Lord Chaitanya’s Life in Poetry (Part 3)
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by Patita Pavana das Adhikary
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THE LORD CONQUERS DIGVIJAYI
There was an undefeated scholar known as Digvijayi Pandit,
Who came to challenge all the learned men of Nabadwip.
Logicians, shastris and the smartas feared his intellect,
For Digvijayi had a trail of victories unchecked.
On his arrival scholars left on plea of invitation.
To Nimai went the task of saving Nadia’s reputation.
The city’s scholars would not wince if Digvijayi won,
What wonder was there in defeating Nimai, wrangler young?
But if our Hero caused his flag of victory to fall,
How much more glorified would be the scholars of Bengal?
And Nimai Pandit by the Ganges sat with pupils ‘round,
When Digvijayi came to meet Him on that holy ground.
The Lord requested of the pandit, “Sing a poem, please,
That glorifies in shlokas sweet the sacred River Ganges.”
At once the pandit formed a hundred verses ‘bout the flow,
That runs throughout the Universe, yet starts from Vishnu’s toe.
Of perfect mem’ry Nimai sang to him verse sixty-four,
And proved to conquered Digvijayi its construction poor.
This was the first defeat that this logician ever met.
Now gone his honors high in his remorse and sad regret.
The Lord made certain His opponent suffered no travail,
He kept His pupils from their laughter, no insults assailed.
That night the Digvijayi had a vision crystal clear,
When goddess Saraswati whom he worshipped did appear.
And she, the deity of learning, spoke to him in accents plain,
And Digvijayi listenened well, for from her he had gained,
The boon of never being unconquered, in discourse or debate,
Invincible the arguments that he’d enunciate.
His lips would pour perpetual pearls of perfect poetry,
While power-packed persuasion would pervade his polemy.
She spoke, you cannot conquer Nimai, of all devas, He’s Supreme,
And well the pandit understood the meaning of the dream.
What knowledge have angelic hosts when they’re compared to God?
Before Lord Krishna’s wisdom, demi-gods must yield o’erawed.
How could the goddess Saraswati guide the Digvijayi’s tongue,
When he tried to match his wits with God masked as a pandit young?
Could God be overthrown by debate or by flow’ry word?
For never could the wisdom goddess overpower her Lord.
She told him, “Go surrender unto Nimai’s lotus feet.”
Thus the Fountainhead of Learning Digvijayi’d be graced to meet.
For Krishna had appeared upon this mundane earthly plane,
To curb the false and foolish pride of those of learning vain.
With a humble service attitude, the Digvijayi next day,
Appeared before his new-found Lord, obeisances to pay.
And Nimai Pandit bade the scholar to take His blessings due,
Instructing His new pupil, Nimai spoke in accents true,
“The greatest goal of learning’s not some temporary fame,
Which is the breeding ground of pride and jealousy that’s gained,
When wrangling smartas magnify their qualities possessed,
The goal of learning’s truly found in Krishna consciousness.
With body, mind and soul submitted unto Krishna’s grace,
With service in surrender, nectar of devotion’s taste,
Be free from airs of false prestige, be unto others nice;
Know these to be the culminating word of My advice.”
And speaking thus the Lord embraced him with a warm caress,
Then with true knowledge and devotion Digvijayi was blessed,
Renowned throughout the land for His verbal contesting,
Nimai was dubbed the “Lion of the His rivals”: Badi Singh.
THE LORD TRAVELS TO GAYA
To offer His departed father homage, Nimai went,
To Gaya, and along the way, arose one incident.
Wherein the Lord saw Brahmins treated disrespectfully,
With great desire to rectify this with a miracle, He
Then drank polluted river water and became diseased,
And, calling for the feet wash of the Brahmins, He was pleased,
To satisfy His thirst with that and then regain His glow,
So people would the glory of the righteous Brahmins know.
When He arrived at Gaya, He went to the temple room,
And hearing Brahmins singing hymns, He went into a swoon.
