48
Šri Caitanya-caritāmrta
[[Madhya-lilā Ch 17
TEXT 05
আপন-প্রাবন্ধে বসি’  বাবাণসী-স্কানে।।
“ मामा! , “ लक्ष्मी  मक्का बिना ना कि एगो काटी ॥ 
२८ ॥
āpana-prārabdhe vasi’ vārāṇasī-sthāne ‘māyā’, ‘brahma’ śabda vinā nāhi śuni kāne.
SYNONYMS
āpana-prārabdhe —because of my past deeds;  vasi' —staying;  varaṇasī-sthāne —in the place known as Vārāṇasī;  māyā — māyā ;  brahma —and  brahma ;  śabda —the words;  vinā —except;  nāhi śuni —I do not hear;  kāne —in the ear.
TRANSLATION
“Due to my past deeds, I am residing at Vārāṇasī, but here I do not hear anything but the words māyā and Brahman.”
PURPORT
The word  pārabdhe  (past deeds) is important in this verse. Since Candraśekhara was a devotee, he was always eager to hear about Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental pastimes. Most of the inhabitants of Benares were and are impersonalists, worshipers of Lord Śiva and followers of the  pañcopāsanā  method. The impersonalists imagine some form of the impersonal Brahman, and to facilitate meditation they concentrate upon the forms of Viṣṇu, Śiva, Gaṇeśa, Sūrya and goddess Durgā. Actually these  pañcopāsakas  are not devotees of anyone. As it is said, to be a servant of everyone is to be the servant of no one. Vārāṇasī, or Kāśī, is the chief holy place of pilgrimage for impersonalists, and it is not at all suitable for devotees. A Vaiṣṇava likes to live in a  viṣṇu-tīrtha , a place where Lord Viṣṇu's temples are present. In Vārāṇasī there are many hundreds and thousands of Lord Śiva's temples, or  pañcopāsaka  temples. Consequently Candraśekhara expressed great unhappiness as he informed Lord Caitanya that he was obliged to live at Benares due to his past misdeeds. In  Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu  it is also said,  durjātyārambhakaṁ pāpaṁ yat syāt prārabdham eva tat . "According to one's past misdeeds, one takes birth on a lower platform." In the  Brahma-saṁhitā  (5.54) it is said:  karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām . There is no  karma  attached to the past deeds or misdeeds of one in devotional service. A devotee is not subjected to  karma-phala , the effect of fruitive activity.  Karma-phala
There are three kinds of devotees: those who are eternally on the transcendental platform ( nitya-siddha ), those elevated to the transcendental platform by the execution of devotional service ( sādhana-siddha ), and those who are neophytes