The Life of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
XXXIII
Mahaprabhu thereupon explained all the  sutras  in His own way, without touching the pantheistic commentary of Shankara. The keen understanding of Sarvabhauma saw the truth, beauty and harmony of arguments in the explanations given by Chaitanya, and obliged him to utter that it was the first time that he had found one who could explain the  Brahma Sutras  in such a simple manner. He admitted also that the commentaries of Shankara never gave such natural explanations of the  Vedanta Sutras  as he had obtained from Mahaprabhu. He then submitted himself as an advocate and follower. In a few days Sarvabhauma turned out as one of the best Vaishnavas of the time. Report ran out, and the whole of Orissa sang the praise of Krishna Chaitanya, and hundreds and hundreds came to Him and became His followers. In the meantime, Mahaprabhu thought of visiting Southern India, and He started with one Krishnadas Brahmin for the journey.
His biographers have given us a detail of the journey. He first went to Kurmakshetra, where He did a miracle by curing a leper named Vasudev. He met Ramananda Rai, the governor of Vidyanagar on the banks of the Godavari, and had a philosophical conversation with him on the subject of  Prembhakti , loving devotion. He worked another miracle by touching (making them immediately disappear) the seven Tal trees, through which Ramchandra, the son of Dasarath, had shot His arrow and killed the great Bali Raj. He preached Vaishnavism and nam-samkirtan, chanting of the Holy Names of God, throughout the journey. At Rangakshetra He stayed for four months in the house of one Venkata Bhatta in order to spend the rainy season. There He converted the whole family of Venkata from Ramanuji Vaishnavism into Krishna bhakta, along with the son of Venkata, a boy of ten years named Gopal, who afterwards came to Vrindaban and became one of the six Gosvamins or Prophets serving under their leader Sri Krishna Chaitanya. Trained up in Sanskrit by his uncle Probodhananda Saraswati, Gopal wrote several books on Vaishnavism.
Chaitanya visited numerous places in Southern India as far as Cape Comorin and returned to Puri in two years by Panderpur on the Bhima. In this latter place He spiritualized one Tukaram, who became from that time a religious preacher himself. This fact has been admitted in his  abhangas , which have been collected in a volume by Mr. Satyendra Nath Tagore of the Bombay Civil Service. During His journey He had discussions with the Buddhists, the Jains and the  Mayavadis  in several places, and converted His opponents to Vaishnavism, the worship of God as a Person.
Upon His return to Puri, Raja Prataprudra Dev and several pandit Brah-