Lord Chaitanya and serpent Kaliya
20 March: When at Vrindavan, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would sit in a solitary place to chant the holy name until noon. In the afternoon people were able to speak to Him. The Lord would tell everyone the importance of chanting of the holy name. At that time, Krishnadas, a Vaishnava came to see Mahaprabhu. He was Kshatriya and a householder. After taking a dip at Kesi-tirtha, while going towards Kaliya-daha, he saw Mahaprabhu sitting at Amlitala. He was astonished by Lord’s personal beauty and out of ecstatic love he offered his respectful obeisances to the Lord. Mahaprabhu asked him, “ Who are you? Where is your house?” He replied, ‘I am a most fallen householder. I belong to Rajputa caste and my house is on the other side of Yamuna. However I wish to serve the Vaishnava. Today I had a dream and according to that dream I have come here and found You.’
Mahaprabhu bestowed His mercy upon him by embracing him. Krishnadas turned mad with ecstatic love and began to dance and chant the holy name of Lord. Krishnadas then returned to Akrura-tirtha with the Lord and received the remnants of Lord’s food. The next morning Krishnadas went with Mahaprabhu to Vrindavan and carried His water pot. Krishnadas thus left his wife, home and children in order to remain with Sri Mahaprabhu.
Wherever the Lord went, all people quoted that Krishna has again manifested at Vrindavan. One morning many came to Akrura-tirtha. As they came from Vrindavan, they made a tumultuous sound. They offered their respects to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Mahprabhu asked them that from where they all were coming?
The people replied, “Krishna has again manifested Himself on the waters of Kaliya Lake. He dances on the hoods of the serpent Kaliya, and the jewels on those hoods are blazing. Everyone has see Lord Krishna Himself. There is no doubt about.” Hearing this, Sri Mahaprabhu began to laugh and said, ‘Everything is correct.’
For three successive nights people went to Kaliya-daha to see Krishna and everyone returned and said, ‘Now we have seen Krishna Himself.’ Everyone would come before Mahaprabhu and say, ‘ Now we have directly seen Lord Krishna’. Thus by mercy of goddess Sarasvati they were speaking truth. When people saw Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they actually saw Krishna, but because they were following their own imperfect knowledge, they accepted the wrong thing as Krishna.
At that time Balabhadra Bhattacharya requested Sri Mahaprabhu, ‘Please give me permission to go and see Lord Krishna directly.’
Sri Mahaprabhu mercifully slapped him and said, ‘you are a learned scholar, but you have become a fool, influenced by the statements of other fools. Why would Krishna appear in the age of Kali? Foolish people who are mistaken are simply causing agitation and creating chaos. Do not become mad. Sit here and tomorrow night you will go and see Krishna.’
The nest morning some respectable gentlemen cam to see Sriman Mahaprabhu and the Lord asked them, “Have you seen Krishna?”
They replied, “At night in Kaliya Lake a fisherman lights a torch in his boat and catches many fish. From distance, people mistakenly think that they are seeing Krishna dancing on the body of the Kaliya serpent. These fools think that the boat is the Kaliya serpent and the torchlight the jewels on his hoods. People also mistake the fisherman for Krishna. Actually Lord Krishna has returned to Vrindavan. That is truth, and it is also true that people have seen Him. But where they are seeing Krishna is their mistake. It is like considering a dry tree to be a person.”
Sriman Mahaprabhu then asked them, “Where have you seen Krishna directly?” They replied, ‘You are a sannyasi; therefore You are a moving Narayana. You have appeared in Vrindavan as an incarnation of Krishna. Just by seeing You, everyone is now liberated’.
Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu immediately exclaimed, “Vishnu! Vishnu! Do not call Me the Supreme. A jiva cannot become Krishna at any time. Do not even say such a thing! A living entity and the Absolute are never to be considered equal, just as a fragmental spark can never be considered the original flame. The Supreme Controller is always full of transcendental bliss and is accompanied by potencies hladini and samvit. The conditioned soul is always covered by ignorance and embarrassed by the threefold miseries of life. Thus he is a treasure house of all kinds of tribulations. A foolish person who says that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the same as the living entity is an atheist, and he becomes subject to punishment by the superintendent of death, Yamaraja. A person who considers demigods like Brahma and Siva to be on an equal level with Narayana is to be considered an offender.”
After listening to Sriman Mahaprabhu, the people said, “No one considers You an ordinary human being. You are like Krishna in every respect, in both bodily features and characteristics. By Your bodily features we can see that You are none other than the son of Nand Maharaj, although the golden luster of Your body has covered Your original complexion. As wrapping it in a cloth cannot conceal the aroma of deer musk, Your characteristics as The Supreme Absolute cannot be concealed by any means. Your characteristics are uncommon and beyond imagination of an ordinary living being. By seeing You, the entire universe becomes mad with ecstatic love for Krishna. If they see You just once, even women, children, old men, meat eaters and members of the lowest caste immediately chant the holy name of Krishna, dance like madmen and become spiritual masters capable of delivering the whole world. Apart from seeing You, whoever listen to Your holy name turns mad with ecstatic love for Krishna and is able to deliver the three worlds. BY hearing Your holy name, dog-eaters become holy saints. Your uncommon potencies cannot be described in words. These glories of Yours are only marginal. Originally You are the son of Nand Maharaj”
Sriman Mahaprabhu then bestowed His causeless mercy upon all of them and everyone turned ecstatic with love of Godhead. Finally they all returned to their homes. (From CC, Madhya Ch: 18)
