I have given a brief description of the devotees of Lord Caitanya in Bengal. Actually His devotees are innumerable. (121) I have especially mentioned all these devotees because they accompanied Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in Bengal and Orissa and served Him in many ways. (122) Let me briefly describe some of the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in Jagannātha Purī. (123) Among the devotees who accompanied the Lord in Jagannātha Purī, two of them-Paramānanda Purī and Svarūpa Dāmodara-were the heart and soul of the Lord. Among the other devotees were Gadādhara, Jagadānanda, Śaṅkara, Vakreśvara, Dāmodara Paṇḍita, Ṭhākura Haridāsa, Raghunātha Vaidya and Raghunātha dāsa. (124-126)
All these devotees were associates of the Lord from the very beginning, and when the Lord took up residence in Jagannātha Purī, they remained there to serve Him faithfully. (127) All the devotees who resided in Bengal used to visit Jagannātha Purī every year to see the Lord. (128) Now let me enumerate the devotees of Bengal who first came to see the Lord at Jagannātha Purī. (129) There was Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, one of the biggest branches of the tree of the Lord, and his sister’s husband, Śrī Gopīnātha Ācārya. (130) In the list of devotees at Jagannātha Purī [which begins with Paramānanda Purī, Svarūpa Dāmodara, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and Gopīnātha Ācārya], Kāśī Miśra was the fifth, Pradyumna Miśra the sixth and Bhavānanda Rāya the seventh. Lord Caitanya took great pleasure in meeting with them. (131)
Embracing Rāya Bhavānanda, the Lord declared to him, “You formerly appeared as Pāṇḍu, and your five sons appeared as the five Pāṇḍavas.” (132) The five sons of Bhavānanda Rāya were Rāmānanda Rāya, Paṭṭanāyaka Gopīnātha, Kalānidhi, Sudhānidhi and Nāyaka Vāṇīnātha. (133) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu told Bhavānanda Rāya, “Your five sons are all My dear devotees. Rāmānanda Rāya and I are one, although our bodies are different.” (134) King Pratāparudra of Orissa, the Oriyā devotees Kṛṣṇānanda and Śivānanda, and Paramānanda Mahāpātra, Bhagavān Ācārya, Brahmānanda Bhāratī, Śrī Śikhi Māhiti and Murāri Māhiti constantly associated with Caitanya Mahāprabhu while He resided in Jagannātha Purī. (135 136) Mādhavīdevī, the seventeenth of the prominent devotees, was the younger sister of Śikhi Māhiti. She is considered to have formerly been a maidservant of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. (137)
Brahmacārī Kāśīśvara was a disciple of Īśvara Purī, and Śrī Govinda was another of his dear disciples. (138) In the list of prominent devotees at Nīlācala [Jagannātha Purī], Kāśīśvara was the eighteenth and Govinda the nineteenth. They both came to see Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Jagannātha Purī, being thus ordered by Īśvara Purī at the time of his passing away. (139) Both Kāśīśvara and Govinda were Godbrothers of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and thus the Lord duly honored them as soon as they arrived. But because Īśvara Purī had ordered them to give Caitanya Mahāprabhu personal service, the Lord accepted their service. (140)
Govinda cared for the body of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, whereas Kāśīśvara went in front of the Lord when He went to see Jagannātha in the temple. (141) When Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to the temple of Jagannātha, Kāśīśvara, being very strong, cleared the crowds aside with his hands so that Caitanya Mahāprabhu could pass untouched. (142) Rāmāi and Nandāi, the twentieth and twenty- first among the important devotees in Jagannātha Purī, always assisted Govinda twenty- four hours a day in rendering service to the Lord. (143) Every day Rāmāi filled twenty- two big waterpots, whereas Nandāi personally assisted Govinda. (144)
The twenty- second devotee, Kṛṣṇadāsa, was born of a pure and respectable brāhmaṇa family. While touring southern India, Lord Caitanya took Kṛṣṇadāsa with Him. (145) As a bona fide devotee, Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya, the twenty- third principal associate, acted as the brahmacārī of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He toured Mathurā. (146) Baḍa Haridāsa and Choṭa Haridāsa, the twenty- fourth and twenty- fifth devotees in Nīlācala, were good singers who always accompanied Lord Caitanya. (147) Among the devotees who lived with Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Jagannātha Purī, Rāmabhadra Ācārya was the twenty- sixth, Siṁheśvara the twenty- seventh, Tapana Ācārya the twenty- eighth, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭācārya the twenty- ninth and Nīlāmbara the thirtieth. (148)
Siṅgābhaṭṭa was the thirty- first, Kāmābhaṭṭa the thirty- second, Śivānanda the thirty- third and Kamalānanda the thirty- fourth. They all formerly served Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in Bengal, but later these servants left Bengal to live with the Lord in Jagannātha Purī. (149) Acyutānanda, the thirty- fifth devotee, was the son of Advaita Ācārya. He also lived with Lord Caitanya, taking shelter of His lotus feet at Jagannātha Purī. (150) Nirloma Gaṅgādāsa and Viṣṇudāsa were the thirty- sixth and thirty- seventh among the devotees who lived at Jagannātha Purī as servants of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (151)
The prominent devotees at Vārāṇasī were the physician Candraśekhara, Tapana Miśra and Raghunātha Bhaṭṭācārya, Tapana Miśra’s son. When Lord Caitanya came to Vārāṇasī after seeing Vṛndāvana, for two months He lived at the residence of Candraśekhara Vaidya and accepted prasādam at the house of Tapana Miśra. (152-154) When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stayed at the house of Tapana Miśra, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, who was then a boy, washed His dishes and massaged His legs. (155) When Raghunātha grew to be a young man, he visited Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Jagannātha Purī and stayed there for eight months. Sometimes he offered prasādam to the Lord. (156)
Later, by the order of Lord Caitanya, Raghunātha went to Vṛndāvana and remained there under the shelter of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. (157) While he stayed with Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, his engagement was to recite Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam for him to hear. As a result of this Bhāgavatam recitation, he attained perfectional love of Kṛṣṇa, by which he remained always maddened. (158) I list in this way only a portion of the innumerable devotees of Lord Caitanya. To describe them all fully is not possible. (159) From each branch of the tree have grown hundreds and thousands of subbranches of disciples and granddisciples. (160)
Every branch and subbranch of the tree is full of innumerable fruits and flowers. They inundate the world with the waters of love of Kṛṣṇa. (161) Each and every branch of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s devotees has unlimited spiritual power and glory. Even if one had thousands of mouths, it would be impossible to describe the limits of their activities. (162) I have briefly described the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in different places. Even Lord Śeṣa, who has thousands of mouths, could not list them all. (163) Praying at the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha, always desiring their mercy, I, Kṛṣṇadāsa, narrate Śrī Caitanya- caritāmṛta, following in their footsteps. (164)
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