I wish the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, by whose mercy even one who is fallen can describe the pastimes of the Lord. (1) All glories to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Advaitacandra! All glories to Lord Nityānanda Prabhu! (2) All glories to Gadādhara Prabhu! All glories to Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura! All glories to Mukunda Prabhu and Vāsudeva Prabhu! All glories to Haridāsa Ṭhākura! (3)
All glories to Svarūpa Dāmodara and Murāri Gupta! All these brilliant moons have together dissipated the darkness of this material world. (4) All glories to the moons who are devotees of the principal moon, Lord Caitanyacandra! Their bright moonshine illuminates the entire universe. (5)Thus I have spoken the preface of the Caitanya- caritāmṛta. Now I shall describe Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pastimes in chronological order. (6) First let me give a synopsis of the Lord’s pastimes. Then I shall describe them in detail. (7) Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, adventing Himself in Navadvīpa, was visible for forty- eight years, enjoying His pastimes. (8)
In the year 1407 of the Śaka Era (A.D. 1486), Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared, and in the year 1455 (A.D. 1534) He disappeared from this world. (9) For twenty- four years Lord Caitanya lived in the gṛhastha- āśrama [household life], always engaging in the pastimes of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. (10) After twenty- four years He accepted the renounced order of life, sannyāsa, and He resided for twenty- four years more at Jagannātha Purī. (11) Of these last twenty- four years, He spent the first six continuoually touring India, sometimes in South India, sometimes in Bengal and sometimes in Vṛndāvana. (12)
For the remaining eighteen years He continuously stayed in Jagannātha Purī. Chanting the nectarean Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā- mantra, He inundated everyone there in a flood of love of Kṛṣṇa.(13) The pastimes of His household life are known as the ādi-līlā, or the original pastimes. His later pastimes are known as the Madhya-līlā and Antya-līlā, or the middle and final pastimes. (14) All the pastimes enacted by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His ādi-līlā were recorded in summary form by Murāri Gupta. (15) His later pastimes [the Madhya-līlā and Antya-līlā] were recorded in the form of notes by His secretary, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, and thus kept within a book. (16)
By seeing and hearing the notes recorded by these two great personalities, a Vaiṣṇava, a devotee of the Lord, can know these pastimes one after another. (17) In His original pastimes there are four divisions: bālya, paugaṇḍa, kaiśora and yauvana [childhood, early boyhood, later boyhood and youth ]. (18) I offer my respectful obeisances unto the full- moon evening in the month of Phālguna, an auspicious time full of auspicious symptoms, when Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu advented Himself with the chanting of the holy name, Hare Kṛṣṇa. (19) On the full- moon evening of the month of Phālguna when the Lord took birth, coincidentally there was also a lunar eclipse. (20)
In jubilation everyone was chanting the holy name of the Lord-“Hari! Hari!”-and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then appeared, after first causing the appearance of the holy name. (21) At His birth, in His childhood and in His early and later boyhood, as well as in His youth, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, under different pleas, induced people to chant the holy name of Hari [the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā- mantra]. (22) In His childhood, when the Lord was crying He would stop immediately upon hearing the holy names Kṛṣṇa and Hari. (23) All the friendly ladies who came to see the child would chant the holy names, “Hari, Hari!” as soon as the child would cry.(24)
His childhood lasted until the date of hāte khaḍi, the beginning of His education, and His age from the end of His childhood until He married is called paugaṇḍa.(26) After His marriage His youth began, and in His youth He induced everyone to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā- mantra anywhere and everywhere. (27) During His paugaṇḍa age He became a serious student and also taught disciples. In this way He used to explain the holy name of Kṛṣṇa everywhere.(28) When teaching a course in grammar [vyākaraṇa] and explaining it with notes, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught His disciples about the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa. All explanations culminated in Kṛṣṇa, and His disciples would understand them very easily. Thus His influence was wonderful.(29)
When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a student, He asked whomever He met to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā- mantra. In this way He inundated the whole town of Navadvīpa with the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. (30) Just prior to His youthful life, He began the saṅkīrtana movement. Day and night He used to dance in ecstasy with His devotees. (31) The saṅkīrtana movement went on from one part of the town to another, as the Lord wandered everywhere performing kīrtana. In this way He inundated the whole world by distributing love of Godhead. (32) Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu lived in the Navadvīpa area for twenty- four years, and He induced every person to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā- mantra and thus merge in love of Kṛṣṇa. (33)
For His remaining twenty- four years, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, after accepting the renounced order of life, stayed at Jagannātha Purī with His devotees.(34) For six of these twenty- four years in Nīlācala [Jagannātha Purī], He distributed love of Godhead by always chanting and dancing. (35) Beginning from Cape Comorin and extending through Bengal to Vṛndāvana, during these six years He toured all of India, chanting, dancing and distributing love of Kṛṣṇa. (36) The activities of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His travels after He accepted sannyāsa are His principal pastimes. His activities during His remaining eighteen years are called the Antya-līlā- līlā, or the final portion of His pastimes. (37)
For six of the eighteen years He continuously stayed in Jagannātha Purī, He regularly performed kīrtana, inducing all the devotees to love Kṛṣṇa simply by chanting and dancing. (38) For the remaining twelve years He stayed in Jagannātha Purī, He taught everyone how to taste the transcendental mellow ecstasy of love of Kṛṣṇa by tasting it Himself. (39) Day and night Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu felt separation from Kṛṣṇa. Manifesting symptoms of this separation, He cried and talked very inconsistently, like a madman. (40) As Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī talked inconsistently when She met Uddhava, so also Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu relished, both day and night, such ecstatic talk in the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. (41)
The Lord used to read the books of Vidyāpati, Jayadeva and Caṇḍīdāsa, relishing their songs with His confidential associates like Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī. (42) In separation from Kṛṣṇa, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu relished all these ecstatic activities, and thus He fulfilled His own desires. (43) The pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu are unlimited. How much can a small living entity elaborate about those transcendental pastimes? (44) If Śeṣa Nāga Ananta personally were to make the pastimes of Lord Caitanya into sūtras, even with His thousands of mouths there is no possibility that He could find their limit. (45)
Devotees like Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara and Murāri Gupta have recorded all the principal pastimes of Lord Caitanya in the form of notes, after deliberate consideration. (46) The notes kept by Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara and Murāri Gupta are the basis of this book. Following those notes, I write of all the pastimes of the Lord. The notes have been described elaborately by Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. (47)
Srīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, the authorized writer of the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, is as good as Śrīla Vyāsadeva. He has described the pastimes in such a way as to make them sweeter and sweeter. (48) Being afraid of his book’s becoming too voluminous, he left some places without vivid descriptions. I shall try to fill those places as far as possible. (49) The transcendental pastimes of Lord Caitanya have actually been relished by Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. I am simply trying to chew the remnants of food left by him. (50)
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