Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Sri Caitanya Caritamrita

CC Antya 18 Summary

CC Antya 18.1: In the brilliant autumn moonlight, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu mistook the sea for the river Yamuna. Greatly afflicted by separation from Krishna, He ran and dove into the sea and remained unconscious in the water the entire night. In the morning, He was found by His personal devotees. May that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the son of mother Saci, protect us by His transcendental pastimes.

CC Antya 18.2: All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu! All glories to Nityananda Prabhu! All glories to Advaita Acarya! And all glories to all the devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

CC Antya 18.3: While thus living at Jagannatha Puri, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu floated all day and night in an ocean of separation from Krishna.

CC Antya 18.4: During a night of the autumn season when a full moon brightened everything, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu wandered all night long with His devotees.

CC Antya 18.5: He walked from garden to garden, seeing the pastimes of Lord Krishna and hearing and reciting songs and verses concerning the rasa-lila.

CC Antya 18.6: He sang and danced in ecstatic love and sometimes imitated the rasa dance in emotional ecstasy.

CC Antya 18.7: He sometimes ran here and there in the madness of ecstasy and sometimes fell and rolled on the ground. Sometimes He became completely unconscious.

CC Antya 18.8: When He heard Svarupa Damodara recite a verse concerning the rasa-lila or He Himself recited one, He would personally explain it, as He had previously done.

CC Antya 18.9: In this way, He explained the meaning of all the verses concerning the rasa-lila. Sometimes He would be very sad and sometimes very happy.

CC Antya 18.10: To explain fully all those verses and all the transformations that took place in the Lord's body would require a very large volume.

CC Antya 18.11: So as not to increase the size of this book, I have not written about all the Lord's pastimes, for He performed them every moment of every day for twelve years.

CC Antya 18.12: As I have previously indicated, I am describing the mad speeches and bodily transformations of the Lord only in brief.

CC Antya 18.13: If Ananta, with His one thousand hoods, tried to describe even one day's pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He would find them impossible to describe fully.

CC Antya 18.14: If Ganesa, Lord Siva's son and the expert scribe of the demigods, tried for millions of millenniums to fully describe one day of the Lord's pastimes, he would be unable to find their limit.

CC Antya 18.15: Even Lord Krishna is struck with wonder at seeing the transformations of ecstasy in His devotees. If Krishna Himself cannot estimate the limits of such emotions, how could others?

CC Antya 18.16-17: Krishna Himself cannot fully understand the conditions, the mode of progress, the happiness and unhappiness, and the moods of ecstatic love of His devotees. He therefore accepts the role of a devotee to taste these emotions fully.

CC Antya 18.18: Ecstatic love of Krishna makes Krishna and His devotees dance, and it also dances personally. In this way, all three dance together in one place.

CC Antya 18.19: One who wants to describe the transformations of ecstatic love of Krishna is like a dwarf trying to catch the moon in the sky.

CC Antya 18.20: As the wind can carry away but a drop of the water in the ocean, a living entity can touch only a particle of the ocean of love of Krishna.

CC Antya 18.21: Endless waves arise moment after moment in that ocean of love. How could an insignificant living entity estimate their limits?

CC Antya 18.22: Only a person on the level of Svarupa Damodara Gosvami can fully know what Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu tastes in His love for Krishna.

CC Antya 18.23: When an ordinary living entity describes the pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he purifies himself by touching one drop of that great ocean.

CC Antya 18.24: Thus all the verses about the rasa-lila dance were recited. Then finally the verse concerning the pastimes in the water was recited.

CC Antya 18.25: "As an independent leader among elephants enters the water with its female elephants, Krishna, who is transcendental to the Vedic principles of morality, entered the water of the Yamuna with the gopis. His chest had brushed against their breasts, crushing His flower garland and coloring it with red kunkuma powder. Attracted by the fragrance of that garland, humming bumblebees followed Krishna like celestial beings of Gandharvaloka. In this way, Lord Krishna mitigated the fatigue of the rasa dance."

CC Antya 18.26: While thus wandering near the temple of Aitota, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu suddenly saw the sea.

