CHAITANYA-CHARIT-AMRITA
chapter i
At the House of Adwaita
Glory to Shri Chaitanya! Glory to Nityananda, to Adwaita, and to all followers of Gaur! In the month of Mágh when the Master completed His twenty-fourth year, in the bright fortnight, He turned hermit. Then led by devotion He set off for Brindaban, and wandered for three days in the Rárh country, hallowing it with His footsteps and chanting the following verse in rapture:
"I too shall cross the terrible and dark ocean of the world by means of devotion to the Supreme Being, as the sages did of yore,—by service at the lotus-like feet of Mukunda."[1]
The Master said, "True are the words of this Brahman, who chose the service of Mukunda as his life's task. The highest robe [in which a man can clothe himself] is devotion to the Supreme Soul, the service of Mukunda which brings salvation. That robe he put on. Now shall I go to Brindaban and serve Krishna in solitude."
So saying the Master moved day and night, the picture of religious ecstasy, heedless which way He walked. Nityananda, Acharya Ratna, and Mukunda, all three followed Him. All who saw Him, cried "Hari!
- ↑ From the Brahman mendicant's speech reported in the Shrimad Bhagabat, XI. xxiii. verse 53.
