158 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta [Madhya-lila, Ch. 5
TRANSLATION

“‘My dear Lord, You are not a statue; You are directly the son of Maharaja
Nanda. Now, for the sake of the old brahmana, You can do something You have
never done before.”

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hasifd gopala kahe, — “sunaha, brahmana
tomara pache pache ami kariba gamana
SYNONYMS

hasifia—smiling; gopala—the Lord Gopala; kahe—says; sunaha—just hear;
brahmana—O my dear braéhmana; tomara—you; pache pache—behind; ami—t;
kariba—shall do; gamana—walking.

TRANSLATION

Sri Gopalaji then smiled and said: “My dear brahmana, just listen to Me. |

shall walk behind you, and in this way | shall go with you.”
PURPORT

The conversation between Lord Sri Krsna and the brahmana is proof that the
Lord in His arcd-mdrti, or form made of material elements, is not material, for those
elements, although separated from the Lord, are also a part of the Lord’s energy, as
stated in Bhagavad-gita. Because the elements are the Lord’s own energy and be-
cause there is no difference between the energy and the energetic, the Lord can
appear through any element. Just as the sun can act through the sunshine and
thus distribute its heat and light, so Krsna, by His inconceivable power, can appear
in His original spiritual form in any material element, including stone, wood, paint,
gold, silver and jewels, because the material elements are all His energy. The
sastras warn, arcye visnau sila-dhih: one should never think of the arca-mdrti, the
Deity within the temple, as stone, wood or any other material element Because
of his advanced devotional position, the younger brahmana knew that although
the Deity of Gopala appeared to be stone, He was not stone. He was the son of
Nanda Maharaja, Vrajendra-nandana Himself.

As such, the Deity can act exactly as the Lord did in His original form as Krsna.
Lord Krsna was talking to the young brahmana just to test his knowledge about
the arca-vigraha. In other words, those who have understood the science of
Krsna—Krsna’s name, form, quality and so forth—can also talk with the Deity. To