CC Antya 18.27: Brightened by the shining light of the moon, the high waves of the sea glittered like the waters of the river Yamuna.

CC Antya 18.28: Mistaking the sea for the Yamuna, the Lord ran swiftly and jumped into the water, unseen by the others.

CC Antya 18.29: Falling into the sea, He lost consciousness and could not understand where He was. Sometimes He sank beneath the waves, and sometimes He floated above them.

CC Antya 18.30: The waves carried Him here and there like a piece of dry wood. Who can understand this dramatic performance by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu?

CC Antya 18.31: Keeping the Lord sometimes submerged and sometimes afloat, the waves carried Him toward the Konarka temple.

CC Antya 18.32: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu fully merged in the pastimes Lord Krishna performed with the gopis in the waters of the Yamuna.

CC Antya 18.33: Meanwhile, all the devotees, headed by Svarupa Damodara, lost sight of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Astonished, they began searching for Him, asking, "Where has the Lord gone?"

CC Antya 18.34: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had run off at the speed of the mind. No one could see Him. Thus everyone was puzzled as to His whereabouts.

CC Antya 18.35: "Has the Lord gone to the temple of Jagannatha, or has He fallen down in madness in some garden?

CC Antya 18.36: "Perhaps He went to the Gundica temple, or to Lake Narendra, or to the Cataka-parvata. Maybe He went to the temple at Konarka."

CC Antya 18.37: Talking like this, the devotees wandered here and there looking for the Lord. Finally they came to the shore, accompanied by many others.

CC Antya 18.38: While they were searching for the Lord, the night ended, and thus they all decided, "Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has now disappeared."

CC Antya 18.39: In separation from the Lord, everyone felt as though he had lost his very life. The devotees concluded that there must have been some mishap. They could not think of anything else.

CC Antya 18.40: "A relative or intimate friend is always fearful of some injury to his beloved."

CC Antya 18.41: When they arrived at the seashore, they conferred among themselves. Then some of them sought out Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Cataka-parvata.

CC Antya 18.42: Svarupa Damodara proceeded east with others, looking for the Lord on the beach or in the water.

CC Antya 18.43: Everyone was overwhelmed with moroseness and almost unconscious, but out of ecstatic love they continued to wander here and there, searching for the Lord.

CC Antya 18.44: Passing along the beach, they saw a fisherman approaching with his net over his shoulder. Laughing, crying, dancing and singing, he kept repeating the holy name "Hari, Hari."

CC Antya 18.45: Seeing the activities of the fisherman, everyone was astonished. Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, therefore, asked him for information.

CC Antya 18.46: "My dear fisherman," he said, "why are you behaving like this? Have you seen someone hereabouts? What is the cause of your behavior? Please tell us."

CC Antya 18.47: The fisherman replied, "I have not seen a single person here, but while casting my net in the water, I captured a dead body.

CC Antya 18.48: "I lifted it with great care, thinking it a big fish, but as soon as I saw that it was a corpse, great fear arose in my mind.

CC Antya 18.49: "As I tried to release the net, I touched the body, and as soon as I touched it, a ghost entered my heart.

CC Antya 18.50: "I shivered in fear and shed tears. My voice faltered, and all the hairs on my body stood up.

CC Antya 18.51: "I do not know whether the corpse I found was the ghost of a dead brahmana or an ordinary man, but as soon as one looks upon it, the ghost enters his body.

CC Antya 18.52: "The body of this ghost is very long, five to seven cubits. Each of its arms and legs is as much as three cubits long.

CC Antya 18.53: "Its joints are all separated beneath the skin, which is completely slack. No one could see it and remain alive in his body.

CC Antya 18.54: "That ghost has taken the form of a corpse, but He keeps his eyes open. Sometimes He utters the sounds 'gon-gon,' and sometimes He remains unconscious.

CC Antya 18.55: "I have seen that ghost directly, and He is haunting me. But if I die, who will take care of my wife and children?

CC Antya 18.56: "The ghost is certainly very difficult to talk about, but I am going to find an exorcist and ask him if he can release me from it.

