CHAPTER 25
How All the Residents of Varanasi
Became Vaisnavas

The following is a summary of Chapter Twenty-five. A Mahasastrian brahmana
who was living in Benares was a great devotee of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He
was always very happy to hear of the glories of the Lord, and it was by his ar-
rangement that all the sannydasis of Varanasi became devotees of Lord Caitanya
Mahaprabhu. He invited all the sannyasis to his house to meet Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu, and this incident has been described in the Seventh Chapter of Adi-
lila. From that day, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu became famous in the city of
Varanasi, and many important men in that city became His followers. By and by,
one of the disciples of the great sannydsi PrakaSananda Sarasvati became devoted
to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and this devotee explained Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
to Prakasananda Sarasvati and supported His views with various arguments.

One day Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to take a bath at Pafica-nada, and
afterwards all His devotees began chanting the Hare Krsna mantra in front of the
temple of Bindu Madhava. At this time PrakaSananda Sarasvati and all his devo-
tees approached the Lord. PrakaSananda Sarasvati immediately fell down at the
lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and very much regretted his past behavior
toward the Lord. He asked Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu about devotional service in
terms of the Vedanta-stitra, and the Lord told him about devotional service that is
approved by great personalities who know the Vedanta-sutra. Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu then pointed out that Srimad-Bhagavatam is the proper commentary
on the Vedanta-stitra. He then explained the catuh-sloki (four slokas) of Srimad-
Bhagavatam, the essence of that great scripture.

From that day on, all the sannyasis of Varanasi became devotees of Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu. Before returning to His headquarters at jagannatha Puri, the Lord ad-
vised Sanatana Gosvami to go to Vrndavana. The Lord then departed for Jagan-
natha Puri. Kaviraja Gosvami then describes something about Srila Rapa Gosvami,
Sanatana Gosvami and Subuddhi Raya. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu returned to
Jagannatha Puri through the great forest of Jharikhanda in central India. At the end
of this chapter, Kaviraja Gosvami sums up the incidents of Madhya-lild and in-
structs every living being to read this sublime book of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s
pastimes.

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