ch 1

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lord Caitanya’s Childhood Pastimes

Text 1

Translation

Things that are very difficult to do become easy to execute if one somehow or other simply remembers Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But if one does not remember Him, even easy things become very difficult. To this Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu I offer my respectful obeisances.

Purport

In his book Caitanya-candrāmṛta, Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says, “One who receives a little favor from the Lord becomes so exalted that he does not care even for liberation, which is sought after by many great scholars and philosophers. Similarly, a devotee of Lord Caitanya considers residence in the heavenly planets a will-o’-the-wisp. He surpasses the perfection of mystic yoga power because for him the senses are like snakes with broken fangs.” A snake is a very fearful and dangerous animal because of his poison fangs, but if these fangs are broken, the appearance of a snake is no cause for fear. The yoga principles are meant to control the senses, but there is no scope for the senses of one engaged in the service of the Lord to be dangerous like snakes. These are the gifts of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

The Hari-bhakti-vilāsa confirms that difficult things become easy to understand if one remembers Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and easy things become very difficult to understand if one forgets Him. We actually see that even those who are very great scientists in the eyes of the general public cannot understand the very simple idea that life comes from life, because they do not have the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They defend the false understanding that life comes from matter, although they cannot prove that this is a fact. Modern civilization, therefore, progressing on the basis of this false scientific theory, is simply creating problems to be solved by the so-called scientists.

The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta takes shelter of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu to describe the pastimes of His appearance as a child because one cannot write such transcendental literature by mental speculation. One who writes about the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be especially favored by the Lord. Simply by academic qualifications it is not possible to write such literature.

Text 2

Translation

All glories to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu and all the devotees of Lord Caitanya!

Text 3

Translation

I have thus described in brief the advent of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who appeared as the son of mother Śacī exactly as Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of mother Yaśodā.

Purport

Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura confirms this statement that now Lord Kṛṣṇa, the son of mother Yaśodā, has appeared again as Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, becoming the son of mother Śacī:

vrajendra-nandana yei, śacī-suta haila sei

balarāma ha-ila nitāi

“The son of Śacī is none other than the son of mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja, and Nityānanda Prabhu is the same Balarāma.”

Text 4

Translation

I have already briefly spoken about the pastimes of His birth in chronological order. Now I shall give a synopsis of His childhood pastimes.

Text 5

Translation

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the childhood pastimes of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Although such pastimes appear exactly like those of an ordinary child, they should be understood as various pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Purport

In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.11) this statement is confirmed as follows:

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam

paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mama bhūta-maheśvaram

“Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.” To execute His pastimes, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears on this planet or within this universe like an ordinary human being or human child, yet He maintains His superiority as the Supreme Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared as a human child, but His uncommon activities, even in His childhood — like the killing of the demon Pūtanā or the lifting of Govardhana Hill — were not the engagements of an ordinary child. Similarly, although the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, as they will be described in this chapter, appear like the activities of a small boy, they are uncommon pastimes impossible for an ordinary human child to execute.