CC Antya 18.57: "I wander alone at night killing fish in solitary places, but because I remember the hymn to Lord Nrisimha, ghosts do not touch me.

CC Antya 18.58: "This ghost, however, overcomes me with redoubled strength when I chant the Nrisimha mantra. When I even see the form of this ghost, great fear arises in my mind.

CC Antya 18.59: "Do not go near there. I forbid you. If you go, that ghost will catch you all."

CC Antya 18.60: Hearing this, Svarupa Damodara could understand the full truth of the matter. He spoke sweetly to the fisherman.

CC Antya 18.61: "I am a famous exorcist," he said, "and I know how to rid you of this ghost." He then chanted some mantras and placed his hand on top of the fisherman's head.

CC Antya 18.62: He slapped the fisherman three times and said, "Now the ghost has gone away. Do not be afraid." By saying this, he pacified the fisherman.

CC Antya 18.63: The fisherman was affected by ecstatic love, but he was also fearful. He had thus become doubly agitated. Now that his fear had subsided, however, he had become somewhat normal.

CC Antya 18.64: Svarupa Damodara said to the fisherman, "My dear sir, the person you are thinking is a ghost is not actually a ghost but is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

CC Antya 18.65: "Because of ecstatic love, the Lord fell into the sea, and you have caught Him in your net and rescued Him.

CC Antya 18.66: "Simply touching Him has awakened your dormant love of Krishna, but because you thought Him a ghost, you were very much afraid of Him.

CC Antya 18.67: "Now that your fear has gone and your mind is peaceful, please show me where He is."

CC Antya 18.68: The fisherman replied, "I have seen the Lord many times, but this is not He. This body is very much deformed."

CC Antya 18.69: Svarupa Damodara said, "The Lord's body becomes transformed in His love for God. Sometimes the joints of His bones separate, and His body becomes very much elongated."

CC Antya 18.70: Hearing this, the fisherman became very happy. He brought all the devotees with him and showed them Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

CC Antya 18.71: The Lord was lying on the ground, His body elongated and bleached white by the water. He was covered from head to foot with sand.

CC Antya 18.72: The Lord's body was stretched, and His skin was slack and hanging loose. To lift Him and take Him the long distance home would have been impossible.

CC Antya 18.73: The devotees removed His wet undergarment and replaced it with a dry one. Then, laying the Lord on an outer cloth, they cleaned the sand from His body.

CC Antya 18.74: They all performed sankirtana, loudly chanting the holy name of Krishna into the Lord's ear.

CC Antya 18.75: After some time the sound of the holy name entered the ear of the Lord, who immediately got up, making a great noise.

CC Antya 18.76: As soon as He got up, His bones assumed their proper places. With half-external consciousness, the Lord looked here and there.

CC Antya 18.77: The Lord remained in one of three different states of consciousness at all times: internal, external and half-external.

CC Antya 18.78: When the Lord was deeply absorbed in internal consciousness but He nevertheless exhibited some external consciousness, devotees called His condition ardha-bahya, or half-external consciousness.

CC Antya 18.79: In this half-external consciousness, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu talked like a madman. The devotees could distinctly hear Him speaking to the sky.

CC Antya 18.80: "Seeing the river Yamuna," He said, "I went to Vrindavana. There I saw the son of Nanda Maharaja performing His sporting pastimes in the water.

CC Antya 18.81: "Lord Krishna was in the water of the Yamuna in the company of the gopis, headed by Srimati Radharani. They were performing pastimes in a great sporting manner.

CC Antya 18.82: "I saw this pastime as I stood on the bank of the Yamuna in the company of the gopis. One gopi was showing some other gopis the pastimes of Radha and Krishna in the water.

CC Antya 18.83: "All the gopis entrusted their silken garments and ornaments to the care of their friends and then put on fine white cloth. Lord Krishna, taking His beloved gopis with Him, bathed and performed very nice pastimes in the water of the Yamuna.

CC Antya 18.84: "My dear friends, just see Lord Krishna's sporting pastimes in the water! Krishna's restless palms resemble lotus flowers. He is just like the chief of mad elephants, and the gopis who accompany Him are like she-elephants.

