Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 23 Summary

The following summary of the Twenty-third Chapter is given by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya. In this chapter Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu describes the symptoms of emotion and love and the awakening of one's original loving relationship with the Lord, as well as the characteristics of a devotee who has actually attained that stage. He then describes the gradual increase of love of God up to the point of mahābhāva. He then describes the five divisions of attraction and how they continue. He also describes the mellow derived from conjugal love, which is the supreme emotion. Conjugal love is divided into two categories — svakīya and parakīya. Svakīya refers to loving affairs between husband and wife, and parakīya refers to loving affairs between two lovers. There are a number of descriptions in this connection. There is also a description of the sixty-four transcendental qualities of Kṛṣṇa and the twenty-five transcendental qualities of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then describes those candidates who are eligible to taste the mellows of devotional service. Their fundamental natures and their varieties are also described. The Lord also informs Sanātana Gosvāmī about all the confidential paraphernalia of devotional service. He gives a description of Goloka Vṛndāvana, where the Lord is engaged in His eternal pastimes described in the Hari-vaḿśa. There is also an opposing description and a favorable description of keśa-avatāra. All these instructions are mentioned herein.

In this way Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu blessed Sanātana Gosvāmī, placing His hand on his head. Thus Sanātana received the power to describe these subjects in books like Hari-bhakti-vilāsa.

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