Text 177) The Lord’s Return to Jagannatha Puri 197
TRANSLATION

Brahmananda Bharati continued, ‘Since | have seen You, | have been feeling
Lord Krsna’s presence in my mind and have been seeing Him before my eyes. |
now want to chant the holy name of Lord Krsna. Over and above this, within
my heart | consider You to be Krsna, and | am therefore very eager to serve
You.

TEXT 177
Fereaserer OTe CATE HH TATA |
Bai cafe HS wat SBA SAA 1399 0
bilvamangala kaila yaiche dasa dpandra
ihan dekhi’ sei dasa ha-ila amdra
SYNONYMS

bilva-mangala—Bilvamangala; kaila—did; yaiche—as; dasé—condition;
dpandra—his own; ihan—here; dekhi’—I see; sei dasa—that condition; ha-ila—
became; a4mdra—mine.

TRANSLATION

“Bilvamangala Thakura abandoned his impersonal realization for the
realization of the Personality of Godhead. | now see that my condition is simi-
lar to his, for it has already changed.”

PURPORT

In his early life, Bilvamangala Thakura was an impersonalist monist, and he used
to meditate upon the impersonal Brahman effulgence. Later he became a devotee
of Lord Krsna, and his explanation for this change is given ina verse [text 178] that
is quoted in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. Gradually one comes to the stage of
Bhagavan realization, realization of the Supreme Person, after having attained the
lower stages of realization—impersonal Brahman realization and localized
Paramatmii realization. This is described in Caitanya-candramrta (5) by Prabodha-
nanda Sarasvati:

kaivalyam narakayate tridasa-pur akasa-puspayate
durdantendriya-kdla-sarpa-patali protkhata-damstrayate
visvam parna-sukhayate vidhi-mahendrdadis ca kitayate
yat-karunya-kataéksa-vaibhava-vatam tarn gauram eva stamah

Kaivalya, oneness in the effulgence of Brahman, appears hellish to the devotee.

The heavenly planets, the abodes of the demigods, appear to a devotee like
