As nation celebrates Holi, we must also remember that it coincides with the birthday of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a great proponent of the Bhakti school
Bengaluru: If you believe in the concept that God-realisation is the ultimate goal of life and further believe Bhakti or devotion is the means to attain it, then the life of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu should impress, inspire and invigorate you to take to the spiritual path.
Born on a full moon night, also coinciding with a lunar eclipse, on February 18, 1486, Gauranga, as he was also called, exhibited early signs of spirituality.
Inspiring anecdotes from his childhood:
As per available anecdotal evidence, the infant Gauranga once started weeping bitterly. And as he kept weeping inconsolably, his mother and her friends began singing kirtans. Immediately, he calmed himself. Since then, Kirtans became normal in his household. At the same time, he gave ample evidence that he would eventually become an itinerant singer taking the name of Hari to all parts of India!
There is another interesting story that can’t be missed! Once his mother offered him sweetmeats. But instead of eating sweetmeats, he ate clay. When a flummoxed mother asked him the reason, he said sweetmeats are nothing else but another form of clay and he didn’t find any difference between them (equipoise?).
However, when his mother educated him on the non-edibility of the clay to eat, he accepted his mistake and never repeated it.
The third instance relates to a devout brahmin visiting his house. As the brahmin visited his house and cooked rice to be offered to Lord Krishna, the young Chaitanya ate it. The brahmin cooked the rice for the second time. But then too, Chaitanya ate it.
The guest was forced to cook for the third time. But then too, Chaitanya ate it up. But then, there was a difference. Chaitanya revealed his true form of Lord Krishna to the traveller. The guest was lost in a state of bliss!
As he grew up and firmly established himself in the practice of spirituality, he stayed in the holy town of Puri for 24 years and often visited another holy city – Vrindavan.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu passed away in the year 1534. But there is no clarity on the cause of his death.
We have just focussed on the young Chaitanya and his spiritual exploits in this tiny writeup. For those whose spiritual acumen has been kindled, they would do good to do an intense study of his life which will certainly serve as a huge light in the same direction.
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