A convinced devotee still had to learn how to behave like one. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's first lessons in devotional life were practical and personal. The debate that led to them had been about ideas.
Maha-Prasadam Before the Morning Bath #
Early one morning, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu arrived at Sarvabhauma's house carrying garlands and food remnants from the Jagannatha temple, and placed them directly in his hands. Sarvabhauma had not yet washed his mouth, bathed or done any of the daily ritual duties expected of a brahmana of his position. For a scholar of Sarvabhauma's rank, eating anything before the morning bath was unthinkable, by every rule he had followed his whole life. He quoted two verses on honouring maha-prasadam no matter what the time or situation, and ate it on the spot, without hesitation. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu embraced him, and the two of them danced together. The Lord later said that on that day He had conquered the three worlds, simply because Sarvabhauma had developed faith in Jagannatha's prasadam.
A Question About Worship #
On another day Sarvabhauma asked the Lord directly what the single most important item of devotional service was. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's answer was chanting the holy name of Krishna. This answer became the seed of everything Sarvabhauma would teach for the rest of his life. For decades he had taught Sankaracarya's Vedanta. Now he taught the maha-mantra instead. The Lord explained at length how the practice of chanting alone slowly removes the deep-rooted idea that we are the body. Until only weeks earlier, that bodily idea of life had been the unquestioned starting point of Sarvabhauma's own philosophy.
Two Verses Composed in Secret #
Sanskrit verse was still the only form of expression that Sarvabhauma fully trusted. So some days later he composed two Sanskrit verses on a palm leaf and sent them to the Lord through Jagadananda Pandit. Mukunda Datta took the leaf before it could be delivered and copied both verses onto the wall outside the room. Only then did Jagadananda hand it over. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu read the two verses and at once tore the leaf up. But the devotees had already read them from the wall and kept them in their hearts (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila 6.250-253).
In the first verse, Sarvabhauma declared that the Supreme Personality of Godhead had descended in the form of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to teach real knowledge, detachment and devotional service to Himself. He called Him an ocean of transcendental mercy, to whom he now surrendered. In the second verse, he declared that this same Lord had appeared to restore an ancient system of devotional service that had nearly been lost with the passage of time. His own mind, like a honeybee, now wished only to drink in this system at His lotus feet (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila 6.254-255). Krishnadasa Kaviraja records that these two verses would go on to announce Sarvabhauma's name as loudly as a beaten drum. Devotees treasured them like pearls worn around the neck.
The Word He Could No Longer Say #
The clearest sign of how far Sarvabhauma had travelled came in a much smaller exchange. He was reciting a verse of Lord Brahma's from the Bhagavatam that describes the Lord as mukti-pada, the shelter of liberation. But Sarvabhauma quietly put in bhakti-pada, the shelter of devotion, in its place. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu noticed the change at once and asked why. The original word, He pointed out, refers directly to Krishna, at whose feet every form of liberation already stands, so there was no need to change it. Sarvabhauma agreed that the Lord's reading was correct, but he still kept his changed word. He knew mukti-pada was accurate, he said, but the very sound of the word "liberation" had come to disturb him, while "devotion" filled his mind with joy. A pure devotee, he added, would sooner go to hell than merge into the impersonal effulgence (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila 6.262-274). Chaitanya Mahaprabhu laughed and embraced him. All his career this man had taught that merging into Brahman was the goal of life. Now, within weeks, he drew back from the very word liberation. And the other scholars of Jagannatha Puri, watching this, began taking shelter of the Lord themselves.
