XXXII Teachings of Lord Chaitanya

The holy Son fell at the feet of His beloved mother and said, “Mother!
this Body is yours and I must obey your orders. Permit Me to go to Vrin-
daban for My spiritual attainments.” The mother, in consultation with
Advaita and others, asked her Son to reside in Puri, the town of Lord Jagan-
nath, so that she might obtain His information now and then. Mahaprabhu
agreed to that proposition, and in a few days left Santipur for Orissa.

His biographers have described the journey of Krishna Chaitanya (that
was the name He got after His sanyasa) from Santipur to Puri in great detail.
He travelled along the side of the Bhagirathi as far as Chhatrabhog, situated
now in Thana Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour 24 Pergs. There He took a
boat and went as far as Pryag Ghat in the Midnapur District. Thence He
walked through Balasore and Cuttack to Puri, seeing the temple of Bhubanes-
war on His way. Upon His arrival at Puri, He saw Jagannath in the temple,
and put up with Sarvabhauma at the request of the latter.

Sarvabhauma was a gigantic pandit of the day. His readings knew no
bounds. He was the best Naiyaik of the times, and was known as the most
erudite scholar in the Vedanta Philosophy of the school of Shankaracharya.
He was born in Nadia (Vidyanagar) and taught innumerable pupils in the
Nyaya Philosophy in his tol there. He had left for Puri sometime before the
birth of Nimai Pandit. His brother-in-law, Gopinath Misra, introduced our
new Sanyasi to Sarvabhauma, who was astonished at His personal beauty,
and feared that it would be difficult for the young Man to maintain sanyas-
dharma during the long run of His life. Gopinath, who had known Maha-
prabhu from Nadia, had a great reverence for Him and gave out that the
Sanyasi was not a common human being. On this point Gopinath and Sar-
vabhauma had a hot discussion. Sarvabhauma then requested Mahaprabhu
to hear his recitation of the Vedanta Sutras, to which the latter tacitly sub-
mitted.

Chaitanya heard with silence what the great Sarvabhauma uttered with
gravity, for seven days, at the end of which the latter said, “Krishna
Chaitanya! I think You do not understand the Vedanta, as You do not say
anything after hearing my recitation and explanations.”

The reply of Chaitanya was that He understood the sutras very well, but
He could not make out what Shankaracharya meant by his commentaries.

Astonished at this, Sarvabhauma said, “How is it that You understand the
meanings of the sutras and do not understand the commentaries which explain
the sutras? All well! If You understand the sutras, please let me have Your
interpretations!”
