THE DISCOURSE BETWEEN THE CHAND KAZI AND LORD CAITANYA MAHAPRABHU
No one should perform saṅkīrtana on the streets of the city. Today I am excusing the offense and returning home. The next time I see someone performing such saṅkīrtana, I shall certainly chastise him by not only confiscating ALL HIS PROPERTY but also converting him INTO A MUSLIM.
After saying this, the Kazi returned home, and the devotees, greatly shocked that they were forbidden to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, submitted their grief to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Lord Caitanya ordered, Go perform saṅkīrtana! Today I shall KILL ALL THE MUSLIMS. Understanding the anxiety within the people’s minds, the Lord called them together and spoke to them as follows.
In the evening I shall perform saṅkīrtana in each and every town. Therefore you should all decorate the city in the evening. In the evening, burn torchlights in every home. I shall give protection to everyone. Let us see what kind of Kazi comes to stop our kīrtana.
In the evening Lord Gaurasundara went out and formed three parties to perform kīrtana. In the front party danced Ṭhākura Haridāsa, and in the middle party danced Advaita Ācārya with great jubilation. Lord Gaurasundara Himself danced in the rear party, and Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu moved with Lord Caitanya’s dancing. Performing kīrtana in this way, circumambulating through every nook and corner of the city, they finally reached the door of the Kazi.
Murmuring in anger and making a roaring sound, the people, under the protection of Lord Caitanya, became mad through such indulgence. The loud sound of the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra certainly made the Kazi very much afraid, and he hid himself within his room. Hearing the people thus protesting, murmuring in great anger, the Kazi would not come out of his home.
Naturally some of the people who were very much agitated began to retaliate the Kazi’s actions by wrecking his house and flower garden. Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has elaborately described this incident. Thereafter, when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu reached the Kazi’s house, He sat down by the doorway and sent some respectable persons to call for the Kazi. When the Kazi came, his head bowed down, the Lord gave him proper respect and a seat.
In a friendly way, the Lord said, “Sir, I have come to your house as your guest, but upon seeing Me you hid yourself in your room. What kind of etiquette is this? The Kazi replied, You have come to my house in a very angry mood. To pacify You, I did not come before You immediately but kept myself hidden. “Now that You have become pacified, I have come to You. It is my good fortune to receive a guest like Your Honor. “In our village relationship, Nīlāmbara Cakravartī Ṭhākura was my uncle. Such a relationship is stronger than a bodily relationship. Nīlāmbara Cakravartī is Your maternal grandfather, and by this relationship You are thus my nephew. When a nephew is very angry, his maternal uncle is tolerant, and when the maternal uncle commits an offense, the nephew does not take it very seriously.
In this way the Kazi and the Lord talked with each other with various indications, but no outsider could understand the inner meaning of their conversation. The Lord said, My dear uncle, I have come to your home just to ask you some questions. The Lord said, “You drink cows’ milk; therefore the cow is your mother. And the bull produces grains for your maintenance; therefore he is your father. “Since the bull and cow are your father and mother, how can you KILL and EAT THEM? What kind of religious principle is this? On what strength are you so daring that you commit such sinful activities?”
The Kazi replied, “As You have Your scriptures called the Vedas and Purāṇas, we have our scripture, known as the holy Koran. According to the Koran, there are two ways of advancement — through increasing the propensity to enjoy, and through decreasing the propensity to enjoy. On the path of decreasing attachment [nivṛtti-mārga], the killing of animals is prohibited. “On the path of material activities, there is regulation for killing cows. If such killing is done under the guidance of scripture, there is no sin.” As a learned scholar, the Kazi challenged Caitanya Mahāprabhu, “In Your Vedic scriptures there is an injunction for killing a cow. On the strength of this injunction, great sages performed sacrifices involving cow-killing.”
