(3/7) Remembering Mahaprabhu's
Sannyas-Lila

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 17 January 2021, part 3

Mahaprabhu’s sannyas-lila is described in both Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita and Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata. In Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, it is said that Vakreshwar Pandit, Mukunda and Nityananda Prabhu left Nabadwip together with Mahaprabhu. In Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, it is said that five devotees went with Him. Everything is possible. Three or five devotees knew that Mahaprabhu was going to take sannyas, and both is correct.

One time, Sripad Bhakti Ananda Sagar Maharaj (later known as Svarupananda Prabhu) was composing something based on Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, and he asked me what was correct – Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami said five people knew about Mahaprabhu’s intention to take sannyas, and Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur said three people. What is the truth? Is it five people or three people? I said both were the truth. We cannot deny either of it. It is not a question because everything is possible.

When we were in Bamunpara, Gurudev showed me the place that Mahaprabhu passed. After Mahaprabhu took sannyas and left Keshav Bharati’s ashram, He thought that He had been walking to Vrindavan, so when He came to Bamunpara and saw many cowherd boys, He was very pleased, thinking that He was getting close to Vrindavan. Even now too you can see many cows grazing in some places there and cowherd men walking with them. So, coming to Bamunpara, Mahaprabhu sat under a banyan tree and called some cowherds. (Nityananda Prabhu knew that Mahaprabhu would ask them the way, so He had spoken to them beforehand and asked them, ‘Mahaprabhu will come here – if He asks you whether He was going the right way to Vrindavan, say yes.’) As Nityananda Prabhu expected, Mahaprabhu asked the cowherds the same question, ‘Do you know which way is Vrindavan? Am I going the right way?’ Following their agreement, the cowherds replied, ‘Yes, Prabhu, You are going the right way.’

In this way, Mahaprabhu came to Bamunpara, after that to Katwa and, finally, to Shantipur. He had walked for more than two days, almost three days, and had not eaten anything during this time. He only drank some water, nothing else. When He came to the bank of the Ganges, He thought it was the Yamuna, so He entered the water and, standing in the water in His wet clothes, recited the pranam-mantra of Yamuna Devi. When He finished the prayer and opened His eyes, He suddenly saw Advaita Prabhu in a boat.

‘Advaita, you?’ He asked him, greatly surprised. ‘How did you know I was here? How did you know I would come to Vrindavan?’

‘Prabhu, wherever You are, that is Vrindavan,’ Advaita Prabhu replied.

‘What?! What do you mean wherever I am, that is Vrindavan?! Is it not Vrindavan?’ Then Mahaprabhu understood, ‘Oh, Nityananda Prabhu has brought Me here! I wanted to go to Vrindavan, but instead He has brought Me to Shantipur through Kalna! Now I understand it!’

Sri Advaita Prabhu knew everything because Nityananda Prabhu had sent some devotees to inform him that Mahaprabhu was coming to Shantipur, and Sita Devi (Advaita Prabhu’s sakti) had prepared all prasadam and everything else to receive Mahaprabhu at their house. Otherwise, how would he have known? There were no telephones, no mobile phones at that time. How could it be possible? So, Nityananda Prabhu had sent a message to Shantipur, saying, ‘Somehow or other, I am taking Mahaprabhu to your house.’ This is how Advaita Prabhu knew about it, and this is how Mahaprabhu reached Shantipur.

Srila Param Guru Maharaj also said that during this time, the sky of Nabadwip was covered with thick clouds. There was no sun in the sky, and everything was very dark. Even the sun cried because the Lord had left Nabadwip… It was such a sad time when everybody felt very deep separation.

One time, I asked Srila Gurudev what Krishna-katha Keshav Bharati and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had talked about the whole night before Mahaprabhu’s sannyas, and Gurudev told me many things about that pastime. How does one take sannyas? The scriptures say that one must practise brahmacharya until twenty-five, then live as a grihastha from twenty-five to fifty, then live as a vanaprastha from fifty to seventy-five, and only then one can take sannyas and practise sannyas from seventy-five to a hundred years old. However, the main conception is that if you cannot control the ten senses (five bodily senses, karmendriya, and five mental senses, jnanendriya), then you cannot take sannyas even if you are a hundred years old. If you cannot control kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy), ahankar (ego) and all other things, then you cannot take sannyas no matter how old you are.

Mahaprabhu explained so many things. He explained why He wanted to take sannyas and what was necessary. The conversation between Keshav Bharati and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went on in this way the whole day and night. In the end, Keshav Bharati understood everything and told Mahaprabhu, ‘You are the Lord Himself, but You are taking sannyas from me – actually, You are giving mercy to me in this way.’ Not only that, Keshav Bharati had actually first taken the sannyas mantra from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: he had asked the Lord to teach him that mantra, and then he gave that same mantra to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Latest Events
2) Memorable Day In Bamunpara
3) Remembering Mahaprabhu's Sannyas-Lila
4) Ten Days in Shantipur
5) Heart-Breaking Decision
6) Deceitless Dealings
7) Deficiency in Practice