Sannyas Lila: Roaming the Land

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Reading from Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Antya-khanda, chapter 1
16 January 2011

Vrindavan Das Thakur describes this Pastime very nicely in his Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat.

The Lord Himself initiated Keshav Bharati. When Mahaprabhu reached the house of Keshav Bharati and was about to take sannyas, He asked Keshav Bharati, "Is this the mantra you are going to give Me?" Later, Keshav Bharati said to Mahaprabhu, "I know You are Jagad Guru. You think You are accepting me as Your sannyas Guru, but it is only to teach people." Both the Guru and the disciple began dancing after the sannyas ceremony, and Keshav Bharati too chanted, "Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna! Hari! Hari!"

The day Mahaprabhu left Nabadwip, His mother made some nice prasadam, and that was the last when He ate. Sachi Devi knew that Nimai would leave that day, and Nimai consoled her, "Mother, do not worry. Life after life you will be My mother. Previously you were Aditi, Prisni, now too you are My mother, and in the future, in the next two births, you will again be My mother."

After taking sannyas, Mahaprabhu left Kantak-nagar (Katwa) and began walking again. Mahaprabhu had told Chandrasekhara Acharya to go back to Nabadwip and tell everybody the news—he came back and told everyone, "Mahaprabhu has taken sannyas, and now He has left Katwa and is going somewhere in the direction of the forest." Some news also came from the sky, akash dhvani, "Do not cry, do not be sad, worship the Lord. He will surely come back. Do not leave your body. He will come back and you will meet Him, you will dance and chant with Him again." Mother Sachi was like a statue. She was very sad, and the devotees were afraid that any time she could have a heart attack and anything could happen to her, so they were all with her at her house.

Mahaprabhu said to the rest of the devotees who were following Him, "Go back home, take the Holy Name! I am praying to Lord that you will get the devotion that even Brahma and Siva want to get." Hearing Mahaprabhu's boon, everybody began to cry loudly.

Mahaprabhu ran ahead like a man lion. He went to Rada-desh (Burdwan district), and when the day finished, He took shelter at the house of a brahman. All the devotees were with Him, always surrounding Him, and at night, just before the mangal-arati time, while everybody was still asleep, He ran away. When everybody woke up, they saw that Prabhu was not there and began to cry. They searched for Mahaprabhu, and at night, when it was very quiet, they could hear Mahaprabhu crying. They followed the sound coming from some field, and found Him there.

Mahaprabhu would go in a zigzag way—sometimes He went to the East, sometimes to the West, and the devotees followed Him not knowing where He was going, but when Mahaprabhu would turn to the East, they would become happy thinking that He was coming back to Nabadwip. Finally, Mahaprabhu told them He was going to Puri.

Mahaprabhu visited Rada-desh, Bamunpara, and other places where people did not know about Krishna, did not know about chanting. He also went to Bangladesh, and even now everyone there knows Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, although He visited it only once. Sometimes Mahaprabhu would walk and chant the glories of the Ganges, and Ganga Devi would become shy to hear that the Lord Himself was giving obeisance and so much honour to her.

This is how Mahaprabhu's sannyas lila happened. The Lord Himself took sannyas—He Himself shows us how we must practise, how we must serve...

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