from Caitanya Caritamrta Antya Lila chapter 19

[Paramananda das]

Caitanya Caritamrta Antya Lila chapter 19

Text 76: “Because of separation from His many friends in Vṛndāvana, who were like His own life, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu spoke like a madman. His intelligence was transformed. Day and night He rubbed His moonlike face against the walls, and blood flowed from the injuries. May that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu rise in my heart and make me mad with love.”
Text 77: In this way Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stayed immersed day and night in an ocean of ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes He was submerged, and sometimes He floated.
Text 78: One full-moon night in the month of Vaiśākha [April-May], Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to a garden.
Text 79: The Lord, along with His devotees, entered one of the nicest gardens, called Jagannātha-vallabha.
Text 80: In the garden were fully blossomed trees and creepers exactly like those in Vṛndāvana. Bumblebees and birds like the śuka, śārī and pika talked with one another.
Text 81: A mild breeze was blowing, carrying the fragrance of aromatic flowers. The breeze had become a guru and was teaching all the trees and creepers how to dance.
Text 82: Brightly illuminated by the full moon, the trees and creepers glittered in the light.
Text 83: The six seasons, especially spring, seemed present there. Seeing the garden, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was very happy.
Text 84: In this atmosphere, the Lord had His associates sing the verse from the Gīta-govinda beginning with the words “lalita-lavaṅga-latā” as He danced and wandered about with them.
Text 85: As He thus wandered around every tree and creeper, He came beneath an aśoka tree and suddenly saw Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Text 86: When He saw Kṛṣṇa, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu began running very swiftly, but Kṛṣṇa smiled and disappeared.
Text 87: Having gotten Kṛṣṇa and then lost Him, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu fell to the ground unconscious.
Text 88: The entire garden was filled with the scent of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental body. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu smelled it, He fell unconscious at once.
Text 89: But the scent of Kṛṣṇa’s body incessantly entered His nostrils, and the Lord became mad to relish it.
Text 90: Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī once spoke a verse to Her gopī friends describing how She hankers for the transcendental scent of Kṛṣṇa’s body. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recited that same verse and made its meaning clear.
Text 91: “ ‘The scent of Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental body surpasses the aroma of musk and attracts the minds of all women. The eight lotuslike parts of His body distribute the fragrance of lotuses mixed with that of camphor. His body is anointed with aromatic substances like musk, camphor, sandalwood and aguru. O My dear friend, that Personality of Godhead, also known as the enchanter of Cupid, always increases the desire of My nostrils.’
Text 92: “The scent of Kṛṣṇa’s body surpasses the fragrances of musk and the bluish lotus flower. Spreading throughout the fourteen worlds, it attracts everyone and makes the eyes of all women blind.
Text 93: “My dear friend, the scent of Kṛṣṇa’s body enchants the entire world. It especially enters the nostrils of women and remains seated there. Thus it captures them and forcibly brings them to Kṛṣṇa.
Text 94: “Kṛṣṇa’s eyes, navel and face, hands and feet are like eight lotus flowers on His body. From those eight lotuses emanates a fragrance like a mixture of camphor and lotus. That is the scent associated with His body.
Text 95: “When sandalwood pulp is mixed with aguru, kuṅkuma, musk and camphor and spread on Kṛṣṇa’s body, it combines with Kṛṣṇa’s own original bodily perfume and seems to cover it.
Text 96: “The scent of Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental body is so attractive that it enchants the bodies and minds of all women. It bewilders their nostrils, loosens their belts and hair, and makes them madwomen. All the women of the world come under its influence, and therefore the scent of Kṛṣṇa’s body is like a plunderer.
Text 97: “Falling completely under its influence, the nostrils yearn for it continuously, although sometimes they obtain it and sometimes not. When they do they drink their fill, though they still want more and more, but if they don’t, out of thirst they die.
Caitanya Caritamrta chapter 19