Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu - His Miracles and Teachings - Swami B.G. Narasingha MaharajaShri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – His Teachings

Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – His Miracles and Teachings

Part 1 – His Miracles

This booklet describes the miracles and teachings of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Actually it is not possible for any human being to fully describe the greatness of Lord Chaitanya and the miracles that He performed. The Lord manifested His presence in this world for forty-eight years and each and every day He performed many miracles. To introduce our readers to Lord Chaitanya, who may be hearing about Him for the first time, we have mentioned here only a few of His miracles.

For those readers who would like to know more about Lord Chaitanya in detail, we recommend that one read the Chaitanya-charitamrita and the Chaitanya-bhagavata. These books are the authorized biographies of Lord Chaitanya and one can gain a vivid view about the miracles and teachings of the Lord from these two books.

The Lord’s Appearance: Bhagavad-gita, the celebrated ‘Song of God’ spoken by Lord Krishna over 5000 years ago informs us as follows –

yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyuttanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srijamy aham

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practices, My dear Arjuna, and a predominant rise of irreligious actions – at that time I descend Myself.”

As it was, 500 years ago, the practices of pure devotion to Lord Krishna had very much declined. Seeing this, Sri Advaita Acharya Prabhu worshipped shalagrama-shila with tulasi leaves and Ganges water accompanied by loud cries of appeal to the Supreme Lord to kindly advent Himself and deliver the world. The prayers of Advaita Prabhu were shortly answered.

In the year 1485 Lord Krishna entered the bodies of both Jagannatha Mishra and his good wife Sachi-devi. At that time many wonderful things began to happen. Jagannatha Mishra, who was a brahmana by caste and deeply learned and religious, noted that the body of his wife was filled with spiritual effulgence. Everywhere and anywhere he went, people offered him respect and riches, even without his asking. Sachi-devi told her husband that she saw wonderfully brilliant Devas appearing in the sky above her house offering prayers. In a dream Jagannatha Mishra saw the effulgent abode of Lord Vishnu enter his heart. From his heart it entered the heart of Sachi-devi. All these events made both Jagannatha Mishra and Sachi-devi very happy.

For thirteen months the Lord remained in the body of Sachi-devi and on February 18th 1486, He made His appearance in this world. At the time of the Lord’s birth there was a lunar eclipse and all the residents of the town of Nadia took their bath in the Ganges River and engaged in chanting the all-auspicious Names of Vishnu.

The Lord appeared from the womb of Sachi-devi just as the moon appears from the milk ocean. The body of the Lord was the effulgent colour of molten gold. Seeing the newborn child, everyone became filled with happiness. Everyone could appreciate that, except for the difference in colour (golden instead of blue), the child was the same Lord Krishna of Goloka.

After the birth of the divine child, all sorts of brahmana gentlemen with their wives came to see the baby and they brought with them many valuable gifts. In the sky the Gandharvas, the Siddhas, the Charanas and other residents of the heavenly planets offered prayers and played on musical instruments like the vina. Even the wives of Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Lord Vishnu, Indra and many others all came there to worship the Lord. Whenever the Lord cried, the ladies would chant the Holy Names of Vishnu and thus the Lord would give up His crying. If the ladies chanced to stop uttering the Holy Names of Vishnu, the Lord would again begin to cry. Seeing all these wonderful events the people of Nadia praised the fortune of Jagannatha Mishra and Sachi-devi.

Foot Markings: One evening while feeding her child breast-milk, Sachi-devi noticed the markings of Lord Vishnu on the soles of her child’s feet – namely the flag, thunderbolt, conch-shell, cakra and fish. Jagannatha Mishra then called for Nilambara Chakravarti, the learned astrologer, who confirmed that the child was indeed the same personality who had appeared as the son of Nanda Maharaja and Mother Yashoda. Indeed the child was Lord Krishna and Jagannatha Mishra and Sachi-devi were the incarnations of Nanda Maharaja and Mother Yashoda, the father and mother of Lord Krishna.

