48 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta [Madhya-lila, Ch. 17
TEXT 95
BAA AAC APA aaa |
‘ara, ‘aw =F faa aie ofa FIc9 Ide ti
dpana-prarabdhe vasi’ vardnasi-sthane
‘maya’, ‘brahma’ sabda vind nahi suni kane
SYNONYMS
apana-prarabdhe—because of my past deeds; vasi’—staying; varanasi-
sthane—in the place known as Varanasi; maya—mdaya; brahma—and brahma;
sabda—the words; vind—except; nahi suni—l do not hear; kane—in the ear.
TRANSLATION
‘Due to my past deeds, | am residing at Varanasi, but here | do not hear
anything but the words maya and Brahman.”
PURPORT
The word prdrabdhe (past deeds) is important in this verse. Since
Candrasekhara was a devotee, he was always eager to hear about Krsna and His
transcendental pastimes. Most of the inhabitants of Benares were and are imper-
sonalists, worshipers of Lord Siva and followers of the paficopasand method. The
impersonalists imagine some form of the impersonal Brahman, and to facilitate
meditation they concentrate upon the forms of Visnu, Siva, Ganesa, Sdrya and
goddess Durga. Actually these paficopdsakas are not devotees of anyone. As it is
said, to be a servant of everyone is to be the servant of no one. Varanasi, or Kaéi, is
the chief holy place of pilgrimage for impersonalists, and it is not at all suitable for
devotees. A Vaisnava likes to live in a visnu-tirtha, a place where Lord Visnu’s
temples are present. In Varanasi there are many hundreds and thousands of Lord
Siva’s temples, or paficopasaka temples. Consequently Candrasekhara expressed
great unhappiness as he informed Lord Caitanya that he was obliged to live at
Benares due to his past misdeeds. In Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu it is also said, durjaty-
arambhakam papam yat syat prarabdham eva tat. “According to one's past
misdeeds, one takes birth on a lower platform.” In the Brahma-sarmhita (5.54) it is
said: karmdani nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhajam. 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 is applicable to karmis,
not bhaktas.
There are three kinds of devotees: those who are eternally on the transcenden-
tal platform (nitya-siddha), those elevated to the transcendental platform by the
execution of devotional service (sédhana-siddha), and those who are neophytes
