king was distressed at this news, and Sarbabhaunma, Ramananda and Nityananda, all tried to dissuade him from the undertaking. Their persuation however was fruitless, and at the close of the rainy season Chaitanya left Jagannath. He went northwards through Bhubaneswar, Katak, Remuna and Panihati, and came once more to Santipur. Affecting indeed was his meeting with his mother who had come to Santipur from Nabadwip, and who embraced her son with tears of joy.
Chaitanya once more took leave of his friends, sent back his mother to Nabadwip, and left Santipur. Among his companions were the brothers Rup and Sanatan, ministers of the Muhammadan ruler of Behar. They were of royal blood, and of high rank and much wealth, but despised all these things for their love of the reformer. Chaitanya's fame had now spread on all sides, and vast numbers of people gathered round him on his way towards Vrindavan. This was an inconvenience to a traveller, and Sanatan rightly advised him to part with all his companions if he wanted to proceed on his journey. The year however was far advanced, the rainy season had already commenced, Chaitanya therefore was compelled to remain a few months in Nilachala, to the great joy of king Prataprudra. At the close of the rains, he set out for Vrindavan with Balabhadra Bhattacharja as his sole companion.
To avoid notice Chaitanya left the beaten path, and went through a forest. His poetic biographer waxes eloquent, and describes how in the presence of the great master the tiger embraced the deer and danced with