CC Antya 18.85: "The sporting pastimes in the water began, and everyone started splashing water back and forth. In the tumultuous showers of water, no one could be certain which party was winning and which was losing. This sporting water fight increased unlimitedly.

CC Antya 18.86: "The gopis were like steady streaks of lightning, and Krishna resembled a blackish cloud. The lightning began sprinkling water upon the cloud, and the cloud upon the lightning. Like thirsty cataka birds, the eyes of the gopis joyously drank the nectarean water from the cloud.

CC Antya 18.87: "As the fight began, they splashed water on one another. Then they fought hand to hand, then face to face, then chest to chest, teeth to teeth and finally nail to nail.

CC Antya 18.88: "Thousands of hands splashed water, and the gopis saw Krishna with thousands of eyes. With thousands of legs they came near Him, and they kissed Him with thousands of faces. Thousands of bodies embraced Him. The gopis heard His joking words with thousands of ears.

CC Antya 18.89: "Krishna forcibly swept Radharani away and took Her into water up to Her neck. Then He released Her where the water was very deep. She grasped Krishna's neck, however, and floated on the water like a lotus flower plucked by the trunk of an elephant.

CC Antya 18.90: "Krishna expanded Himself into as many forms as there were gopis and then took away all the garments that covered them. The water of the river Yamuna was crystal clear, and Krishna saw the glittering bodies of the gopis in great happiness.

CC Antya 18.91: "The lotus stems were friends of the gopis and therefore helped them by offering them lotus leaves. The lotuses pushed their large, round leaves over the surface of the water with their hands, the waves of the Yamuna, to cover the gopis' bodies. Some gopis undid their hair and kept it in front of them as dresses to cover the lower portions of their bodies and used their hands as bodices to cover their breasts.

CC Antya 18.92: "Then Krishna quarreled with Radharani, and all the gopis hid themselves in a cluster of white lotus flowers. They submerged their bodies up to their necks in the water. Only their faces floated above the surface, and the faces were indistinguishable from the lotuses.

CC Antya 18.93: "In the absence of the other gopis, Lord Krishna behaved with Srimati Radharani as freely as He desired. When the gopis began searching for Krishna, Srimati Radharani, being of very fine intelligence and thus knowing the situation of Her friends, immediately mingled in their midst.

CC Antya 18.94: "Many white lotus flowers were floating in the water, and as many bluish lotus flowers came nearby. As they came close together, the white and blue lotuses collided and began fighting with one another. The gopis on the bank of the Yamuna watched with great amusement.

CC Antya 18.95: "When the raised breasts of the gopis, which resembled the globelike bodies of cakravaka birds, emerged from the water in separate couples, the bluish lotuses of Krishna's hands rose to cover them.

CC Antya 18.96: "The hands of the gopis, which resembled red lotus flowers, arose from the water in pairs to obstruct the bluish flowers. The blue lotuses tried to plunder the white cakravaka birds, and the red lotuses tried to protect them. Thus there was a fight between the two.

CC Antya 18.97: "Blue and red lotus flowers are unconscious objects, whereas cakravakas are conscious and alive. Nevertheless, in ecstatic love, the blue lotuses began to taste the cakravakas. This is a reversal of their natural behavior, but in Lord Krishna's kingdom such reversals are a principle of His pastimes.

CC Antya 18.98: "The blue lotuses are friends of the sun-god, and though they all live together, the blue lotuses plunder the cakravakas. The red lotuses, however, blossom at night and are therefore strangers or enemies to the cakravakas. Yet in Krishna's pastimes the red lotuses, which are the hands of the gopis, protect their cakravaka breasts. This is a metaphor of contradiction."

CC Antya 18.99: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu continued, "In His pastimes, Krishna displayed the two ornaments of hyperbole and reverse analogy. Tasting them brought gladness to My mind and fully satisfied My ears and eyes.

