242 Teachings of Lord Chaitanya

opulence like the Lord, and (5) merging into the existence of the Lord, a
devotee is satisfied being engaged in the transcendental loving service of the
Lord, without any particular interest for any one of the above mentioned
kinds of state of liberation. Specifically, a devotee is most averse to merging
into the existence of the Lord, and becoming without any individual identity.
A devotee considers oneness with the Lord as worse than hell, even though he
may accept one of the other four kinds of liberation in consideration of being
engaged in the service of the Lord. Of the two possibilities for merging in the
Transcendence, namely, (1) becoming one with the Impersonal Brahman
effulgence, and (2) becoming one with the Personality of Godhead, the latter
is still more abominable to a devotee. The devotee has no other aspiration than
to be always engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. On
hearing this, Lord Chaitanya informed Bhattacharya that there is another
purport of the word Mukti. Muktipada means directly the Personality of
Godhead. That is to say, the Personality of Godhead has innumerable liberated
souls engaged in His transcendental loving service, or He is the ultimate Resort
for the ninth subject, called liberation. So, in either of the above mentioned
im port, Krishna becomes the ultimate Shelter. Sarvabhouma replied, “In-
spite of such import, I prefer Bhakti to Mukti. Although according to You,
there are two kinds of imports of the word Mukti, still, because this sound is
equivocal, I shall prefer directly Bhakti to Mukti because by direct perception,
Mukti refers to the context of becoming one with the Supreme. I therefore
hate to utter the word Mukti, and I feel enthusiastic in uttering the word
Bhakti.” At this, Lord Chaitanya laughed very loudly, and embraced the
Bhattacharya with great love.

Thus the same Bhattacharya who took pleasure in explaining Mayavadi
philosophy became a staunch devotee, so much so that he hated to utter the
word Mukti. This is only possible by the causeless mercy of Lord Sri Chai-
tanya, and by His Grace He can turn iron into gold, like a touchstone. After
this incident, all persons marked a great change in the Bhattacharya and they
concluded that this was possible only by the inconceivable power of Lord
Chaitanya. And they took it for granted that Lord Chaitanya was none other
than Lord Krishna Himself.
