Sri Caitanya-candramrta
The Nectar Moon of Sri Caitanya
Chapter Four
Sri Caitanya-bhakta-mahima
Glorification of Lord Caitanya's Devotees
By
Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati
The splendid path of pure devotional service, which bewildered the great sages in the past, which material intelligence has no power to enter and which merciful Lord Krsna never revealed to His closest friend, is the place where the dear devotees of Lord Gaura happily enjoy pastimes.Talk of impersonal liberation will not become bitter, the shackles of blind adherence to social and Vedic convention will not become loosened, and the tumultuous debate of Vedic scholars on the merits of various useless spiritual paths will continue as long as a devotee who is like a bumblebee drinking the nectar of Lord Caitanya's lotus feet does not appear before the eyes.
Where is renunciation? Where is tranquil indifference to the temptations of sense pleasure or the torments of hell? Where are great waves of humbleness? Where is uncommon prowess? Where is the path of intense devotion? Where are these virtues present in the same way they are present in those who have made Lord Gaura the goal of their lives?
Even once seeing Lord Gaura's handsome face, which is overcome with feelings of love of Krsna, and which has blossoming lotus eyes filled with a great flood of tears, a person becomes maddened with newer and newer feelings of devotional love. He never abandons the ocean of sweetness that is Lord Gaura's feet.
They who follow the rules of varnasrama-dharma, worship Lord Visnu, visit holy pilgrimage places, and study the Vedas, but do not serve the lotus feet of the dear devotees of Lord Gaura, cannot understand the transcendental abode of Vrndavana, which is beyond the reach of the four Vedas.
If by churning the shoreless ocean of nectar one attains the incomparably sweet essence of all nectar, that nectar will taste very bitter to those who touch the splendour of the lotus feet of Lord Krsna who now displays His transcendental form of Sri Gaurasundara.
Humbly thinking oneself lower than a blade of grass, natural gentleness and charm, speaking words as sweet as nectar, spitting at the insignificant sense gratification of this world, disinterest in the affairs of this world, and overwhelming love for Lord Hari are the transcendental virtues of the devotees of Lord Gaura.
Worship millions of the most exalted spiritual masters if you wish! Study millions of Vedic literatures if you wish! But know it is they who have attained the merciful sidelong glance of Lord Caitanya who will understand the great secret that is pure love for Lord Krsna.
Let renunciation be multiplied millions of times! Let millions of virtues, beginning with peacefulness, sense control, tolerance and friendliness, be multiplied millions of times! Let there be millions of meditations on the words tat tvam asi! Let there be devotion to Lord Visnu multiplied millions of times! All this taken together does not equal even a millionth part of the multitude of perfect transcendental qualities possessed by the great souls who find transcendental bliss in the splendour of the toenails of the dear devotees of Sriman Caitanyacandra.
Some dance so enthusiastically they seem to leap over the mountains and oceans, and others repeatedly revile Indra and the other demigods. Who among the devotees headed by Advaitacandra is not now overwhelmed with bliss in the dancing festival of Lord Caitanya?
In this world there has not been, there will not be, and there is not now the touch of this kind of nectar from the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is only by the great mercy of Lord Gaura, who enjoys transcendental pastimes, and by the power of devotional service to Him, that the non-envious devotees know anything about this nectar.
Lord Caitanya is worshipped by the Upanisads. Lord Caitanya destroys the pride of the arrogant demigods and sages who do not worship His lotus feet. Ah, what person is so fortunate that he has personally seen Lord Caitanya?
Even without following any religious rituals, one who wholeheartedly takes shelter of Lord Gauranga, the master of all transcendental opulences, will attain everything he might wish.