalai

hunkāre sehu lampa dei (132)

kebe bā rahe prakrutire

sukhare ālāpa se kare (133)

ekā tā mati nrutya range

kīrttan rasa anurāge (134)

Next he takes off and hastily darts in a running pace to the Narendra pond. At other times he is noted to be bathing in the waters of the Markenda lake. He is altogether enchanted with kīrtan-rasa and dances in a unique and exceptional style leaving a trail of tears scattered behind and before him as he roars aloud leaping to and fro. Every so often he will simply remain outside conducting a jovial discourse with nature. Then, possessed of a singular bhāva, he dances in delight and in anuraga for the kīrtan-rasa. (130-34)

sayana aśanare mana

na thāi tāhārati jāṇa (135)

swāmī ānai anna thāli

bhunjāe balatakāra kari (136)

swarūpa dāmodhara pāśe

mahābhāva se parakāśe (137)

dekhiṇa jane ācambita

bujanti prabhura udanta (138)

He now has no awareness whatsoever whether it is day, or whether it is night. Swāmī draws near with a dish of rice, and has to gently force him to dine. Next, he drifts into Swarūpa Dāmadhara’s presence inflamed with mahabhāva, which astonishes Swarūpa, but he is one who comprehends the Lord’s mood. (135-38)

nīlācalara premadhana

prabhu e bolibāṭi jāṇa (139)

sāksāte premara pratimā

prema rasara ehu swāmī (140)

Understand that Prabhu is the prema-dhana of Nīlācala. He is the veritable embodiment of prema and Swāmī is the prema-rasa.(139-40)

na jāṇe kehu tāra bhāva

swāmī jāṇai e swabhāva (141)

boilai prabhu sthira hua

kirtan rase mana dia (142)

kīrttane tora bhāva mūrtti

manusya chara ki bujanti (143)

No one can truly fathom Prabhu’s bhava apart from Swāmī, who is naturally able to do so. He says to Prabhu, “compose yourself, and unreservedly entrust your heart to the kīrtan-rasa, as kīrtan is verily your bhāva-mūratti”. How may wretched mortals possibly conceive of this? (141-43)

balarāma je jagannāth

ananta acyuta jasovanta (144)

e pānca prabhu pāṣe mili

kīrttan rase mati ḍāli (145)

boile prabhu thaya hua

sadā tu āmba tule thāa (146)

Balarāma, Jagannāth, Ananta, Acyuta and Jasovanta, these five assembled round Prabhu and their hearts melt in the kīrtan-rasa. Prabhu ardently petitions them to forever keep themselves in his close companionship saying, “Always stay by my side.” (144-46)

prabhu je bhāva prakāśai

manusya līlā e bolai (147)

In this manner Prabhu discloses his bhāva as he enacts his manusya-līlā. (147)

kahai mādhava je dāsa

prabhu pādaku kari āsa (148)

And so speaks Mādhava a servant true

While he longs for the feet of this Prabhu.

End of Chapter 7.