Their prayers to God flowed just like nectar into Nimai’s ears,
With great delight the Brahmins saw His lotus eyes pour tears.
His body palpitated while His hair stood high on end;
This blissful state of Nimai showed all symptoms of transcen-
Dental Krishna consciousness of mellow bhakti-prem;
That Nimai brought from Krishna-loka, here to be proclaimed.
By Providential will then entered one devotee pure;
Ishwara Puri whom the Lord had met at Mayapur.
The two embraced with tears in eyes and joy in bounteous hearts.
The Lord then said, “Thy darshan all success to Me imparts.
Ancestral off’rings of Prasad free relatives from sin,
Yet only those to whom they're offered liberation win.
The very sight of you will save My total ancestry,
Relieved My forefathers’ bondage by your Sun-like purity!
A walking shrine are you, a tirtha thy two feet,
Your only need for pilgrimage is blessing souls you meet.
Without restraint I give Myself, thy lotus feet to serve,
Lance wide Mine eyes, thy torch of knowledge I would now observe!”
Replied the saint, “O Pandit! Thou art joy to these two eyes,
Your learning, personality and character give rise,
To excellent delight and bliss that leads Me now to see,
That You are Krishna, my beloved Lord Divinity.
For I’ve pondered ‘pon your glories since we met, that very start,
When meeting You at Mayapur, Your charms enthralled my heart.”
Next morning after cooking Nimai gave His Gurudeva,
The first plate cooked with His own hands, and thus a lesson gave;
That students always serve their master, never their own whim,
Transgression of the dharmic code is called the greatest sin.
The Lord approached Ishwara Puri; for acceptance prayed,
God needs not a Gurudeva, but to the world displayed,
That one must serve the pure devotee, learn of life’s true goal,
Transcending his own body, one must seek the spirit soul.
No man can claim he’s cultured if a master he’s not found,
To break the wheel of birth and death that’s spinning him around.
No man’s above the animals exploiting senses wild,
Until he does the bidding of the pure devotee mild.
The pure devotee is the link through which we serve the Lord,
One may have beauty, wealth and fame, but if his soul’s ignored,
He may not get another chance, this human form of life;
He’ll fall into the darkest regions, enchained by Maya’s strife.
Initiated Nimai heard the chant of letters ten,
And mutt’ring the mantra plunged in bliss nectarean.
Absorbed in Krishna-separation, cowherd damsel’s mood,
The Lord began for Vrindavan where Krishna Gopis wooed.
“Return to Nabadwip,” a voice entreated from the sky-
“The people there need sankirtan to save them”, came the cry.
With a following, the Lord returned to Nabadwip’s nine isles,
Devotees who had been as dead men now were lit with smiles.
They’d been as lifeless bodies when the Lord had left their sight,
To see Him merged in love for Krishna filled them with delight.
In Nabadwip He sat and talked with those of friendship pure,
Discussing with them details of His sacred Gaya tour.
Together there were Srivas, Sadashiva and Murari;
Mukunda, Shriman Pandit and Suklambar Brahmachary.
As Nimai showed His feelings for the Lord of Vrindavan.
Around His lotus feet devotees gathered like white swan
Who duck at lotus blossom stems while swimming on the lake,
Said Nimai, “Oh, where is Krishna for Whom My heart does ache?”
In separation’s anguish Nimai lost His conscious state,
While oceans of eternal bliss appeared to inundate
The moods of Nimai’s friends for unto them His zeal conveyed,
‘Neath ocean tides of Krishna-prem, the others, too, were swayed.
Upon returning then, our Hero to His class to teach,
The Lord no longer sought debates, but Krishna’s glories preached.
His students learned of Ajamil who saved himself at death,
By calling for his son Narayana with his final breath.
When Lord Narayana heard this fallen Brahmin shout His name,
He pardoned sinful Ajamil and back to home he came.
Vaikuntha’s ever-blissful realms accepted Ajamil,
The holy name’s great potency the Lord did thus reveal:
“Please chant the mahamantra, students,” Nimai then implored,
“As long as life itself will last, love Krishna as your Lord.”
