Mahaprabhu's Arrival in Vrindavan

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Based on 17-18 chapters of Madhya-lila, Chaitanya-charitamrita
8 June 2019, Kolkata, part 3

That same year, Mahaprabhu became determined that He would go to Vrindavan after Ratha-yatra and He told His associates that He would go alone. However, Ramananda Ray and Svarup Damodar requested Ballabhadra Bhattacharya and one brahman to go to Vrindavan with Mahaprabhu and help Him. Mahaprabhu accepted it, "OK, no problem, I will take them."

Then, one day, early in the morning, Mahaprabhu set off first for Cuttack. From there, He took the road through the jungle. He was walking and chanting the Names of Krishna, and so many birds and beast also chanted the Holy Name just by seeing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. On their way, they reached a village where they begged for some rice and vegetables—they took prasad at some house where they could cook some rice and subji. Sometimes, when there was no village, they kept some rice with them and took it with some sak. Mahaprabhu was very happy with Ballabhadra Bhattacharya's dealings and behaviour.

In this way, passing village after village, walking and walking, they passed Jharikhand, and reached Benares (Kasi). There are many ghats on the bank of the Ganges in Benares, among them there is a ghat called Manikarnika ghat—Mahaprabhu bathed in it. (When we went to Kasi, we also bathed in it.) When Mahaprabhu was bathing in the Ganges, Tapan Misra came there.

Mahaprabhu had met Tapan Misra when He went to Bangladesh. At that time, the Lord told him, "When you go to Bengal, come to Kasi, I will meet you there." And Tapan Misra came. When they met, Tapan Misra gave shelter to Mahaprabhu at his house—he took the Lord to his house and gave Him some prasadam. Mahaprabhu also met with Chandrasekhara Acharya there, whom He had known from before—Chandrasekhara Vaidya also served Mahaprabhu there.

In Kasi, there was one Maharastriyan brahman who, having seen and being impressed by Mahaprabhu's chanting and dancing, told about it to Prakasananda Saraswati, a local mayavadi sannyasi. Hearing about it, Prakasananda Saraswati criticised Mahaprabhu a lot and spoke many nonsense things about Him. The brahman became very sad and told everything to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu told him, "They are mayavadis and you are Maharastriyan. Do not associate with mayavadis—you should give up their association."

After that, Mahaprabhu went from Kasi to Prayag and then finally came to Mathura. In Mathura, there was a disciple of Sripad Madhavendra Puri whose name was Sanodiya brahman. Mahaprabhu took prasadam at the house of that Sanodiya brahman and bestowed His mercy upon him. Then, Mahaprabhu visited the twelve forests of Vrindavan—He would roam around listening to the talks of Suka-Sari parrots. He was very, very happy to come to Vrindavan.

One day, Mahaprabhu came to a village called Arit. There was a paddy field (a rice field) there, and although there was not only little water in the field, Mahaprabhu bathed there and said, "This is Radha Kunda here and that is Shyama Kunda over there."

Mahaprabhu did not want to climb on top of Govardhan. He had told before,

vrndavane giya na thakiya chira kala
govardhane uthiya na dekhiya gopala

"When you go to Vrindavan, do not stay there for a long time and do not climb the Govardhan Hill to see Gopal."

Understanding that Mahaprabhu did not want to climb Govardhan Hill, Gopal Himself came to Ganthuli village where Mahaprabhu could have His darshan.

Mahaprabhu visited also Haridev on the bank of the Manasi Ganga. (We go there every time, it is near our temple in Govardhan.) The Deity of Haridev was established by the great-grandson of Krishna. Mahaprabhu took the darshan of Sri Haridev. He also went to Nandiswar (Nanda Gram, Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaj's house), Pavan Sarovar, Sesasayi, Khela-tirtha, various forests. He had visited many places and then again came back to Mathura.

He stayed near Akrura ghat for ten days. Every day, He would bath in Akrura ghat and then go to Vrindavan from there. He had seen Kaliya-hrad, Dvadasiditya ghat, Kesi ghat, Rasa-sthali, Vamsi ghat, Chira ghat, Amlitara (Imlitala). He had taken darshan of many places.

"At Kaliya Lake, many people mistook a fisherman for Krishna. When some respectable people came to see Mahaprabhu, they expressed their opinion that when one takes sannyas, he becomes Narayan. Their mistake was corrected by the Lord. In this way, their Krishna consciousness was awakened, and they could understand that a sannyasi is simply a living entity and not the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

A rough map of the route taken by the Lord.

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Previous parts:

• Purpose of Pilgrimage

• Mahaprabhu's Arrival in Vrindavan

• Mahaprabhu Returns to Prayag