“You are a fool,” he said. “You have brought ill fortune upon yourself, for you have no knowledge of the existence of the two Lords, Jagannāthadeva and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, nor have you faith in Them. (117) “Lord Jagannātha is completely spiritual and full of transcendental bliss, but you have compared Him to a dull, destructible body composed of the inert, external energy of the Lord. (118) “You have calculated Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full in six opulences, to be on the level of an ordinary living being. Instead of knowing Him as the supreme fire, you have accepted Him as a spark.” (119)
Svarūpa Dāmodara continued, “Because you have committed an offense to Lord Jagannātha and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, you will attain a hellish destination. You do not know how to describe the Absolute Truth, but nevertheless you have tried to do so. Therefore you must be condemned. (120) “You are in complete illusion, for you have distinguished between the body and the soul of His Lordship [Lord Jagannātha or Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu]. That is a great offense. (121) “At no time is there a distinction between the body and the soul of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His personal identity and His body are made of blissful spiritual energy. There is no distinction between them. (122) “‘There is no distinction between the body and the soul of the Supreme Personality of Godhead at any time.’ (123)
“‘O my Lord, I do not see a form superior to Your present form of eternal bliss and knowledge. In Your impersonal Brahman effulgence in the spiritual sky, there is no occasional change and no deterioration of internal potency. I surrender unto You because, whereas I am proud of my material body and senses, Your Lordship is the cause of the cosmic manifestation. Yet You are untouched by matter. “‘This present form, or any transcendental form expanded by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is equally auspicious for all the universes. Since You have manifested this eternal personal form, upon whom Your devotees meditate, I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto You. Those who are destined to be dispatched to the path of hell neglect Your personal form because of speculating on material topics.’ (124-125)
“Whereas Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is full of transcendental bliss, possesses all six spiritual opulences in full, and is the master of the material energy, the small conditioned soul, who is always unhappy, is the servant of the material energy. (126) “‘The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme controller, is always full of transcendental bliss and is accompanied by the potencies known as hlādinī and samvit. The conditioned soul, however, is always covered by ignorance and embarrassed by the threefold miseries of life. Thus he is a treasure house of all kinds of tribulations.'” (127) Hearing this explanation, all the members of the assembly were struck with wonder. “Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has spoken the real truth,” they admitted. “The brāhmaṇa from Bengal has committed an offense by wrongly describing Lord Jagannātha and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” (128)
When the Bengali poet heard this chastisement from Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, he was ashamed, fearful and astonished. Indeed, being like a duck in a society of white swans, he could not say anything. (129) Seeing the poet’s unhappiness, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, who was naturally very kindhearted, advised him so that he could derive some benefit. (130) “If you want to understand Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam,” he said, “you must approach a self- realized Vaiṣṇava and hear from him. You can do this when you have completely taken shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” (131) Svarūpa Dāmodara continued, “Associate regularly with the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for then only will you understand the waves of the ocean of devotional service. (132)
“Only if you follow the principles of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His devotees will your learning be successful. Then you will be able to write about the transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa without material contamination. (133) “You have composed this introductory verse to your great satisfaction, but the meaning you have expressed is contaminated by offenses to both Lord Jagannātha and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (134) You have written something irregular, not knowing the regulative principles, but the goddess of learning, Sarasvatī, has used your words to offer her prayers to the Supreme Lord. (135) “Sometimes demons, and even Lord Indra, the King of heaven, chastised Kṛṣṇa, but mother Sarasvatī, taking advantage of their words, offered prayers to the Lord. (136) “[Lord Indra said:] ‘This Kṛṣṇa, who is an ordinary human being, is talkative, childish, impudent and ignorant, although He thinks Himself very learned. The cowherd men in Vṛndāvana have offended me by accepting Him. This has not been greatly appreciated by me.’ (137)