Two Thieves: Once two thieves stole away the small baby from the door of Jagannatha Mishra’s home with a view to take away the child’s jewellery. Carrying the child on their shoulders, the two thieves ran from that place. However, after about an hour or so the thieves found that they had again returned to the scene of the crime and fearing detection they placed the child on the ground in front of His house and fled. The child, being Lord Krishna the Supreme Mystic, had covered the thieves with His mystic power and caused them to return Him to his rightful home.

Gold Coins: In childish anger, the Lord would sometimes break all the cooking pots and other items in His house. He would then spoil all the stocks of food grains, sugar, spices and other eatables, and falling on the ground He would pound His hands and feet and cry Himself to sleep. Upon waking, the Lord’s mother would express her sorrow that all the household items had been destroyed and that she had no money to purchase new stocks. Hearing this the child would go to the banks of the Ganges River and collect some mud in His hands. Returning to His house the Lord would deliver the handful of mud to His mother saying, “Now you can purchase new stocks,” at which time the mud would turn into gold coins.

Master of Knowledge: By age eleven Lord Chaitanya had mastered all departments of Vedic knowledge and began Himself to teach other students. The Lord defeated all the great scholars of Nadia but because of the Lord’s gentle behaviour, none of the scholars were unhappy. Thus Lord Chaitanya became known as the boy genius of Nadia.

One day the great Keshava Pandita of Kashmir came to Nadia to gain victory over all the scholars there. Lord Chaitanya met the great pandita on the banks of the Ganges and requested him to kindly recite some Sanskrit verses in praise of Mother Ganga. The pandita then composed one hundred verses in praise of the Ganges on the very spot. Upon completion of his recitation Lord Chaitanya pointed out several defects in the pandita’s poetry, at which point the pandita became totally dumb, his intelligence being lost. At night the pandita had a dream in which Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, told him that the young boy who had defeated him was none other than Lord Krishna, the Supreme Lord. The great Keshava Pandita then became the follower and disciple of Lord Chaitanya.

The Mango Feast: It was the practice of Lord Chaitanya to gather many hundreds and thousands of devotees together for performing the public singing of the Holy Names of God – Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. On one such occasion, when the singing came to an end, Lord Chaitanya asked the devotees what type of food they would like to take. All the devotees requested mango, but it was not the mango season and no mangoes were available.

Lord Chaitanya then requested someone to bring Him a dry mango seed. When that seed was given to the Lord, He placed it in the ground in front of everyone and began to chant the Holy Name. The seed immediately sprouted and grew to a full sized mango tree. Within minutes the tree gave fruits. Each fruit was at least five times bigger than the biggest mango ever seen before. Each fruit was fully ripe. The fruits were without skins and without seeds also. The devotees ate the fruits to their full satisfaction and seeing this Lord Chaitanya became very happy.

The Universal Form: One day in the house of Advaita Acharya, Lord Chaitanya was requested to display the universal form (vishvarupa) that Lord Krishna had kindly shown to Arjuna. The Lord complied with the request and revealed His universal form in front of Advaita Acharya. This is the standard of the bona-fide incarnation of Bhagavan. Without being able to show the same universal form seen by Arjuna, one cannot be accepted as an actual avatara or incarnation of Vishnu.

His Narasingha Form: When the Vaishnavas were performing sankirtana, the public chanting of the maha-mantra, some envious persons reported this to the Muslim governor who then sent his soldiers to take action against the Vaishnavas. When news of the advancing soldiers reached Lord Chaitanya’s ears He began to dance and proclaim that not even a blade of grass moves without His permission and that the soldiers could do nothing without His order.

However, the devotees became fearful and ran to their houses. Lord Chaitanya’s associate Srivasa Pandita began to pray and offer worship to Lord Narasingha to please protect all the devotees. Suddenly Lord Chaitanya knocked on the door of Srivasa Pandita’s house but Srivasa did not answer because he was busy offering worship to Lord Narasingha out of fear of the advancing soldiers.