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
JOYS OF CHANTING HARE KRISHNA
With open heart and arms raised high the Lord taught of the Name,
And soon unto His lotus feet all sorts of people came.
Many mystic yogis flocked to Him forgetting pranayam.
They found the highest link to God by chanting Hari Nam.
Householders who were trapped by thinking only of their wives,
Soon joined the troupe of sankirtan to dedicate their lives.
Wise pandits of polemic schools put padlocks on the door.
And joined the thunderous sankirtan to raise the righteous roar.
Jnani sages seeking oneness, in blinding light to merge,
Gave up on trying to join with God, and got the chanting urge.
With unflinching loving service ladies, too, became obsessed.
As in their hearts the seeds of bhakti yoga were impressed.
Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, avatar of gold!
His blazing bliss burned into balefires hearts once frozen cold.
With potency that shook the earth like blasts felt near and far,
Of cannon fire and blasts of bombs heard during times of war.
All people heard the chanting and surrendered to its force,
As flooding waters carry with them all within their course.
The Lord inspired each simple unsophisticated man,
For saving the most fallen souls, He’s called Patit Pavan.
Becoming one with brahmajyoti where the yogis hide,
Was shown to Mahaprabhu’s bhaktas to be suicide.
Designs for mundane paradise appeared to all as dreams,
They cast aside arrangements for their false utopian schemes.
Enjoyment of the body seemed as chewing of he chewed,
While senses seemed as sinful serpents of temptations lewd.
Samsara’s soul were seen as chained from kings down to the worm,
From even Indra, Swarga’s king, to the indragopa germ.
Devoid of bhakti one’s position never could be worse,
But Nimai’s bhaktas saw the Lord throughout the Universe.
The Lord experienced mahabhava, and danced in frenzied trance,
Devotees swooned when list’ning to His mind-delivering chants.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
ADWAITA ACHARYA’S REALIZATIONS
The Nabadwip devotees told Adwaita Acharya that,
The Lord was dancing wildly like a man gone mad, whereat,
Adwaita told them how in dreaming state the night before,
He’d heard the sermon of a strange prophetic visitor.
“This super-human bade me, ‘Stand, Acharya, break your fast,
I bear you tidings of great joy to thrill all souls at last.
Your penances, privations and life-long prayers as well,
Invincible in potency, they’ve triumphed to compel
The Personality of Godhead, Krishna, to appear,
And into every heart and soul the salve of love He’ll smear.
His Name will sound on every lip in every distant land,
Devotion rarely felt by Indra, mortals understand.
The revelation of the Lord is seen here by your grace,
Behold His dance of ecstasy at Shrivas’ meeting place.’
Who was this being who spoke to me, this super-avatar?
When I awoke I realized that He was Vishwambhar!”
SHRI CHAITANYA SERVES THE VAISHNAVAS
Chaitanya served the Vaishnavas through performing menial tasks,
And they would turn their hearts to him with one request to ask,
“Just glorify Lord Krishna in Your thoughts and words and deeds,
For, Nimai Pandit, You alone can satisfy the needs,
Of we who seeks salvation like one shackled in a pit,
Like Baka, who exemplifies the crooked hypocrite;
We are so fallen none but You can ever lift us out,
By spreading Krishna’s Names You’re killing demons of our doubt.”
Accepting heart-felt benisons Chaitanya blessed them saying,
“Most arrogant those upstarts who, while Vaishnavas disobeying,
Pretend they’re serving in devotion Lord Shri Krishna’s feet,
Real Vaishnavas open wide the eyes of everyone they meet.
As husband’s hearts are captured through the service of chaste wives,
Devotees captivate My heart who’ve sacrificed their lives.”
THE LORD’S TRANCE
The Lord exhibited eight symptoms of ecstatic bliss,
When Shachi, seeing her Son in trance, thought something was amiss.
She wondered why He acted as His head was in a spin,
And contemplated what would be effective medicine.