Refuting the Kazi’s statement, the Lord immediately replied, “The Vedas clearly enjoin that cows should not be killed. Therefore every Hindu, whoever he may be, avoids indulging in cow-killing. In the Vedas and Purāṇas there are injunctions declaring that if one can revive a living being, one can kill it for experimental purposes. Therefore the great sages sometimes killed old cows, and by chanting Vedic hymns they brought them back to life for perfection. The killing and rejuvenation of such old and invalid cows was not truly killing but an act of great benefit. Formerly there were powerful brāhmaṇas who could make such experiments using Vedic hymns, but now, because of the Kali-yuga, brāhmaṇas are not so powerful. Therefore the killing of cows and bulls for rejuvenation is forbidden.
‘In this Age of Kali, five acts are forbidden: the offering of A HORSE in sacrifice, the offering of A COW in sacrifice, the acceptance of the ORDER OF SANNYASA, the offering of OBLATIONS OF FLESH to the forefathers, and a man’s BEGETTING CHILDREN in his BROTHER’S WIFE.’ Since you Muslims cannot bring killed cows back to life, you are responsible for killing them. Therefore you are going TO HELL; there is no way for your deliverance. Cow-killers are condemned to rot in hellish life for as many THOUSANDS OF YEARS as there are hairs on the body of the cow. “There are many mistakes and illusions in your scriptures. Their compilers, not knowing the ESSENCE OF KNOWLEDGE, gave orders that were against REASON AND ARGUMENT.” After hearing these statements by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Kazi, his arguments stunned, could not put forward any more words. Thus, after due consideration, the Kazi accepted defeat and spoke as follows.
My dear Nimāi Paṇḍita, what You have said is all true. Our scriptures have developed ONLY RECENTLY, and they are certainly not LOGICAL and PHILOSOPHICAL. I know that our scriptures are full of IMAGINATION and MISTAKEN IDEAS, yet because I am a Muslim I accept them for the sake of my community, despite their insufficient support. The REASONING and ARGUMENTS in the scriptures of the meat-eaters are NOT very sound,” the Kazi concluded. Upon hearing this statement, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu smiled and inquired from him as follows.
My dear maternal uncle, I wish to ask you another question. Please tell Me the truth. Do not try to cheat Me with tricks. In your city there is always congregational chanting of the holy name. A tumultuous uproar of music, singing and dancing is always going on. As a Muslim magistrate, you have the right to oppose the performance of Hindu ceremonies, but now you do not forbid them. I cannot understand the reason why.”
The Kazi said, “Everyone calls You Gaurahari. Please let me address You by that name. “Kindly listen, O Gaurahari! If You come to a private place, I shall then explain the reason.”
The Lord replied, “All these men are My confidential associates. You may speak frankly. There is no reason to be afraid of them.”
The Kazi said, “When I went to the Hindu’s house, broke the drum and forbade the performance of congregational chanting, in my dreams that very night I saw a greatly fearful lion, roaring very loudly, His body like a HUMAN BEING’S and His face LIKE A LION’S. While I was asleep, the lion jumped on my chest, laughing fiercely and gnashing His teeth. Placing its nails on my chest, the lion said in a grave voice, ‘I shall immediately bifurcate your chest as YOU BROKE the MRDANGA DRUM! ‘You have forbidden the performance of My congregational chanting. Therefore I must destroy you!’ Being very much afraid of Him, I closed my eyes and trembled. Seeing me so afraid, the lion said, ‘I have defeated you just to teach you a lesson, but I must be merciful to you. ‘On that day you did not create a very great disturbance. Therefore I have excused you and not taken your life. ‘But if you perform such activities again, I shall NOT BE TOLERANT. At that time I shall KILL YOU, your entire family and all the meat-eaters.’ “After saying this, the lion left, but I was very much afraid of Him. Just see the marks of His nails on my heart!”
After this description, the Kazi showed his chest. Having heard him and seen the marks, all the people there accepted the wonderful incident. The Kazi continued, “I did not speak to anyone about this incident, but on that very day one of my orderlies came to see me. After coming to me, the orderly said, ‘When I went to stop the congregational chanting, suddenly FLAMES STRUCK My FACE. ‘My BEARD WAS BURNED, and there were BLISTERS ON MY CHEEKS.’ Every orderly who went gave the same description. After seeing this, I was very much afraid. I asked them not to stop the congregational chanting but to go sit down at home.
Then all the meat-eaters, hearing that there would be UNRESTRICTED CONGREGATIONAL CHANTING in the city, came to submit a petition. ‘The religion of the Hindus has increased unlimitedly. There are always vibrations of “Hari! Hari!” We do not hear anything but this.’ One meat-eater said, ‘The Hindus say, “Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa,” and they laugh, cry, dance, chant and fall on the ground, smearing their bodies with dirt. ‘The Hindus chant the name Hari because THAT IS THE NAME OF THEIR GOD. But you are Muslim meat-eaters. Why do you chant the name of the Hindus’ God?’ The meat-eater replied, ‘Sometimes I joke with the Hindus. Some of them are called Kṛṣṇadāsa, and some are called Rāmadāsa. ‘Since that time, my tongue also always vibrates the sound “Hari, Hari.” I have no desire to say it, but still my tongue says it. I do not know what to do.’ Another meat-eater said, ‘Sir, please hear me. Since the day I joked with some Hindus in this way, my tongue chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa hymn and cannot give it up. I do not know what mystic hymns and herbal potions these Hindus know.’
After hearing all this, I sent all the mlecchas back to their homes. Five or seven nonbelieving Hindus then approached me. Coming to me, the Hindus complained, ‘Nimāi Paṇḍita has broken the Hindu religious principles. He has introduced the saṅkīrtana system, which we never heard from any scripture. Nimāi Paṇḍita was previously a very good boy, but since He has returned from Gayā He conducts Himself differently. Now He loudly sings all kinds of songs, claps, and plays drums and hand cymbals, making a tumultuous sound that deafens our ears. He has made all the people practically mad by always performing congregational chanting. At night we cannot get any sleep; we are always kept awake. ‘Sir, you are the ruler of this town. Whether Hindu or Muslim, everyone is under your protection. Therefore please call Nimāi Paṇḍita and make Him leave the town.’
After hearing their complaints, in sweet words I told them, ‘Please go back home. I shall certainly prohibit Nimāi Paṇḍita from continuing His Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. “I know that Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme God of the Hindus, and I think that You are the same Nārāyaṇa. This I feel within my mind.”
After hearing the Kazi speak so nicely, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu touched him and smilingly spoke as follows. The chanting of the HOLY NAME OF KRISHNA from your mouth has performed a wonder — it has nullified the reactions of ALL YOUR SINFUL ACTIVITIES. Now you have become SUPREMELY PURE. “Because you have chanted three holy names of the LORD — HARI, KRISHNA and NARAYANA— you are undoubtedly the most fortunate and pious.”
After the Kazi heard this, tears flowed down from his eyes. He immediately touched the lotus feet of the Lord and spoke the following sweet words. “Only by Your mercy have my BAD INTENTIONS VANISHED. Kindly favor me so that my DEVOTION May Always Be FIXED UPON YOU.”
The Lord said, “I wish to beg you for one favor in charity. You must pledge that this saṅkīrtana movement will not be checked, at least in the district of Nadia.”
The Kazi said, “To as many descendants as take birth in my dynasty in the future, I give this grave admonition: NO ONE SHOULD CHECK THE SANKIRTANA MOVEMENT.”
Hearing this, the Lord got up, chanting “Hari! Hari!” Following Him, all the other Vaiṣṇavas also got up, chanting the vibration of the holy name. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went back to perform kīrtana, and the Kazi, his mind jubilant, went with Him. The Lord asked the Kazi to go back home. Then the son of mother Śacī came back to His own home, dancing and dancing.
This is the incident concerning the Kazi and the Lord’s mercy upon him. ANYONE WHO HEARS THIS IS ALSO FREED FROM ALL OFFENSES.
CC Adi Lila 17.127-226
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