Jagat

3. Mahaprabhu turns back from Kanai Nat Shala The third attempt Mahaprabhu made to go to Vrindavan was more serious, but here again there is a difference in the tone of the stories, with only CCN and CC giving primordial importance to Vrindavan, and CC making the meeting with Rupa and Sanatan the principal, though hidden, purpose of the trip. As we have noted elsewhere, the dates of the MGK are in some dispute and the unity of the composition has been challenged. The date on the manuscripts is given as 1513 AD, but this first trip to Vrindavan also took place in 1515, the successful trip accomplished later in the same year. So this fateful year marked not only the trip to Vrindavan but also the liberation of Rupa and Sanatan from their employ in Hussein Shah's court. Murari Gupta may himself have been the one who filled out the later portions of Mahaprabhu's biography as he heard it from other sources. The style of the later (post-1513) portions does not differ from th...

Mahaprabhu speaking to Pathan soldiers on his way back from Braj. hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇeti kṛṣṇeti mukhyān mahāścarya-nāmāvalī-siddha-mantrān | kṛpā-mūrti-caitanya-devopagītān kadābhyasya vṛndāvane syāṁ kṛtārthaḥ || When will I be fulfilled in Vrindavan by chanting over and over the most amazing siddha mantras of the Holy Name, the Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna that was sung by Chaitanya Deva, the embodiment of mercy? ( Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta 17.89) Coming up next month in Vrindavan is the celebration of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's historic visit to Mathura/Vrindavan, where he arrived on Karttik Purnima in 1515. Since this is the 500th anniversary of that trip, we have been looking through Mahaprabhu's biographies to understand its significance in the context of Gaudiya Vaishnava history. Since this event is most elaborated described in Caitanya-caritāmṛta , where Krishnadas Kaviraj -- himself writing in Vrindavan -- is fully aware of its meaning. Coincidentally, Kavira...

Go to Part I . 5. Mukherjee's arguments can be met as follows: (i) Whatever Krishnadasa Kaviraja may have written of Rupa's handwriting, and whatever beauty it may have possessed, it was inevitable that Rupa's handwriting would be an object of interest for the devotees in the sampradaya. There can be no doubt that relics still excite a great deal of respect among devotees of all persuasions in India. That so few movable relics remain is probably due to this very interest. While I was in Vrindavan, there was a great to-do about the prayer beads, supposedly Rupa's own, that had been stolen from his bhajan kutir at Radha Damodara. Nevertheless, it is hard to see that Rupa's handwriting has anything to do with the argument that has been presented here. Vishnudasa's comments make no mention of Rupa's calligraphy. It is Rupa's authority as the helmsman of the 'official' course of devotional practice in the post-Chaitanya period that is imp...

1. Until recently, Kavi Karnapura has generally been accepted without question as the author of a book on the life of Sri Krishna Chaitanya entitled Śrī-caitanya-caritāmṛta-mahā-kāvya [CCMK]. The date of this work is given as 1542(1) by the author himself in its final verse. In the two penultimate verses of the work, he identifies himself as the youngest son of Shivananda Sena and as a mere child ( śiśu ).(2) If Kavi Karnapura is indeed the author, it is certainly a matter of great interest as he is one of the most prolific and authoritative writers amongst Chaitanya's followers. His father, Shivananda Sena, was a rich and influential devotee of Chaitanya, responsible for the management of the yearly trips to Puri that played such an important role in the latter part of the great saint's life.(3) Unfortunately, with the exception of a few such autobiographical words in Karnapura's own compositions, such as the Ānanda-vṛndāvana-campū [AVC], Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭa...