The Life of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu XXXII

Mahaprabhu thereupon explained all the sutras in His own way, without
touching the pantheistic commentary of Shankara. The keen understanding
of Sarvabhauma saw the truth, beauty and harmony of arguments in the
explanations given by Chaitanya, and obliged him to utter that it was the
first time that he had found one who could explain the Brahma Sutras in such
a simple manner. He admitted also that the commentaries of Shankara never
gave such natural explanations of the Vedanta Sutras as he had obtained from
Mahaprabhu. He then submitted himself as an advocate and follower. In a
few days Sarvabhauma turned out as one of the best Vaishnavas of the time.
Report ran out, and the whole of Orissa sang the praise of Krishna Chaitanya,
and hundreds and hundreds came to Him and became His followers. In the
meantime, Mahaprabhu thought of visiting Southern India, and He started
with one Krishnadas Brahmin for the journey.

His biographers have given us a detail of the journey. He first went to
Kurmakshetra, where He did a miracle by curing a leper named Vasudev.
He met Ramananda Rai, the governor of Vidyanagar on the banks of the
Godavari, and had a philosophical conversation with him on the subject of
Prembhakti, loving devotion. He worked another miracle by touching (making
them immediately disappear) the seven Tal trees, through which Ramchandra,
the son of Dasarath, had shot His arrow and killed the great Bali Raj. He
preached Vaishnavism and nam-samkirtan, chanting of the Holy Names of
God, throughout the journey. At Rangakshetra He stayed for four months
in the house of one Venkata Bhatta in order to spend the rainy season. There
He converted the whole family of Venkata from Ramanuji Vaishnavism
into Krishna bhakta, along with the son of Venkata, a boy of ten years named
Gopal, who afterwards came to Vrindaban and became one of the six Gosva-
mins or Prophets serving under their leader Sri Krishna Chaitanya. Trained
up in Sanskrit by his uncle Probodhananda Saraswati, Gopal wrote several
books on Vaishnavism.

Chaitanya visited numerous places in Southern India as far as Cape Com-
orin and returned to Puri in two years by Panderpur on the Bhima. In this
latter place He spiritualized one Tukaram, who became from that time a
religious preacher himself. This fact has been admitted in his abhangas, which
have been collected in a volume by Mr. Satyendra Nath Tagore of the Bombay
Civil Service. During His journey He had discussions with the Buddhists,
the Jains and the Mayavadis in several places, and converted His opponents
to Vaishnavism, the worship of God as a Person.

Upon His return to Puri, Raja Prataprudra Dev and several pandit Brah-
