Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 9.1

nānā-mata-grāha-grastān

dākṣiṇātya-jana-dvipān

kṛpāriṇā vimucyaitān

gauraś cakre sa vaiṣṇavān

SYNONYMS

nānā-mata — by various philosophies; grāha — like crocodiles; grastān — captured; dākṣiṇātya-jana — the inhabitants of South India; dvipān — like elephants; kṛpā-ariṇā — by His disc of mercy; vimucya — liberating; etān — all these; gauraḥ — Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; cakre — converted; saḥ — He; vaiṣṇavān — to the Vaiṣṇava cult.

TRANSLATION

Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu converted the inhabitants of South India. These people were as strong as elephants, but they were in the clutches of the crocodiles of various philosophies, such as the Buddhist, Jain and Māyāvāda philosophies. With His disc of mercy the Lord delivered them all by converting them into Vaiṣṇavas, devotees of the Lord.

PURPORT

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's converting the people of South India into Vaiṣṇavas is compared herein to Lord Viṣṇu's delivering Gajendra the elephant from the attack of a crocodile. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu visited southern India, almost all the residents were within the jaws of the crocodiles of Buddhist, Jain and Māyāvāda philosophy. Here Kavirāja Gosvāmī states that although these people were as strong as elephants, they were almost in the clutches of death because they were being attacked by the crocodiles of various philosophies. However, just as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the form of Viṣṇu saved the elephant Gajendra from the clutches of a crocodile, so He saved all the people of South India from the clutches of various philosophies by converting them into Vaiṣṇavas.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness