Lord Caitanya's Ecstatic Moods
The pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are also completely spiritual and transcendental. They are elaborately described in several sixteenth-century Gaudiya Vaishnava texts such as Sri Caitanya-carita by Murari Gupta, Sri Caitanya-mangala by Locana dasa Thakura, Sri Caitanya-bhagavata by Vrndavana dasa Thakura and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami. As the divine incarnation of Radha and Krsna combined, Lord Gauranga tasted the ecstatic moods of not only Srimati Radharani but also Her various sakti expansions—Rukmini, Laksmi, Durga and so on. These cross-gender pastimes are recounted in the above-mentioned texts as follows:
One day Lord Gauranga, entering the mood of a cowherd damsel, dressed up as a gopi. He wore a bodice, sari, golden ankle bells and conch shell bangles. His eyes swam in rasa. His waist was very attractive and slim as a fist. The unparalleled beauty of the Lord’s gopi dress enchanted the three worlds. The effulgence of His bodily limbs was transcendental. The fragrant malati garlands swinging from His golden neck looked like the celestial Ganges rushing down golden Mount Sumeru. Gaura Nataraja, the king of all dancers, relished various ecstatic moods of prema [divine love] as He danced.
(Sri Caitanya-mangala 2.9, p. 186)As Lord Visvambhara [Caitanya] put on His gopi dress inside one of the rooms, He became fully absorbed in the mood of Goddess Rukmini. Being absorbed in Her mood, the Lord forgot Himself and considered Himself as the daughter of the Vidarbha king. He then began to write a letter using His tears as ink, the ground as paper and His finger as a pen. He cried as He read Rukmini’s letter consisting of seven verses from the Srimad Bhagavatam. The Supreme Lord becomes the husband of one who hears the purport of those seven verses.
(Sri Caitanya-bhagavata 2.18.70-74)As Visvambhara danced in the mood of the mother of the universe, His followers sang appropriate songs. No one was certain in which consort’s mood Lord Narayana was dancing. When He inquired, “O brahmana, has Krsna come?” then it was understood that He was in the mood of a young lady of Vidarbha [Rukmini]. When the devotees saw tears of ecstasy flow from His eyes, they considered Him to be the Ganges personified. When He laughed loudly in ecstatic love, He appeared to everyone just like Mahachandi [Durga]. When the Lord staggered about while dancing, He appeared just like Revati [Lord Balarama’s consort] after She had drunk some intoxicating beverage. Another time when He said, “Come, dear old lady, let us go to Vrndavana,” they understood that He was in the mood of a beautiful girl from Gokula [Sri Radha]. When He sat for meditation in the virasana posture, everyone saw Him as the goddess of millions of mystic perfections. As the Lord danced in the dress of Rukmini, He manifested the role of all His various consorts from innumerable universes.
(Sri Caitanya-bhagavata 2.18.138-146)
In Lord Caitanya’s crossdressing pastimes at the home of Candrasekhara, the Lord dressed up as the Supreme Goddess, Nityananda Rama as Paurnamasi [Yogamaya in the form of an elderly woman], Gadadhara Pandita as Rukmini, Brahmananda as Her elderly female companion [Suprabha], Srivasa as Narada Muni, and Srirama as someone who had just bathed. Haridasa was the master of ceremonies and Sriman Prabhu held the torch. Buddhimanta Khan and Sadasiva prepared the costumes and set up the stage. Advaita Acarya came as Himself and the Gopinatha Deity, seated on a throne, served as the play’s hero:
Once, the sense-controlled great Lord with His moon-like face and smile of nectar dressed Himself in sublime women’s attire and performed a drama with His associates in the courtyard of Candrasekhara.Like a gopi, He wore a beautiful bodice on His chest, bracelets made of tiny conch shells, and a saffron dress around His very slender waist. He danced with sweet lotus feet, celebrated by tinkling ankle bells.
The Lord began to blissfully sing and dance with much energy. Then replete with ecstasy and loveliness, He played the part of the Goddess of fortune. The Goddess humbly approached the Deity form of Krsna in the middle of the temple. She took some jasmine flowers from the Deity with the hem of Her new sari and as She offered them again to Him, Her heart became filled with prema-bhakti-rasa, like the affection of ten million mothers.
A moment later, the Lord entered the all-powerful mood of goddess Durga. The people became enlivened and offered praises by chanting excellent hymns composed by the saints.
Then, the Lord, who is known as the annihilator of the armies of the demons, gave breast milk to those most exalted of godly men. And, as they gazed upon the Supreme Lord, whose beautiful eyes were filled with tender compassion, His associates felt joy.