Lord Chaitanya then manifested His form as Narasingha and began to roar very loudly. Hearing the great noise Srivasa gave up his worship and went to the door. When he opened the door he saw the form of Lord Narasingha standing there with many arms holding many weapons to destroy the demons. Srivasa fell to the ground at the sight and offered his prayers. When he again opened his eyes he saw Lord Chaitanya in front of him who then blessed Srivasa and told him not to worry about the soldiers.

It so happened that the soldiers heard the roar of Lord Narasingha and thinking that there might be some trouble ahead, returned to the governor.

His Six Armed Form: In the house of Sarvabhuma Bhattacharya in Puri, Lord Chaitanya revealed His Sad-bhuja, or six-armed form. In two hands which were bluish in colour, the Lord held a flute showing that He was Lord Krishna. In another two hands, which were green in color, the Lord held a bow and arrow thus showing that He was non-different than Lord Ramachandra. Lastly, the Lord held in two hands, which were golden in colour, a water pot and a mendicant’s staff (danda), thus showing that He was the covered incarnation of the Supreme Lord that appears in the Kali-yuga to spread the sankirtana movement.

The six-armed form of the Lord had never been manifest before and no other incarnation of Godhead except Lord Chaitanya can show this form.

The Leper Brahmana: When Lord Chaitanya visited the temple of Kurma-deva in South India, He delivered the leper brahmana Vasudeva. Vasudeva was an ideal devotee of Lord Vishnu, but he chanced to reach Kurma-kshetra after Lord Chaitanya had continued on His tour. Unable to have the darshana of Lord Chaitanya, the leper brahmana fell to the ground and lamented his unfortunate position. At this point Lord Chaitanya immediately returned to Kurma-kshetra to deliver the poor brahmana. Seeing Vasudeva lying on the ground shedding tears Lord Chaitanya picked up the leper and embraced him to His chest. The body of Vasudeva immediately became transformed and all traces of his disease vanished. Indeed, Vasudeva appeared in the full vigour and beauty of youth. Seeing this great miracle all the people of Kurma-kshetra were struck with wonder.

The Tigers of Jarikhanda Forest: On his way to Vrindavana, Lord Chaitanya had to pass through the great forest in central India known as Jarikhanda. There were many fierce lions, tigers, elephants and other wild animals moving in that forest but when the animals saw and heard the dancing and singing of the Holy Names of God performed by Lord Chaitanya they gave up their natural enmity with each other and all became as one happy family. Not only did the wild animals become peaceful, but they stood on their hind-legs and raising their paws in the air they also sang the Holy Names of Krishna.

As Lord Chaitanya passed through the forest for several days the wild animals followed Him in a great procession. Seeing this marvelous event, Lord Chaitanya’s personal servant, Balabhadra was struck with wonder.

Ratha-yatra at Jagannatha Puri: During the Ratha-yatra of Lord Jagannatha at Puri, the ratha weighing many thousands of kilos, got stuck and would not move despite the best efforts of the thousands of people who pulled on the ropes. Seeing the difficulty, King Prataparudra ordered a team of elephants to be attached for pulling the ratha cars. The elephants were harnessed to the chariot and the elephant driver moved the elephants forward. However, the chariot would not move. At this the elephant driver beat the elephants to make them pull with all their strength. The elephants pulled and pulled until tears came from their eyes, but still the chariot remained stationary and did not move even an inch.

Lord Chaitanya then went to the back of the chariot and placed His head against a great wooden beam. Then in plain view of everyone Lord Chaitanya pushed the chariot with His head and the great ratha moved forward. As the Lord pushed the ratha with His head, He chanted the Names of Krishna.

Lord Chaitanya Accepts Prasadam: It was the common practice of Lord Chaitanya to take prasadam in the homes of His devotees and to accept the prasadam offerings that were brought before Him. However, on one occasion, Lord Chaitanya remained fasting for many days, not eating the many prasadam offerings that the devotees brought Him. Govinda Dasa, Lord Chaitanya’s servant, received those offerings from the devotees and stocked them in a room. After several days the prasadam stock became enough to feed one-thousand men.

