Bhakti Tattva – Part Seven

In Srirangam, Lord Mahaprabhu defeated the tattvavadis and made them realize that they were inferior Vaishnavas. Sriman Mahaprabhu visited many temples in the south namely the Padmanabha, Anantadeva, Janardana and Vasudeva temples. The Lord then delivered the seven palm trees by embracing them and sending them back to Vaikuntha, behind which Sri Ramachandra stood and killed Vali during the fight between Sugriva and Vali. At Rameswaram the Lord had an opportunity to read the Kurma Purana where it was mentioned that Sitadevi who was kidnapped by Ravana in the Ramayana was actually only the shadow representation of the real Sitadevi. He had earlier met Ramadasa Vipra at Srirangam who had developed spiritual attachment to Sitadevi and was sad that she had been touched by the evil Ravana and thus constantly wept at the plight of Sita Devi. When Sriman Mahaprabhu got the reference from Kurma Purana about the shadow form of Sitadevi who had been actually been kidnapped by Ravana, He wanted to give the good news to Ramadasa Vipra at Srirangam. Sriman Mahaprabhu tore that page of the Kurma Purana and took it to Ramadasa Vipra to mitigate his sorrow.

The Lord also got two excellent works namely the 5th Chapter of the Brahma Samhita and chaitanya-mahaprabhu-12the Krishna Karnamrita by Bilvamangala Thakhura which He carried back to show to His devotees. Sriman Mahaprabhu then returned to Puri, just in time for the bathing ceremony of Lord Jagannath. Sri Jagannath was absent at the temple when Sriman Mahaprabhu arrived. Feeling separation from His Lord Jagannath, the Lord let Puri to go to a place called Alalanatha. Sriman Mahaprabhu remained for some days at Alalanatha. In the mean time Sriman Mahaprabhu got the news that His devotees from Bengal were coming to Jagannath Puri. Lord Chaitanya then returned to Puri and was overwhelmed with the mood of separation from Lord Jagannath. During this time devotees from different parts of Bengal especially from Nabadwipa arrive in Jagannath Puri. The congregational chanting of the Holy name pacified the mind of Sriman Mahaprabhu. Earlier Sriman Mahaprabhu had met Sri Ramananda Raya at the banks of Godavari. He had communicated to the Raya that he should resign his position at an appropriate time and join Him at Puri. Upon the order of Sriman Mahaprabhu, the Raya resigned from the services of the King of Orissa and joined Him at Puri. The Lord discussed the pristine pastimes of Sri Nandanandana and the Gopis with the Raya both day and night and peacefully spent His time. At the time of the presence of Sri Ramananda Raya important personalities like Kasi Mishra, Pradyumna Mishra, Paramananda Puri, Govinda and Kasiswara met Sriman Mahaprabhu at Puri. The Lord shared a special bonding with Sri Swarup Damodara during this time after which Sri Swarup Damodara earned the position of being the personal secretary of Sriman Mahaprabhu till the very end of Sriman Mahaprabhu’s earthly pastimes. There was also a meeting with Sikhi Mahiti and Bhavananda raya who was the father of Sri Ramananda Raya. There were also residents of Kulina grama near Nabadwipa who met Sriman Mahaprabhu for the very first time at Puri. One of the closest associates of Sriman Mahaprabhu Sri Narhari Sarkar and other inhabitants of the place Khanda along with Sivanand Sen arrived at Puri to meet Sriman Mahaprabhu. After witnessing the “jwar leela” of Sri Jagannath, all the devotees from Nabadwipa cleaned the Gundica temple under the able guidance of Lord Mahaprabhu. The Lord then danced gracefully in front of the car of Sri Jagannath. After dancing for a while the Lord was tired and therefore He entered a nearby garden to rest.