CC Antya 18.100: "After performing such wonderful pastimes, Lord Sri Krishna went up on the shore of the Yamuna River, taking with Him all His beloved gopis. Then the gopis on the riverbank rendered service by massaging Krishna and the other gopis with scented oil and smearing paste of amalaki fruit on their bodies.

CC Antya 18.101: "Then they all bathed again, and after putting on dry clothing, they went to a small jeweled house, where the gopi Vrinda arranged to dress them in forest clothing by decorating them with fragrant flowers, green leaves and all kinds of other ornaments.

CC Antya 18.102: "In Vrindavana, the trees and creepers are wonderful because throughout the entire year they produce all kinds of fruits and flowers. The gopis and maidservants in the bowers of Vrindavana picked these fruits and flowers and brought them before Radha and Krishna.

CC Antya 18.103: "The gopis peeled all the fruits and placed them together on large plates on a platform in the jeweled cottage. They arranged the fruit in orderly rows for eating, and in front of it they made a place to sit.

CC Antya 18.104: "Among the fruits were many varieties of coconuts and mangoes, bananas, berries, jackfruits, dates, tangerines, oranges, blackberries, santaras, grapes, almonds and all kinds of dried fruit.

CC Antya 18.105: "There were cantaloupes, kshirikas, palm fruits, kesuras, water fruits, lotus fruits, bel, pilus, pomegranates and many others. Some of them are variously known in different places, but in Vrindavana all of them are always available in so many thousands of varieties that no one can fully describe them.

CC Antya 18.106: "At home Srimati Radharani had made various types of sweetmeats from milk and sugar, such as gangajala, amritakeli, piyushagranthi, karpurakeli, sarapuri, amriti, padmacini and khanda-kshirisara-vriksha. She had then brought them all for Krishna.

CC Antya 18.107: "When Krishna saw the very nice arrangement of food, He happily sat down and had a forest picnic. Then, after Srimati Radharani and Her gopi friends partook of the remnants, Radha and Krishna lay down together in the jeweled house.

CC Antya 18.108: "Some of the gopis fanned Radha and Krishna, others massaged Their feet, and some fed Them betel leaves to chew. When Radha and Krishna fell asleep, all the gopis also lay down. When I saw this, My mind was very happy.

CC Antya 18.109: "Suddenly, all of you created a great tumult and picked Me up and brought Me back here. Where now is the river Yamuna? Where is Vrindavana? Where are Krishna and the gopis? You have broken My happy dream!"

CC Antya 18.110: Speaking in this way, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu fully returned to external consciousness. Seeing Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, the Lord questioned him.

CC Antya 18.111: "Why have you brought Me here?" He asked. Then Svarupa Damodara answered Him.

CC Antya 18.112: "You mistook the sea for the Yamuna River," he said, "and You jumped into it. You have been carried this far by the waves of the sea.

CC Antya 18.113: "This fisherman caught You in his net and rescued You from the water. Because of Your touch, he is now mad with ecstatic love for Krishna.

CC Antya 18.114: "Throughout the night, we all walked about in search of You. After hearing from this fisherman, we came here and found You.

CC Antya 18.115: "While apparently unconscious, You witnessed the pastimes in Vrindavana, but when we saw You unconscious, we suffered great agony in our minds.

CC Antya 18.116: "When we chanted the holy name of Krishna, however, You came to semiconsciousness, and we have all been hearing You speak like a madman."

CC Antya 18.117: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, "In My dream I went to Vrindavana, where I saw Lord Krishna perform the rasa dance with all the gopis.

CC Antya 18.118: "After sporting in the water, Krishna enjoyed a picnic. I can understand that after seeing this I must certainly have talked like a madman."

CC Antya 18.119: Thereafter, Svarupa Damodara Gosvami had Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu bathe in the sea, and then he very happily brought Him back home.

CC Antya 18.120: Thus I have described the incident of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's falling into the ocean. Anyone who listens to this pastime will certainly attain shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

CC Antya 18.121: Praying at the lotus feet of Sri Rupa and Sri Raghunatha, always desiring their mercy, I, Krishnadasa, narrate Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, following in their footsteps.

Copyright (c) The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness