He was surprised to see the brilliance of their faces. Indeed, among them Vallabha Bhaṭṭa seemed just like a glowworm. (62) Then Vallabha Bhaṭṭa brought in a great quantity of Lord Jagannātha’s mahā- prasādam and sumptuously fed Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His associates. (63) All the sannyāsī associates of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, headed by Paramānanda Purī, sat on one side and thus partook of the prasādam. (64) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sat in the midst of the devotees. Advaita Ācārya and Lord Nityānanda each sat on one side of the Lord. The other devotees sat in front of the Lord and behind Him. (65) The devotees from Bengal, whom I am unable to count, all sat down in lines in the courtyard. (66) When Vallabha Bhaṭṭa saw all the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he was greatly surprised, and in devotion he offered his obeisances at the lotus feet of each and every one of them. (67)
Svarūpa Dāmodara, Jagadānanda, Kāśīśvara and Śaṅkara, along with Rāghava and Dāmodara Paṇḍita, took charge of distributing the prasādam. (68) Vallabha Bhaṭṭa had brought a large quantity of mahā- prasādam offered to Lord Jagannātha. Thus all the sannyāsīs sat down to eat with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (69) Accepting the prasādam, all the Vaiṣṇavas chanted the holy names “Hari! Hari!” The rising vibration of the holy name of Hari filled the entire universe. (70) When all the Vaiṣṇavas had finished eating, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa brought a large quantity of garlands, sandalwood pulp, spices and betel. He worshiped the devotees very respectfully and became extremely happy. (71) On the day of the car festival, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu began the congregational chanting. As He had done previously, He divided all the devotees into seven groups. (72)
Seven devotees-Advaita, Nityānanda, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Vakreśvara, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, Rāghava Paṇḍita and Gadādhara Paṇḍita-formed seven groups and began dancing. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, chanting “Haribol!” wandered from one group to another. (73 74) Fourteen mṛdaṅgas resounded with the loud congregational chanting, and in each group was a dancer whose dance of ecstatic love inundated the entire world. (75) Seeing all this, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa was completely astonished. He was overwhelmed by transcendental bliss and lost himself. (76) Then Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stopped the dancing of the others, and as He had done previously, He personally began to dance. (77) Seeing the beauty of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the awakening of His ecstatic love, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa concluded, “Here is Lord Kṛṣṇa, without a doubt.” (78)
Thus Vallabha Bhaṭṭa witnessed the car festival. He was simply astonished by the characteristics of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (79) One day, after the festival was over, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa went to the abode of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and submitted a request at the lotus feet of the Lord. (80) “I have written some commentary on Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam,” he said. “Would Your Lordship kindly hear it?” (81) The Lord replied, “I do not understand the meaning of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam. Indeed, I am not a suitable person to hear its meaning. (82) “I simply sit and try to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, and although I chant all day and night, I nevertheless cannot complete the chanting of My prescribed number of rounds.” (83) Vallabha Bhaṭṭa said, “I have tried to describe elaborately the meaning of Kṛṣṇa’s holy name. Kindly hear the explanation.” (84) Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “I do not accept many different meanings for the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. I know only that Lord Kṛṣṇa is Śyāmasundara and Yaśodānandana. That’s all I know. (85)
“The only purport of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is that He is dark blue like a tamāla tree and is the son of mother Yaśodā. This is the conclusion of all the revealed scriptures.’ (86) “I conclusively know these two names, Śyāmasundara and Yaśodānandana. I do not understand any other meanings, nor have I the capacity to understand them.” (87) Being omniscient, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu could understand that Vallabha Bhaṭṭa’s explanations of Kṛṣṇa’s name and Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam were useless. Therefore He did not care about them. (88) When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu rigidly declined to hear his explanations, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa went home feeling morose. His faith in the Lord and devotion to Him changed. (89) Thereafter, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa went to the home of Gadādhara Paṇḍita. He kept coming and going, showing affection in various ways, and thus maintained a relationship with him. (90)
Because Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not take Vallabha Bhaṭṭa very seriously, none of the people in Jagannātha Purī would hear any of his explanations. (91) Ashamed, insulted and unhappy, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa went to Gadādhara Paṇḍita. (92) Approaching him with great humility, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa said, “I have taken shelter of you, my dear sir. Kindly be merciful to me and save my life. (93) “Please hear my explanation of the meaning of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s name. In that way the mud of the shame that has come upon me will be washed off.” (94) Thus Paṇḍita Gosāñi fell into a dilemma. He was in such doubt that he could not decide alone what to do. (95) Although Gadādhara Paṇḍita Gosāñi did not want to hear it, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa began to read his explanation with great force. (96)
Because Vallabha Bhaṭṭa was a learned brāhmaṇa, Gadādhara Paṇḍita could not forbid him. Thus he began to think of Lord Kṛṣṇa. “My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa,” he requested, “please protect me in this danger. I have taken shelter of You. (97) “Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is present in everyone’s heart, and He will certainly know my mind. Therefore I do not fear Him. His associates, however, are extremely critical.” (98) Although Gadādhara Paṇḍita Gosāñi was not in the least at fault, some of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s devotees showed affectionate anger toward him. (99) Every day, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa would come to the place of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to engage in unnecessary arguments with Advaita Ācārya and other great personalities, such as Svarūpa Dāmodara. (100) Whatever conclusions Vallabha Bhaṭṭa eagerly presented were refuted by personalities like Advaita Ācārya. (101)
Whenever Vallabha Bhaṭṭa entered the society of devotees, headed by Advaita Ācārya, he was like a duck in a society of white swans. (102) One day Vallabha Bhaṭṭa said to Advaita Ācārya, “Every living entity is female [prakṛti] and considers Kṛṣṇa her husband [pati]. (103) “It is the duty of a chaste wife, devoted to her husband, not to utter her husband’s name, but all of you chant the name of Kṛṣṇa. How can this be called a religious principle?” (104) Advaita Ācārya responded, “In front of you is Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the personification of religious principles. You should ask Him, for He will give you the proper answer.” (105) Hearing this, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “My dear Vallabha Bhaṭṭa, you do not know religious principles. Actually, the first duty of a chaste woman is to carry out the order of her husband. (106) “The order of Kṛṣṇa is to chant His name incessantly. Therefore one who is chaste and adherent to the husband Kṛṣṇa must chant the Lord’s name, for she cannot deny the husband’s order. (107)
“Following this religious principle, a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa always chants the holy name. As a result of this, he gets the fruit of ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa.” (108) Hearing this, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa was speechless. He returned home greatly unhappy and began to consider thus. (109) “Every day I am defeated in this assembly. If by chance I am one day victorious, that will be a great source of happiness for me, and all my shame will go away. But what means shall I adopt to establish my statements?” (110-111) The next day when he came to the assembly of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he sat down after offering obeisances to the Lord and said something with great pride. (112) “In my commentary on Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam,” he said, “I have refuted the explanations of Śrīdhara Svāmī. I cannot accept his explanations. (113)
“Whatever Śrīdhara Svāmī reads he explains according to the circumstances. Therefore he is inconsistent in his explanations and cannot be accepted as an authority.” (114) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu smilingly replied, “One who does not accept the svāmī [husband] as an authority I consider a prostitute.” (115) After saying this, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu became very grave. All the devotees present derived great satisfaction from hearing this statement. (116) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu descended as an incarnation for the benefit of the entire world. Thus He knew the mind of Vallabha Bhaṭṭa very well. (117) By various hints and refutations, Lord Caitanya, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, corrected Vallabha Bhaṭṭa exactly as Kṛṣṇa had cut down the false pride of Indra. (118)
An ignorant living being does not recognize his actual profit. Because of ignorance and material pride, he sometimes considers profit a loss, but when his pride is cut down he can actually see his true benefit. (119) Returning home that night, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa thought, “Previously, at Prayāga, Lord Caitanya was very kind to me. (120) “He accepted my invitation with His other devotees, and He was kind to me. Why has He now changed so much here at Jagannātha Purī? (121) “Being very proud of my learning, I am thinking, ‘Let me become victorious.’ Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, however, is trying to purify me by nullifying this false pride, for a characteristic of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is that He acts for everyone’s welfare. (122) “I am falsely proud, advertising myself as a learned scholar. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu insults me just to favor me by cutting down this false pride. (123) “He is actually acting for my benefit, although I interpret His actions as insults. This is exactly like the incident in which Lord Kṛṣṇa cut down Indra, the great, puffed- up fool, to correct him.” (124)
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