Text 19]
Pastimes of the Lord in His Youth
267
SYNONYMS
tabe —thereafter;  sapta-prahara —twenty-one hours;  chilā —remained;  prabhu —the Lord;  bhāva-āveśe —in ecstasy;  yathā —anywhere;  tathā —everywhere;  bhakta-gaṇa —the devotees;  dekhila —saw;  viśeṣe —specifically.
TRANSLATION
After this incident, the Lord remained in an ecstatic position for twenty-one hours, and all the devotees saw His specific pastimes.
PURPORT
In the Deity's room there must be a bed for the Deity behind the Deity's throne. (This system should immediately be introduced in all our centers. It does not matter whether the bed is big or small; it should be of a size the Deity room can conveniently accommodate, but there must be at least a small bed.) One day in the house of Śrīvāsa Thākura, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu sat down on the bed of Viṣṇu, and all the devotees worshiped Him with the Vedic  mantras  of the  Puruṣa-sūkta , beginning with  sahasra-śīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasra-pāt . This  veda-stuti  should also be introduced, if possible, for installations of Deities. While bathing the Deity, all the priests and devotees must chant this  Puruṣa-sūkta  and offer the appropriate paraphernalia for worshiping the Deity, such as flowers, fruits, incense,  ārātrika  paraphernalia,  naivedya ,  vastra  and ornaments. All the devotees worshiped Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in this way, and the Lord remained in ecstasy for seven  praharas , or twenty-one hours. He took this opportunity to show the devotees that He is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who is the source of all other incarnations, as confirmed in  Bhagavad-gītā  ( ahaṁ sarvasya prabhava mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate ). All the different forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or  viṣṇu-tattva , emanate from the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu exposed all the private desires of the devotees, and thus all of them became fully confident that Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Some devotees call this exhibition of ecstasy by the Lord  sāta-prahariyā bhāva , or “the ecstasy of twenty-one hours,” and others call it  mahābhāva-prakāśa  or  mahā-prakāśa . There are other descriptions of this  sāta-prahariyā bhāva  in the  Caitanya-bhāvagata , Chapter Nine, which mentions that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu blessed a maidservant named Duḥkhī with the name Sukhī. He called for Śrīdhara, whose name was Kholāvecā Śrīdhara, and showed him His  mahā-prakāśa . Then He called for Murāri Gupta and showed him His feature as Lord Rāmacandra. He offered His blessings to Haridāsa Thākura, and at this time He also asked Advaita Prabhu to explain  Bhagavad-gītā  as it is ( gītāra satya-pāṭha ) and showed special favor to Mukunda.
TEXT 19
বরাহ-আবেশ হৈলা মুরারি-ভবনে ।
তার স্বক্ষে চড়ি প্রভু নাচিলা অজনে ॥ ১৯ ॥