(Sri Caitanya-carita 2.15-16)In the mood of a mother, Visvambhara affectionately breast-fed everyone. The Lord personally manifested as the mother of the universe in the form of Kamala, Parvati, Daya, and Maha-Narayani. The Lord confirmed His statement in the Bhagavad Gita (9.17), “I am the father of this universe, the mother, the support, and the grandsire.” All those Vaishnavas, who had been most fortunate for millions of lifetimes, now blissfully drank milk from the Lord’s breast. By drinking the Lord’s breast milk, their feelings of separation were mitigated and they became greatly maddened in the mellows of ecstatic love.
(Sri Caitanya-bhagavata 2.18.203-208)
Sri Gadadhara Pandita’s crossdressing dance and inner identity as Sri Radha are also described very nicely as follows:
Gadadhara danced wonderfully in the dress of Rama [Rukmini], the Goddess of fortune, as his companion sang appropriate songs. Who would not become overwhelmed and cry on seeing the dancing of Gadadhara? Drenched by tears of love flowing like a river from Gadadhara’s eyes, the earth considered herself fortunate. Gadadhara appeared like the personification of the Ganges. In fact, he is the potency of Lord Krsna. Lord Caitanya has repeatedly declared, “Gadadhara is My consort in Vaikuntha”…The sound of crying in ecstatic love for Krsna was heard everywhere as the son of Madhava [Gadadhara] danced in the dress of a gopi.
(Sri Caitanya-bhagavata 2.18.112-119)Then Srivasa said, “Gadadhara, listen to me. I know all about your past. You are also a gopi. Previously, you and all the other devotees here were in Vraja Gokula. Rejecting your attachments to your husbands, you all rendered loving service to Sri Krsna. Gadadhara, as Radharani, you are the principal energy of Lord Krsna. You are the main gopi and dearmost lover of Sri Krsna.
(Sri Caitanya-mangala 2.9, p. 185)
Lord Caitanya exhibited further displays of ecstatic emotion while attending the annual Ratha-yatra festival at Jagannatha Puri. Absorbed in the mood of Srimati Radharani, the Lord danced ecstatically before the Jagannatha Deity with an intense desire to bring Him back to the pleasure forests of Sri Vrndavana. These ecstatic loving emotions (bhavas) are vividly described in the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta as follows:
When Caitanya Mahaprabhu danced and jumped high, eight wonderful transformations indicative of divine ecstasy were seen in His body. All these symptoms were visible simultaneously. His skin erupted with goose pimples and the hairs of His body stood on end. His body resembled the simuli [silk cotton tree], all covered with thorns. Indeed, people became afraid just to see His teeth chatter and they even thought that His teeth would fall out. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s whole body flowed with perspiration and at the same time oozed blood. He made the sounds “jaja gaga, jaja gaga” in a voice choked with ecstasy. Tears came forcefully from the eyes of the Lord, as if from a syringe, and all the people surrounding Him became wet. Everyone saw the complexion of His body change from white to pink, so that His luster resembled that of the mallika flower. Sometimes He appeared stunned, and sometimes He rolled on the ground. Indeed, sometimes His legs and hands became as hard as dry wood, and He did not move. When the Lord fell to the ground, sometimes His breathing almost stopped. When the devotees saw this, their lives also became very feeble. Water flowed from His eyes and sometimes through His nostrils, and foam fell from His mouth. These flowings appeared to be torrents of nectar descending from the moon.
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta 2.13.101-109)
During the latter period of His life, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu continually experienced Radha’s intense feelings of loving separation from Krsna. He would often lose consciousness, walk about aimlessly, strike His head against the wall, or sometimes rush into the ocean:
Lord Caitanya was constantly engaged in remembrance of Vrndavana. There, He would search for Sri Krsna in the divine groves and bowers. Once, thinking the ocean to be the Yamuna, He fell into the ocean and was later found by His bhaktas, led by Svarupa Damodara. At all times, His five senses—eyes, ears, tongue, nose, and skin—were forcibly attracted to the five features of Krsna, namely His transcendental form, sound, taste, smell, and touch.Once, in a devotional trance, He fell down amidst a herd of cows and His body took on the shape of a tortoise. After returning to external consciousness, He chattered incessantly and described the rasa dance pastimes while absorbed in deep remembrance of that experience.
Upon seeing the Cataka sand dune, He mistook it for Govardhana Hill. Wherever He was, being absorbed in the ecstatic mood of the gopis, He would relish the nectar of Krsna’s lips.
Simply by such sweet remembrance, the symptoms of divine madness automatically appeared in the body of Bhagavan Caitanya, who is the very personification of the mellows of prema-bhakti-rasa. Sri Gauranga’s entire body was thus always pervaded by the eight sattvika-bhavas, the physical manifestations of transcendental ecstasy.
(Sri Caitanya-carita 4.24.3-8)
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