But Pandi Shrivas told her, “Please, don’t worry anymore,
Your blissful Son is struck with love-in-separation for
Shri Krishna Who enchants the gopis in the rasa dance,
No epilepsy strikes our Nimai in samadhi’s trance.”
ADWAITA SEES NIMAI AS LORD SHRI KRISHNA
Adwaita comprehended soon the Lord’s divinity,
He worshipped Nimai once with things meant for the Deity.
With Tulsi leaves and Ganges water offered out of love,
The very things he’d offered God to call Him from above.,
“Your conduct’s not befitting,” said Gadadhar with amaze.
“You’ll understand Who Nimai is in just a few short days,”
Adwaita answered, as he left on foot for Shantipur;
He hoped to test the candor of his reasoning for sure.
Adwaita knew he’d been intrigued by Nimai from the start,
Quite natural, is it not, the Lord would charm His servant’s heart?
And Nimai’s tear with fingernails the skin from His own chest,
Entranced with anxious frenzy seeking God within His breast.
ANTI-DEVOTIONAL HINDUS
Some jealous Hindus claimed that kirtan preyed upon their peace,
The spread the rumor that the Kazi would soon send police.
This frightenend Shrivas into begging Lord Nrisimhadeva,
That from attacks and persecution kirtan would be saved.
Regretting His devotees were imposed upon to feel
Anxiety, the Lord resolved that He would now reveal,
His role as Cowherd Krishna, Paramount Divinity,
Then seeing some grazing cows, He shouted, “I am He!”
He ran into the house of Shrivas, saying “”Now behold,
I stand here in the Form you worship, Shrivas, be consoled!”
And Nimai stood as Braja’s Darling with His wealth arrayed,
When Shrivas opened wide his eyes and saw Him there he prayed,
“I offer my dandavats to Thee, O King of Braja’s Son,
Be merciful to me, dear Krishna, Omnipotent One!
Repeatedly I bow my head unto your lotus feet.
Where jingling silver ankle bells intone a ringing sweet.
Thy beauteous hair is long and black, a smile adorns Thy face,
The calf-engraved kaustubha gem Your broadened chest does grace.”
And from thy body emanates a sun-like lustrous shine,
Thy graceful Form’s the ornament of ornaments divine.
Eyes moist with tears the pandit gathered ghee-lamp, incense, fan,
Pure Ganges drops and Tulsi leaves, to have the Lord’s darshan.
Around His holy lotus feet drew family members dear,
And beckoning with grace the Lord bade each of them, “Come near.”
“Allow your hearts to be devoted only unto Me.”
The Lord requested as He touched their heads with lotus feet.
“And feel no grief for cheaters filled with mayavada’s lies,
Unless allowed by Me these rascals never can arise.”
The Lord then called the pandit’s daughter young Narayani,
And from her lotus eyes her tears for Krishna made a plea.
And they were told this revelation was to stay concealed,
For unto His elects alone the lord will be revealed.
THE LORD AS VARAHA
Once while He sat with Shri Murari in a temple room,
He heard a Shrimad Bhagavat verse and entered in a swoon,
The verse described the incarnation of the holy boar,
He showed Himself as Sukara and ran out with a roar,
Upon the porch He tightly grasped an urn between His teeth,
As Sukara once lifted earth with tusks from underneath.
Murari cried, “The thousand-tongued Ananta can’t portray,
Thy glories, hence Thou can’t expect Murari to convey,
What Vedas can’t describe when Universes enter Thee,
Who suck these worlds in pores of skin upon the Causal Sea.”
The Lord then pointed out, “The mayavadis are mere fools,
The blissful for of Krishna’s scorned within their nonsense schools.
I lifted Earth as Sukara from Garbhodaka’s grave,
And from empiricism’s void again this world I’ll save.
How dare the mayavadi rascals call My Form a void,
My blissful Body’s worshipped by devotees unalloyed.
And My mahatmas I’ll protect from speculating fiends,
Who mystify the public with their false oppressive dreams.