When Govinda Dasa informed the Lord about the stock of prasadam, the Lord ordered him to bring each and every morsel of prasadam to Him and the Lord ate it with great relish. Indeed. Lord Chaitanya ate all the prasadam in one sitting. Thus the Lord performed the prasadam pastime miracle showing us that prasadam of Lord Krishna is completely spiritual and not material.

Floating on the Ocean: It sometimes happened, that while in the mood of ecstatic trance, Lord Chaitanya would sometimes lose His external consciousness. Once, while roaming on the beach at night, Lord Chaitanya became absorbed in ecstasy and fell into the ocean. The waves carried the Lord far away. A fisherman happened to catch the Lord in his net, but the fisherman was unable to distinguish what he had caught. When the fisherman tried to pull the Lord from the net, he immediately became absorbed in pure love of God and began to jump and chant the names of Krishna just like a madman.

The fisherman thought that he had somehow been attacked by a ghost and thus he ran down the beach. At that time all the devotees of Lord Chaitanya were searching for Him, but they could not find their Lord anywhere. When they saw the fisherman they understood that he must have seen Lord Chaitanya. When they asked him if they had seen Lord Chaitanya, the fisherman replied that he had not but that he had caught a great golden fish in his net and when he touched the fish, he was attacked by a ghost. The fisherman said that being attacked by the ghost he had become mad and that he could not stop singing Hare Krishna.

The devotees of Lord Chaitanya informed the fisherman that he had not contacted a ghost, but that he must have caught Lord Chaitanya in his net and that when he touched the body of the Lord he became blessed with the ecstatic emotion of love of God and thus he sang and danced like a madman.

The devotees then requested the fisherman to take them to the place where Lord Chaitanya was lying. When the devotees reached the spot where the Lord was lying, they saw that He was in deep ecstatic trance. All the limbs of the Lord’s body were elongated and He showed almost no signs of life. Then the devotees began to loudly chant the names of Krishna for some time. Hearing this sound the Lord regained His external consciousness and rising to His feet He began to dance and chant. Such are the wonderful activities of the Lord in the mood of ecstatic love of God.

His Disappearance: The final pastimes of Lord Chaitanya were manifested in his 48th year, during the time of sankirtana, while the congregational singing of the Names of God was going on in the temple of Tota-Gopinatha at Puri. At that time, many devotees were assembled there and in great ecstasy Lord Chaitanya danced and sang. At the climax of the singing Lord Chaitanya manifested Himself in thirteen forms and each of those thirteen forms of Lord Chaitanya danced with His arms held high. Then, in the presence of everyone, all those forms merged into the body of the Deity of Tota-Gopinatha. Thus the manifest pastimes of Lord Chaitanya came to an end in a most extraordinary way showing us that He was indeed Lord Krishna Himself and that His form and Name are eternal. All glories to Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the most merciful incarnation of Godhead.

The pastime miracles of Lord Chaitanya are indeed wonderful and whoever hears this simple narration with attention will certainly increase his faith in the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna.

By Published On: December 1, 2022
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu - His Miracles and Teachings - Swami B.G. Narasingha MaharajaShri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – His Teachings
Avatar of Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja (Jagat Guru Swami) appeared on Annadā Ekādaśī at Corpus Christi, USA in 1946. After studies in haṭha-yoga, he took initiation from his guru, Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda in 1970 and preached in the African continent for 3 years before accepting sannyāsa in 1976. After Prabhupāda’s disappearance, Śrīla Narasiṅgha Mahārāja took śīkṣā (spiritual instruction) from Śrīla B.R. Śrīdhara Deva Gosvāmī and Śrīla B.P Purī Gosvāmī. Although he spent most of his spiritual life preaching in India, Narasiṅgha Mahārāja also travelled to Europe, Mexico and the United States to spread the message of his spiritual masters. He penned over 200 essays and 13 books delineating Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava siddhānta. He left this world in his āśrama in South India in 2020.