300 Sri Caitanya-caritimrta (Madhya-lila, Ch. 11

sei ghara dmake deha’——dche prayojana
nibhrte vasiyd tahan kariba smarana

SYNONYMS

sei ghara—that room; amake deha’—please give to Me; ache prayojana—there
is necessity; nibhrte—in the solitary place; vasiya—sitting; tahan—there; kariba
smarana-| shall remember the lotus feet of the Lord.

TRANSLATION

“Please give that room to Me, for | have need for it. Indeed, | shall remem-
ber the lotus feet of the Lord sitting in that solitary place.”

PURPORT

This statement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is significant. Nibhrte vasiyad tahan
kariba smarana: “| shall sit down there in that solitary place and remember the
lotus feet of the Lord.” Neophyte students are not to imitate sitting in a solitary
place and remembering the lotus feet of the Lord by chanting the Hare Krsna
maha-mantra. We should always remember that it was Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
Himself who wanted such a place, either for Himself or Haridasa Thakura. No one
can suddenly attain the level of Haridasa Thakura and sit down in a solitary place
to chant the Hare Krsna mahd-mantra and remember the lotus feet of the Lord.
Only an exalted person like Haridasa Thakura or Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is
personally exhibiting the proper behavior for an acdrya, can engage in such a prac-
tice.

At the present moment we see that some of the members of the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness are tending to leave their preaching activities in
order to sit in a solitary place. This is not a very good sign. It is a fact that Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura has condemned this process for neophytes. He
has even stated in a song: pratisthdra tare, nirjanera ghare, tava hari-nama kevala
kaitava. Sitting in a solitary place intending to chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is
considered a cheating process. This practice is not possible for neophytes at all.
The neophyte devotee must act and work very laboriously under the direction of
the spiritual master, and he must thus preach the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Only after maturing in devotion can he sit down in a solitary place to chant the
Hare Krsna mahd-mantra as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself did. Although $17
Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He nonetheless
traveled all over India continuously for six years and then retired at Jagannatha
Puri to teach us a lesson. Even at Jagannatha Puri the Lord chanted the Hare Krsna
maha-mantra in a great meeting at the Jagannatha temple. The point is that one
should not try to imitate Haridasa Thakura at the beginning of one’s transcenden-
tal life. One must first become very mature in devotion and thus receive the ap-
