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...