“Indra, the King of heaven, being too proud of his heavenly opulences, became like a madman. Thus bereft of his intelligence, he could not restrain himself from speaking nonsensically about Kṛṣṇa. (138) “Thus Indra thought, ‘I have properly chastised Kṛṣṇa and defamed Him.’ But Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning, took this opportunity to offer prayers to Kṛṣṇa. (139) “The word ‘vācāla’ is used to refer to a person who can speak according to Vedic authority, and the word ‘bāliśa’ means ‘innocent.’ Kṛṣṇa spoke the Vedic knowledge, yet He always presents Himself as a prideless, innocent boy. (140) “When there is no one else to receive obeisances, one may be called ‘anamra,’ or one who offers obeisances to no one. This is the meaning of the word ‘stabdha.’ And because no one is found to be more learned than Kṛṣṇa, He may be called ‘ajña,’ indicating that nothing is unknown to Him. (141)
“The word ‘paṇḍita- mānī’ can be used to indicate that Kṛṣṇa is honored even by learned scholars. Nevertheless, because of affection for His devotees, Kṛṣṇa appears like an ordinary human being and may therefore be called ‘martya.’ (142) “The demon Jarāsandha chastised Kṛṣṇa, saying, ‘You are the lowest of human beings. I shall not fight with You, for You killed Your own relatives.’ (143) “Mother Sarasvatī takes ‘puruṣādhama’ to mean ‘puruṣottama,’ ‘He to whom all men are subordinate.’ (144) “Nescience, or māyā, may be called ‘bandhu’ because she entangles everyone in the material world. Therefore by using the word ‘bandhu- han,’ mother Sarasvatī says that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the vanquisher of māyā. (145) “Śiśupāla also blasphemed Kṛṣṇa in this way, but the goddess of learning, Sarasvatī, offered her prayers to Kṛṣṇa even by his words. (146) “In that way, although your verse is blasphemous according to your meaning, mother Sarasvatī has taken advantage of it to offer prayers to the Lord. (147)
“There is no difference between Lord Jagannātha and Kṛṣṇa, but here Lord Jagannātha is fixed as the Absolute Person appearing in wood. Therefore He does not move. (148) “Thus Lord Jagannātha and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, although appearing as two, are one because They are both Kṛṣṇa, who is one alone. (149) “The supreme desire to deliver the entire world meets in the two of Them, and for that reason also They are one and the same. (150) “To deliver all the materially contaminated people of the world, that same Kṛṣṇa has descended in the moving form of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (151) “By visiting Lord Jagannātha one is freed from material existence, but not all men of all countries can come or be admitted here in Jagannātha Purī. (152) “Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, however, moves from one country to another, personally or by His representative. Thus He, as the moving Brahman, delivers all the people of the world. (153)
“Thus I have explained the meaning intended by mother Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning. It is your great fortune that you have described Lord Jagannātha and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in that way. (154) “Sometimes it so happens that one who wants to chastise Kṛṣṇa utters the holy name, and thus the holy name becomes the cause of his liberation.” (155) Upon hearing this proper explanation by Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, the Bengali poet fell down at the feet of all the devotees and took shelter of them with a straw in his mouth. (156) Thereupon all the devotees accepted his association. Explaining his humble behavior, they introduced him to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (157) By the mercy of the devotees of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that poet from Bengal gave up all other activities and stayed with them at Jagannātha Purī. Who can explain the mercy of the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu? (158)
I have thus described the narration concerning Pradyumna Miśra and how, following the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he listened to discourses about Kṛṣṇa spoken by Rāmānanda Rāya. (159) Within the narration I have explained the glorious characteristics of Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya, through whom Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally described the limits of ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. (160) In the course of the narration, I have also told about the drama by the poet from Bengal. Although he was ignorant, because of his faith and humility he nevertheless obtained shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (161) The pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu are the essence of nectar. From the stream of one of His pastimes flow hundreds and thousands of branches. (162) Anyone who reads and hears these pastimes with faith and love can understand the truth about devotional service, devotees and the transcendental mellows of the pastimes of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (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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