Introduction 21

In the meantime the companions of the Lord, who reached the temple
a little after Him, heard of the Lord’s transcendental feats and of His being
carried away by the Bhattacarya. The pilgrims at the temple were still
gossiping about the incident. But by chance, one of these pilgrims had met
Gopinatha Acarya, who was known to Gadadhara Pandit, and from him it
was learned that the Lord was lying in an unconscious state at the resi-
dence of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, who happened to be the brother-in-law
of Gopinatha Acarya. All the members of the party were introduced by
Gadadhara Pandit to Gopinatha Acarya, who took them all to the house
of Bhattacarya where the Lord was lying unconscious in a spiritual trance.
All the members then chanted loudly the holy name of the Lord Hari as
usual, and the Lord regained His consciousness. After this, Bhattacarya
received all the members of the party, including Lord Nityananda Prabhu,
and asked them to become his guests of honor. The party, including the
Lord, went for a bath in the sea, and the Bhattacarya arranged for their
residence and meals at the house of KaSi Misra. Gopinatha Aca@rya, his
brother-in-law, also assisted. There were some friendly talks about the
Lord’s divinity between the two brothers-in-law, and in this argument
Gopinatha Acarya, who knew the Lord before, now tried to establish the
Lord as the Personality of Godhead, and the Bhattacarya tried to establish
Him as one of the great devotees. Both of them argued from the angle of
vision of authentic sdstras and not on the strength of sentimental vox
populi. The incarnations of God are determined by authentic sastras and
not by popular votes of foolish fanatics. Lord Caitanya was an incarnation
of God in fact, but foolish fanatics have proclaimed so many so-called
incarnations of God in this age without referring to authentic scriptures.
But Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya or Gopinatha Acarya did not indulge in
such foolish sentimentalism; on the contrary, both of them tried to estab-
lish or reject His divinity on the strength of authentic sastras.

Later it was disclosed that Bhattacarya also came from the Navadvipa
area, and it was understood from him that Nilambara Cakravarti, the
maternal grandfather of Lord Caitanya, happened to be a class fellow of
the father of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. In that sense, the young sannyadsi
Lord Caitanya evoked paternal affection from Bhattacdrya. Bhattacarya
was the professor of many sannydsis in the order of the Sankaracarya
sampradaya, and he himself also belonged to that cult. As such, the
Bhattacarya desired that the young sannyasi Lord Caitanya also hear from
him about the teachings of Vedanta.

Those who are followers of the Sankara cult are generally known as