Prakashananda Saraswati says that I’ve no sense,
But how can void deliver him and his inane offense?
Oh I have come with sankirtan to save each fallen soul,
I now proclaim the Holy Name for all to reach life’s goal.
And soon Bharat’s sub-continent will drown beneath the roar,
And Krishna’s Name will echo loud from shore to holy shore.
Chaitanya lifted boys and girls, beautiful and lame,
And sheltered each beneath the nectar of the holy name.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
SHRI ADWAITA
Adwaita came into this world before the Lord appeared,
Aghast, he was to witness only Kali’s sin revered.
He prayed to Krishna, “Won’t You come from Vraja’s Spirit Skies,
These people are so foolish that Your blessings they despise.
Adwaita was Karana Vishnu’s manifest on Earth,
Yet just like any jiva should Adwaita took his birth.
He supplicated Krishna through the chanting of His name,
With Tulsi leaves and Ganges drops he called Him to this plane.
Adwaita asked that of those blessed with Krishna’s love divine.
E’en shudras, mlecchas, yavanas this nectar bliss would find.
Excluded from the group are those offensive in their pride,
The rich, caste conscious and empiricists un-bona fide.
And unto him the Lord revealed His Universal Form,
With demigods and rishis, and species by the swarm.
Chaitanya thereby showed him He’s the Lord of Earth and sky,
And confidential bhaktas knew the Lord was coming nigh.
Adwaita asked Mahaprabhu to visit him alone,
Desiring that the Lord enjoy prasad in his own home.
His consort Sita helped him fix a banquet rich and rare,
Of grain and sweet and veg’table all delicately prepared.
The Lord began, disciples followed, but within the hour,
Their trip was interrupted by a timely thunder shower.
By the Lord’s sweet will His entourage was helpless to proceed,
They sought their shelter from the rain; the Lord progressed with speed.
When He arrived alone and safe at the Acharya’s place,
Adwaita praised the weather god Lord Indra for his grace.
And after fully relishing the food that He was served,
The Lord declared that Shri Adwaita, worthy praise deserved.
“What wonder is there that Lord Indra’s at thy beck and call,
All gods must worship those pure souls who in their hearts install,
A loving mood for Krishna, Lord and God of gods Supreme,
Acharya! Thy remembrance wakes a soul from mortal dream.”
Adwaita spoke, “Thou art my Bhaktavatsala, dear Lord,
This is my firm conviction in each thought, each word and deed.
My body, mind and speech are Yours, my heartfelt love please take,
Just grant me one small boon, my Lord, this soul You won’t forsake.”
At Puri’s festive celebration, Shri Adwaita bade,
Devotees sing the glories that Chaitanya has displayed.
The Lord feigned anger and beloved bhaktas He chastised:
“True Vaishnavas never Krishna kirtan leave aside!”
Then Shrivas Pandit raised his palm as if to shied the Sun,
He sang Chaitanya’s glories to the joy of everyone.
“The sunbeams might be hid behind the cover of my hand,
But fame as Thine cannot be stopped from spreading through the land.”
When multitudes of bhaktas hastened forth from kirtan crowd,
To praise the glories of Chaitanya, grace divine endowed,
Observing that the holy name had spread like woods ablaze,
Shrivas continued eulogizing Him with honest praise.
“Forever You remain from view, unmanifest above,
You’ve come as kirtan’s Form Incarnate, manifest through love.”
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
When his last days were nearing Adwaita sent a note,
Unto Chaitanya of an enigmatic anecdote.
It read, “The people of Bengal have merged in Krishna conscious bliss,
The market boasts no more demand for Krishna consciousness.
That mad chap Shri Adwaita’s closed his charge account for good.”
For time and circumstance Adwaita Acharya understood.
Chaitanya read between the lines that Adwaita had composed,
And saw the omens saying, “Bring Thy leela to a close.”
SHRI SHRIVAS PANDIT
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Patita Pavana das Adhikary
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