Vrindavan, 2015.11.22 (VT): The temple town of Vrindavan is being gripped by Harinam fervor on the 500th anniversary of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s coming to Vrindavan.
Mahaprabhu arrived in Vrindavan on the day of Karttik Purnima in the year 1515. The celebration of his arrival here coincides with Karttik Niyam seva which has doubled the excitement of the devotees.
A grand celebration to glorify Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is being organized at Imlitala, which is the place where Mahaprabhu used to sit for several hours each day after taking bath in the Yamuna, immersed in Krishna consciousness.
Every day several renowned scholars, priests, saints and preachers have been delivering a discourse. Some of the speakers who have glorified Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and preached his pastimes at Imlitala were Shri Pundrik Goswami, Shri Radhanath Swami, Dr. Achyutalal Bhatt, Tridandi Swami B.V. Madhusudana, Swami B.A. Paramadvaiti, etc.
On the 3rd and 4th days of the celebration I had the opportunity to hear Shrivatsa Goswamiji speak. Shrivatsa Goswami is a sevait of the Radharaman deity who runs the Shri Chaitanya Prema Sansthan out of Jai Singh Ghera.
Goswamiji glorified Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and elaborately described the reason for his appearance. Maharaj ji sang several bhajans while glorifying Gouranga. When he sang the bhajan Amader Pran Gora Rai (“Gaura is our life and soul”), the devotees became overwhelmed and tears rolled down from their eyes. The audience was mesmerized as the nectar of the pastimes of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was being delivered.
Shrivatsa ji stressed, “Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, being Shri Krishna himself, can’t be contradicted. Shri Krishna manifested his appearance in this world in order to enlighten it with his causeless mercy, distributing the highest loving service to himself, which had never been granted to any conditioned soul prior to his appearance.
Shri Krishna descended on the earth as a spiritual master in the form of Mahaprabhu and proclaimed the Naam Sankirtan, enabling the souls of even the in the sinful age of Kaliyuga, to attain the absolute truth.
“Shri Krishna wanted to experience the ecstatic bliss of Radha’s love towards him, by carrying her heart in him. Therefore Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared as the combination of Radha and Krishna,” added Goswami ji.
He recited many shlokas from Shrimad Bhagvatam, the Vedas and Puranas supporting Mahaprabhu’s incarnation.
According to Shrimad Bhagvatam 1.7.13-14, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was Krishna himself in the garb of a devotee of Krishna and therefore the version of both Lord Krishna and Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu are identical.
“Sometimes Shri Krishna himself wonders how much transcendental pleasure is within him, and in order to taste his own potency, he sometimes takes the position of tasting himself. Lord Chaitanya is Krishna himself, but he appears as a devotee to taste the sweetness of the transcendental mellow in himself, which is tasted by Shrimati Radha Rani the greatest of all devotees, as indicated in Shrimad Bhagvatam 3.33.4.
In the Adi Purana and in Narada Purana, the Lord says, “I shall advent in the form of a Brahmana devotee (aham eva dvija shreshtho), I shall hide my factual identity (pracchanna vigraha), and I shall deliver all the worlds (lokam raksami sarvada).
Several devotional events are being organized in Vrindavan to commemorate Mahaprabhu’s arrival in Vrindavan. The devotees from Puri walked to Vrindavan following the difficult route passing through the dense forests of Jharkhand, mountains and rivers.
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